re: ESPN: Responsible Journalism or Hack Piece?

ESPN had an agenda here, but you're fricking dumb if you believe it was to make Les look bad because of the UM stuff. I mean do you honestly think they were sitting around going " Well it's been 3 years since Les made herbie look like a fool, now is clearly the time to strike back by doing a piece on over signing muahahaha" I mean if that's the scenario that played out in your head.... seek help.

it was bad

this is a segment worthy of full 30 minutes on OTL and not 8 minutes of 2 players who were cut and a lawyer who represents players

the fact that they showed the avg signing of all BCS conferences and then iso'd SEC vs Big10 was bullshite

there IS a big10 bias in the major media, and the explanation is simple: a lot of the personalities went to big10 schools or notre dame. many big10 schools have really prominent alumni working for espn. it's just facts

I Have 1 Question




Was $abun in the piece? Lord knows he yanked schollies. And as much arse kissing as ESPN does to $abun surely they did not leave him out of this fine piece.

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Is there credible stuff out there to show they did? I mean more than (reasonable) inference

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Isn't that what credible journalists do? Look for the evidence. The major inference is that the boosters were paying everyone but the two most notable stars to play for SMU during that time period? I know one of Reggie Dupard's former teamates at JC said Reggie got a car when he went to SMU. But he could not get a Vette until James and Dickerson left.

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Isn't that what credible journalists do? Look for the evidence. The major inference is that the boosters were paying everyone but the two most notable stars to play for SMU during that time period? I know one of Reggie Dupard's former teamates at JC said Reggie got a car when he went to SMU. But he could not get a Vette until James and Dickerson left.

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interesting

contradicts what i heard dickerson and james say tho... to hear them tell the story the cheating took place after they had left the program

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Little Nicky cleared out half of Alabama's team, in the past few seasons... Why not talk about him...

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i think the availability of former tide players may have had something to do with it. i don't think Miami is known for oversigning, but they made teh piece b/c there was a former UM player willing to talk (like CG)

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c. james got off scott free, which was bullshite

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Amazing, huh?

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One thing for sure. If Miles wanted to hire Leach as OC it wouldnt matter to ESPN. They already hate him and LSU

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He gets my vote, then!

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First of all, Little Nicky cleared out half of Alabama's team, in the past few seasons... Why not talk about him...

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Saban and Bama have already been the focus of numerous media attacks on the practice of oversigning players. If ESPN had used them it would have been overkill.

Also Bama is fairly shrewd with this practice. They are overly diagnostic with medical issues for borderline players so when it comes down to making the annual cuts, they put those guys on medical hardship and then spin some nonsense about how much of a favor they are doing by providing them this protection and how lucky they are to be able to continue to get a free education at Bama.

So when you accuse Bama of abusing the system, you're typically placed in the difficult position of arguing medicine, and the media - at least the sports media - seems to shy away from such topics. They don't want to be put in the compromising position of trying to argue that some kid's back injury is really just a common strain and that Alabama's trainers are full of it when they say it is a major risk or career threatening or whatever.

ESPN needed a kid with a clean bill of health, no arrest record or transcript littered with Ds and Fs, who was willing to go record and, from a production standpoint, look good doing it. They just happened to find that guy at LSU.

Also, some of these kids are mad at how they were treated but they don't want to publicly attack the school because that could compromise their futures. If they're getting "cut" then obviously they don't have a future in the NFL, which means they will be out job hunting in a few years. I doubt this kid will be putting in any applications in the state of Louisiana. And I bet his dad is glad he doesn't live or do business there either.

Pride is one thing, but when you burn bridges in the SEC, you ain't ever goin back to that side of the river.

I'll put on my fire proof underwear before I comment....

Now... as a father who sat in Coach Miles office this summer, and personally heard him tell me: "if your son comes to LSU, I'll be sure to take good care of him..." I was speechless after seeing this on TV! Any "system" that allows you to promise more scholarships that you have available, is clearly broken... And I can't believe anyone with a kid that longs to play D1 ball would disagree! It's wrong regardless of who does it. For coach Nutt to laugh about the 30+ signings he had one year was horrible!

Flame away folks, but even an ol' Buckeye fan like me knows its wrong. I'm not saying that Les didn't take the brunt of the hit in the show, because he clearly did. LSU in no more guilty than many other SEC schools, BUT YOU'RE STILL GUILTY! I pray that my family never gets hit by this issue over the next 4 years!