Vinny Del Negro-John Paxson spat

[Locked]

Obviously, everybody pretty much read the story of the altercation involving Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro and VP John Paxson, but I've been more interested reading about the different versions of the fight and who had the story first. On Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported Paxson walked into Del Negro's office a couple of weeks after a loss to the Suns and started pulling Del Negro's tie and took a couple of jabs to Del Negro' chest because Del Negro over extended Joakim Noah's minutes, who was coming back from an injury.

During TNT's telecast of Tuesday's game, Craig Sager gave props to Tribune beat writer KC Johnson for breaking the story, but was quickly corrected that Wojnarowski broke the story earlier in the day, but Sager added that Johnson had the story and was just waiting for a better time to break it. During the game, Reggie Miller pretty much ripped Johnson for holding the story back.

Now today, ESPNChicago's Melissa Issacson, who covered the Bulls during the Jordan championship run, reported that Del Negro initiated the confrontation. Obviously, Issacson has sources in the Bulls organization, but is she being swayed by friends of Paxson for damage control?

I wonder who has this right.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Doubtful this is the first time someone sat on a story only to get burned when someone else reported it.

 

[LongTimeListener]

This is the problem granting anonymity to everyone for everything. By definition, Paxson or Del Negro is lying. Who is it? The reporters should be trying to figure out who's telling the truth, and instead they're happy to be the relays in a game of Telephone.

I know -- it's the way of the world now and if Yahoo and ESPN didn't want the story, someone else would get it. But the reporters are being used and they're going along with it.

 

[YankeeFan]

Sun-Times credited Yahoo today.

 

[slappy4428]

Sun-Times credited Yahoo today.

it sure as hell wasn't going to credit the Trib...

 

[tmr]

Yahoo! unequivocally broke the story. Everyone credited Yahoo. Sager and Co. got confused, since they were trying to decipher it on-air, while the game was going on, and then Sager sold out Johnson on national TV. The Trib updated the basic story online two times during the game, with extra nuggets, and then added nuance in the newspaper stories the next day.

 

[Moose A. Moose]

Aren't we burying the lede here? The fact is that a journalist sat on the story for weeks.

http://deadspin.com/5518014/chicago-tribune-writer-sits-on-fighting-bulls-scoop-sun+times-has-no-problem-with-that

 

[Stitch]

Aren't we burying the lede here? The fact is that a journalist sat on the story for weeks.

http://deadspin.com/5518014/chicago-tribune-writer-sits-on-fighting-bulls-scoop-sun+times-has-no-problem-with-that

I don't care who you are, you are a hack if you sit on a story like this.

 

[Rambler]

I don't care who you are, you are a hack if you sit on a story like this.

Anyone who believes K.C. Johnson, maybe the finest NBA writer in country, is a hack shouldn't be allowed to call himself a journalist. And certainly has never covered a professional beat.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Quite a stretch to call somebody a "hack" when you don't know all the facts. I don't know them, either.

 

[Den1983]

I don't care who you are, you are a hack if you sit on a story like this.

Anyone who believes K.C. Johnson, maybe the finest NBA writer in country, is a hack shouldn't be allowed to call himself a journalist. And certainly has never covered a professional beat.

How do you defend what he did, though? That's a significant story he got scooped on. I can't imagine his editors are too pleased.

 

[bumpy mcgee]

Saw on the Trib site they sent Bears beat guy Vaughn McClure to Charlotte to cover last night's game. McClure also had a sidebar on del Negro denying he instigated the situation with Paxson.
Anything to read into here?

 

[YankeeFan]

I don't care who you are, you are a hack if you sit on a story like this.

Anyone who believes K.C. Johnson, maybe the finest NBA writer in country, is a hack shouldn't be allowed to call himself a journalist. And certainly has never covered a professional beat.

How do you defend what he did, though? That's a significant story he got scooped on. I can't imagine his editors are too pleased.

Exactly.

I keep reading how important access is -- including access to the clubhouse.

You're supposed to be our eyes & ears. If you don't tell us what you see & hear, what's the point?

This didn't happen in an area where the participants could expect privacy.

Anyone who defends the writer who buried this story should also defend the Tiger sycophants, who only wrote pro-Tiger stories.

 

[JakeandElwood]

K.C. Johnson is probably my favorite writer at the Trib because he's very good at what he does and is pretty much always right. Whenever there is a trade rumor or something like that I always go to the Trib to see if it's a legit.

So with that being said, I am very, very miffed that he sat on the story, especially given his excellent track record.

He responds, albeit without saying a whole lot, in the first couple questions of his latest mailbag.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0415-web-ask-kc-bulls-chicago--20100414,0,6766965.story

 

[YankeeFan]

K.C. Johnson is probably my favorite writer at the Trib because he's very good at what he does and is pretty much always right. Whenever there is a trade rumor or something like that I always go to the Trib to see if it's a legit.

So with that being said, I am very, very miffed that he sat on the story, especially given his excellent track record.

He responds, albeit without saying a whole lot, in the first couple questions of his latest mailbag.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0415-web-ask-kc-bulls-chicago--20100414,0,6766965.story

He just digs a deeper hole with that mailbag.

American Media at least got a cover story & photo with Tiger for sitting on the pancake waitress story.

I'd hope Johnson at least got something in return for sitting on this, but it sounds like he didn't.

 

[JakeandElwood]

I'm still very unclear as to why he didn't. As someone who consistently breaks news on that beat and is, as another poster already said, one of the best if not the best NBA beat writer out there, I don't understand it at all.

It's a big, important story and I don't get why it would be held.

 

[21]

No disrespect to any of the writers involved here....but I want to understand Johnson's comment that he held Vinnie's career in his hands, and therefore decided to not run the story. Management has control over his career, and management already knows the story, right? Am I missing something?

And: Why not just do a joint interview, tell one story, set the record straight, and move on? Heat of the moment, everyone wants to win, every family fights, cliche cliche....done.

 

[Stitch]

No disrespect to any of the writers involved here....but I want to understand Johnson's comment that he held Vinnie's career in his hands, and therefore decided to not run the story. Management has control over his career, and management already knows the story, right? Am I missing something?

And: Why not just do a joint interview, tell one story, set the record straight, and move on? Heat of the moment, everyone wants to win, every family fights, cliche cliche....done.

A hack comment by K.C. to say that he holds a coach's career in his hands. Time to reevaluate a career, because it looks like someone just wants to either be liked or just doesn't care. I don't care who you are or what you've done in the past, you're job as a beat reporter is to break news that no one else gets and not sit just there and play with yourself.

 

[JakeandElwood]

How did he hold Vinny's career in his hands? Isn't it a foregone conclusion that he's getting fired after the season?

 

[tmr]

Not that this changes people's opinion, but the "life in hands" quote stems from Sager quoting KC as saying that. Not quite the same thing as him explaining himself as such. I would imagine he said something along those lines to Sager, but the context might have been lost.