There’s always plenty of good journalistic fodder in sports.
Today, I have three things I want to call to your attention.
1) Last night, we saw a great example of a college athletic director — Jeff Long of Arkansas — putting principle above expediency.
Long announced at a press conference in Fayetteville that football Coach Bobby Petrino would not be returning next season, after Petrino witheld key details of a motorcycle accident he was involved in last week.
At the news conference, Long said that Petrino had “knowingly misled” the Razorback athletic department and the residents of Arkansas.
Petrino
The 51-year-old Petrino had been on paid leave after failing to tell Long that a 25-year-old female football program employee — a beautiful blonde — was riding with him when his motorcycle went into a ditch outside of Fayetteville. Petrino, who is married with four children, also admitted to “an inappropriate relationship” with the football program employee, Jessica Dorrell.
Petrino didn’t tell Long that Dorrell was on the bike with him until minutes before a police report was released last week. The police report disclosed Dorrell’s presence at the accident. Petrino suffered head and neck injuries, while Dorrell was uninjured.
Petrino recently completed his fourth season at Arkansas, and he had compiled a 34-17 record. He had a long-term contract paying him an average of $3.53 million a year. His contract contained a clause, however, that allowed the university to fire Petrino for “engaging in conduct, as solely determined by the university, which is clearly contrary to the character and responsibilities of a person occupying the position of head football coach or which negatively or adversely affects the reputation of the (university’s) athletics programs in any way.”
He certainly did adversely affect the school’s reputation. Because he violated that clause, the university will not have to buy out his contract.
In a story posted on ESPN.com last night, reporter Tim Keown noted that character questions about Petrino had begun long before Arkansas hired him in 2007.
Long
Keown wrote: “Long had to ask himself some simple questions leading up to Tuesday evening’s decision: How many different ways did this guy embarrass the university and play his bosses for fools, and how many wins would it take to forgive them? Apparently, the answers were equally simple: There aren’t enough wins on anybody’s schedule to keep Petrino on board and wonder what might come next.”
Hiring Petrino was Long’s first major move after he became athletic director in January 2008. Firing him on Tuesday was an even bigger move. Congratulations to Jeff Long. He’s taken a big step toward undoing the damage that Petrino did to the university’s reputation.
2) On the morning of the KU-UK championship basketball game in New Orleans, The Star had a picture of a KU player (at least I think it was a player) on the newspaper’s front page. Well, actually, it wasn’t on the front page; it was the front page. Took up the entire cover.
Subsequently, two or three authors of letters to the editor took the paper to task for dedicating the entire front page to a sporting event, even a very big one. I had been mulling over the wisdom of that editorial decision, but, then, another letter writer came along and said something to the effect of, “Hey, folks, it’s only one front page.”
So, I thought, “OK, I can buy that.”
But yesterday, however, a photo of KU star Thomas Robinson and his little sister took up about half the front page. The photo linked to an article on the front of the sports section about Robinson announcing his decision to turn pro, even though he has another year of collegiate eligibility.
I’m sure that the editors rationalized their decision to put the photo on the front page by the fact that Robinson and his sister Jayla endured tremendous personal losses when their mother and maternal grandparents died within several weeks of each other in late 2010 and early 2011.
That accounted for the headline above the photo: “Brighter Days Ahead.” That story was fleshed out all season long, however, and didn’t need to be highlighted again. I think that photo was inappropriate for the front page, especially coming on the heels of the all-KU front page a week earlier.
Why should The Star glamorize the fact that a basketball player, as good as he is, has decided to forgo his opportunity to graduate with his class and in favor of a mammoth contract with an NBA team? Don’t get me wrong; I’m not quarreling with Robinson’s decision — just with the editors’ decision to feature the story on the front page.
Air ball!
3) Unbelievable. That’s all I can say about New York Times’ golf writer Karen Crouse’s description on Monday of the shot by Bubba Watson that won the Masters golf tournament Sunday.
If you watched the two-hole playoff between Bubba and Louis Oosthuizen, you know that Bubba made an unbelievable shot from way off the 10th fairway. He hooked an iron shot around a tree line and onto the green. It was a spectacular shot that curved an estimated 40 yards.
Crouse
In Monday’s paper, however, Crouse wrote: “After driving into the woods, he sliced a shot onto the green.” For Bubba, a left-handed player, a slice would have been cutting the ball from right to left, not drawing it from left to right.
There’s a huge, huge difference between hooking a ball and slicing a ball; they go in totally different directions.
I wrote to the Times’ sports desk, saying, “What in the world was Karen thinking about? Certainly she knows the difference between a hook and a slice?!?!?”
So far, no reply. And no correction in today’s paper.
What a disappointment from my favorite newspaper.
Air ball! Oops, make that out of bounds. Go back to the tee and hit again, Karen.
Note: The Times ran a correction in today’s edition.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Ms. Crouse in no way actually watched that tournament, or, that shot. Anyone with cursory knowledge of golf had to be amazed with the shot and the big hook it took to get it on the green. How could a “Sports Writer” miss that?
