This all started with a post on the spat between reporters from the South Bend Tribune and Notre Dame coach Crewcut Charlie Weis on Heisman Pundit. It spread like a California wildfire and hit the Wiz with the force of a tsunami when the Notre Dame contingent took exception to our stand against Crewcut's attempts to intimidate the press. Although it is our opinion that many Fighting Irish fans are blindly following their leader, we like to present both sides of the story. Let it be known that the Michigan site MGoBlog sided with the Golden Domers, so score one for good, old Notre Dame. But as we mentioned, reporters are making a big stink about Crewcut and word gets around quickly in this fraternity. Al Hamnik's column in the Times of Northwest Indiana was a beaut. "Behind the scenes, away from cameras and tape recorders, we're told [Weis has] the people skills of a prison guard. And a temper to match," wrote Hamnik. He was just getting started. "A large number of alumni reportedly are upset by his behavior. As long as the Irish win, they'll bite their lip. But if the program struggles, his critics will multiply like roaches." And about those principles raised in the South Bend Tribune series, take note that Notre Dame's media day was held on a Sunday morning. A Catholic university, on a church day no less! OK, Notre Dame fans, what do you have to say now? Just so we can get flagged 15 for piling on, take a look at this thread on Sports Journalists. Consider yourself warned. There are words in it good Catholics shouldn't read.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Notre Dame, You're on Notice!
This all started with a post on the spat between reporters from the South Bend Tribune and Notre Dame coach Crewcut Charlie Weis on Heisman Pundit. It spread like a California wildfire and hit the Wiz with the force of a tsunami when the Notre Dame contingent took exception to our stand against Crewcut's attempts to intimidate the press. Although it is our opinion that many Fighting Irish fans are blindly following their leader, we like to present both sides of the story. Let it be known that the Michigan site MGoBlog sided with the Golden Domers, so score one for good, old Notre Dame. But as we mentioned, reporters are making a big stink about Crewcut and word gets around quickly in this fraternity. Al Hamnik's column in the Times of Northwest Indiana was a beaut. "Behind the scenes, away from cameras and tape recorders, we're told [Weis has] the people skills of a prison guard. And a temper to match," wrote Hamnik. He was just getting started. "A large number of alumni reportedly are upset by his behavior. As long as the Irish win, they'll bite their lip. But if the program struggles, his critics will multiply like roaches." And about those principles raised in the South Bend Tribune series, take note that Notre Dame's media day was held on a Sunday morning. A Catholic university, on a church day no less! OK, Notre Dame fans, what do you have to say now? Just so we can get flagged 15 for piling on, take a look at this thread on Sports Journalists. Consider yourself warned. There are words in it good Catholics shouldn't read.
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4 comments:
Wiz- seriously, you're letting your dislike of ND get in the way of objectivity. How much have you loooked into this story? The SB reporters violated a pretty fair and well known rule that they must go through Weis to interview an ND player. They violated the rule and the only reprecussions were that they could not ask questions at 1 press conference. After the press conference the Weis spoke with the reporters and everything was cleared up.
Secondly, as for Al Hamnick - have you looked into his background. He has been fired from past publications for lying on his resume. Also, he formerly worked with one of the SBT reporters and is a personal friend of him. Further he does not name a single source to back up his claim that alumni have a problem with Weis.
The Northwest Indiana Times is, maybe, one step above the Penny Saver. As for this clown's article, could he maybe, I don't know, cite a source? Perhaps present a concrete example? There are thousands upon thousands of "Notre Dame Alumni" out there. Could he not find ONE who would actually support his thesis on the record? Or was he simply making this crap up? yeah, I think so too.
1. The program's looking out for its fans. As reported by BGS, they're making a good deal of content available directly to fans (see http://und.cstv.com/genrel/080206aab.html).
2. ND has guaranteed media coverage because of the NBC contract.
For these two reasons, they don't need to worry about pissing off a small newspaper.
And while I strongly dislike Clausen thus far, Weis is looking out for his players, his recruits, and the ND program by condemning that type of article. Overall, I really like the way Weis deals with the media.
-David
Oh yeah, and before you write something negative about ND, just remember:
"Hell hath no fury like the vast blogger armies of a Robot Genius scorned."
-David
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