Saban comments

[shotglass]

And now read this little bit of head-burying-in-sand by Cote in his blog:

This became Coonassgate when Herald sports writer Jeff Darlington shared a recording of Saban's comments with WQAM's Orlando Alzugaray, not thinking the latter would broadcast them. Now Darlington has apologized along with Saban, although poor Jeff's biggest crime may have been leaking this to the rival station of 790 The Ticket, with whom The Herald has a business partnership.

"Orlando, since we're in a business partnership, listen to this off-the-record recording by Saban..."

 

[hpdrifter]

Wasn't Darlington supposed to be one of the "effiing" studs talked about on here? A brutally bad, careless move. Apparently, Darlington will watch the game on TV and not cover it.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Someone give me a history lesson here. I was always under the premise that the term "coon" was in reference to African-Americans back in the early half of the 20th Century. I didn't know that it applied to the Cajun community as well?

 

[Ace]

Someone give me a history lesson here. I was always under the premise that the term "coon" was in reference to African-Americans back in the early half of the 20th Century. I didn't know that it applied to the Cajun community as well?

Here is a wikipedia link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass

FYI, gotta love wikipedia. It already notes the Saban reference.

 

[Omar_dont_scare]

Horribly irresponsible for any reporter to pass around or e-mail a recording of something that was off the record.

My question might be, if it's off the record, why was he recording it in the first place? Shut off the audio and write it down, yo.

 

[ShelbyFoote]

Darlington is not at fault here. The Miami radio host royally ****ed him.

I know Alzugaray well, and he's always seemed like a good guy, but he ****ed Darlington...

No way should Darlington be fired.

Usually agree with you Mizzou -- and I definitely don't think Darlington should be fired -- but I think Darlington is at fault at some level here. Sharing an off-the-record conversation with other media members violates the off-the-record aspect of it, does it not? If it's off-the-record, shouldn't you keep it under wraps?

 

[shotglass]

A really dangerous fine line you're straddling there, Mizzou.

 

[Ace]

Yes, and you can't be screwed by another media type if you don't share your notes with them, either.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

There is a lot of disagreement about the origins of the term "coon ass," but I can tell you nobody in my family or my circle who uses the term links it to the term "coon" as referenced above. In fact, years ago at my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner, we dined at a seafood restaurant where someone bestowed a certificate of "honorary coon ass" to the groomsmen. One of them, an African American from a northern state, seemed startled by the gesture. It took everyone some time to sort it out. We realized he thought it was a racial slur directed at him, he realized "coon ass" was an entirely different sort of term, and all ended well.

Years later he laughs about it.

 

[ShelbyFoote]

If everyone of us who shared an off-the-record conversation with another friend in the media was fired, this would be a lonely place. Darlington should not have given Alzugaray the tape, but there's no way he thought it would be played...

When I travel, I go out with writers in other cities all the time. When we talk shop there's almost always a story told about something a coach or player said that will never make the paper...

Some peole here clearly don't get that...

I know that.

All I'm saying is the person who told the story shares some responsibility if the story gets out.

 

[Ace]

Yeah, sorry, Mizzou. When I talk shop I don't supply tapes to radio hosts. ... I'm sure that's a barrel of chuckles and all, though.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Telling the story to another person is one thing. Supplying the tape is an entirely different matter.

 

[Omar_dont_scare]

Telling the story to another person is one thing. Supplying the tape is an entirely different matter.

Bingo.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

It's not a matter of proof. It's a matter of giving someone a tape they can make available to the public. The tape is the property of your newspaper; your retelling of a conversation is not. What's your difficulty in understanding that? As you said, everyone shares off-the-record stories with scribes, but the ones who hand over tapes are asking for trouble.

 

[Ace]

Yeah, it makes it OK if there's no proof...

Telling the story to another person is one thing. Supplying the tape is an entirely different matter.

So it's OK if there's no proof? That's a lovely attitude to have...

If blame is to be split here... Darlington 5 percent... Idiot who played the tape - 95 percent...

C'mon, Mizzzou.

If you are a radio guy and over beers a reporter tells you that Saban called LSU fans coonasses, are you gonna broadcast that? No.

If you've got a tape, hell, it might just be too tempting.

 

[scribbler357]

You know how those media types are...you can never trust them. Bastards!

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

You know how those media types are...you can never trust them. Bastards!

Broadcast media that is...

I'm pretty sure Saban trusted a print guy (several, actually) to keep his comments private and got burned as a result. I'm not feeling sorry for Saban, and I'm not putting this all on Darlington, but to make this a "broadcast media can't be trusted" issue is absurd.

 

[shockey]

mizzoo

sorry, bud, but you're waaaaay off on this one, imo. trading off-the-record tales over a beer with other scribes is one thing. sending someone in the radio biz a copy of the interview recording is something else entirely.

jeff was scorched by someone he trusted. that only matters to us. most importantly, jeff screwed over a subject who trusted him enough to go off-the-record.

shame on him. what he did is not only indefensible, but also unimaginable. why ever give someone with a radio show a tape including off-the-record material? he deserves to be whacked simply on the grounds of stupidity.

 

[Starman]

You know how those media types are...you can never trust them. Bastards!

Broadcast media that is...

I'm pretty sure Saban trusted a print guy (several, actually) to keep his comments private and got burned as a result. I'm not feeling sorry for Saban, and I'm not putting this all on Darlington, but to make this a "broadcast media can't be trusted" issue is absurd.

Saban doesn't trust ANY media, except for the two or three trained poodles he tucks into his pocket at every stop on his long and winding road, to whom he then issues his homespun folksy anectdotes about what dimwit dumbass yokels they were at the other places he worked, always sabotaging his brilliant coaching efforts with their obtuse obstructionism (usually by not instantly giving him a huge new contract with all the money he wanted), and how any sane person would have bolted the joint, he's just a simple friendly humble man who just wants to coach football, and of course, it had nothing, nothing whatsoever, to do with Money.

 

[spnited]

You guys are msissing the point. It's the Mizzougrad doctrine of selective ethics.

Guy I say is a ****in' stud= 5% blame
Scumbag talk radio guy = 95% blame

Because we all know ****in' studs are entitled and talk radio guys are all scum.

Fireable offense. Probably not. Worthy of discipline, yes. Darlington mostly to blame...absolutely.