I am hoping, that included in your missive, was a reference to the Double Eagle and Phil’s “flop” shot so she could enjoy the Masters as much as we did.
Sheesh…
Did Petrino have a better year than Frank Haith?
“Shapiro said he violated NCAA rules with the knowledge or direct participation of at least six coaches – Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland and Aubrey Hill on the football staff, and Frank Haith, Jake Morton and Jorge Fernandez on the basketball staff. Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports Shapiro also violated NCAA rules with football assistant Joe Pannunzio, although the booster refused to answer any questions about that relationship. Shapiro also named assistant football equipment manager Sean Allen as someone who engaged in rulebreaking, and equipment managers Ralph Nogueras and Joey Corey as witnesses to some of his impropriety.
“The booster said his role went one step farther with the basketball program, when he paid $10,000 to help secure the commitment of recruit DeQuan Jones. Shapiro said the transaction was set up by assistant coach Jake Morton in 2007 who acted as the conduit for the funds, and was later acknowledged by head coach Frank Haith in a one-on-one conversation.
“Shapiro also entertained then-prominent AAU basketball coach Moe Hicks in October of 2008, with a nightclub visit that was attended by both Morton and Fernandez.”
No sarcasm here actually.
Which is worse? Chasing tail or chasing recruits?
Chuck’s quoted material appears to have come from a Yahoo! Sports story.
Jim, you’re certainly on top of things in the wide world of sports. Of course, my position on the KU coverage in The Star is that there has been far too much of it, all things considered. Beat mighty Kentucky to win the national title? Yeah, that would have rated some space on the front page, but anything else, not really. They go out and sell the advertising for these special sections and then have to fill the “news” hole with KU/Final Four material, much of which is rehashed “news”. But to honor a veteran in the tribute planned for late May, the cost is $25 per subscriber/reader. And the ones we keep losing over there never see the front page, only the “Military Deaths” column buried somewhere in the Sunday “A” section. Something’s dreadfully wrong with this picture! Regarding the golf story, it’s disappointing that the incorrect description of Mr. Watson’s shot apparently made it past the “editors” in the first place, and equally disappointing that The Times hasn’t seen fit to run a correction. As has been surmised here, the reporter probably didn’t actually watch The Masters either in person or on TV.
Thanks for the comment, Rick. I added a note about an hour ago, pointing out that The Times ran a correction in today’s paper. I would have been extremely disappointed if they’d let that error stand.
Chuck and Jimmy C. — The NCAA made its ruling on Haith and the activities at the University of Miami. Obviously, Haith had a better year.
You need a lot of editing, Larry!
What’s Ozzie Guillen’s future with his “love and respect” for Fidel Castro?
The Marlins changed their name from Florida to Miami, have a new
home in Miami’s “Little Havana,” and the politicians who arm twisted for most of the $515M for the new stadium want his head. Is a five-day suspension and his sincere apology enough? I don’t come down on either side of this one.
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I don’t begrudge the Jayhawks front page spread. Another day another front page. Back to wrapping the garbage to take out. I don’t play golf and I didn’t watch the Masters. Is there something I missed?
I’m thinking the decision to take up the additional space on the front page had nothing to do with sympathy for Robinson. My bet is that it was a cheap way to fill up a lot of space, nothing more, nothing less.
Sharp eye on that golf story, Fitz. Most folks wouldn’t know the difference.
Very plausible theory, John. You can never underestimate the lack of good material as motivation for making a splash with a marginal story or photo.
Thank God Lent is over and I can go back to NOT reading the Star. As a sign of my recently acquired emotional maturity I will pass on the hundreds of comments I could make about Ms. Crouse. You can thank me later.
I’m reading your mind and thanking you now, Smartman…As much as it hurts, I had to laugh at your notion of Lenten self-flagellation.
Jim, putting things in perspective, I don’t believe (and I could be wrong) that KU’s victory over Memphis four years ago in the title game consumed virtually the entire front page of The Star, as did the LOSS the other day against Kentucky. Heck, going w-a-y back, the Kennedy assassination didn’t occupy the entire front page of the afternoon edition on Nov. 22, 1963. Much of it, yes. There was other news on the front page the day after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, and I believe the same could be said for the morning paper that followed the Royals’ victory in game 7 of the ’85 World Series. Anymore, they don’t have a real good sense of balance down there in terms of coverage. It’s either feast or famine. The Sports Department and not the Editorial Department would appear to be running the paper more often than not. Not good any way you slice it.
Part of that has to do with layout changes over the years and the gradual movement toward putting the emphasis on one big story — the day’s “centerpiece.” Sometimes it’s a photo and accompanying story; sometimes it’s a photo that refers to a story inside (like the KU-Thomas Robinson story); and occasionally it’s just a photo, like the day of the KU-UK championship game.
Old-schoolers like you and I prefer more variety on the front page. The New York Times manages to offer a lot of front-page stories and still feature a photo; they just don’t run the centerpiece photo as big as most metropolitan dailies do.