Columnists writing for a newspaper really should know what they are writing about before vomiting up words to fill the allotted column inches. Case in point: Phil Paramore in the Dothan Eagle.
Paramore begins by writing about hapless University of Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, but eventually he shifts focus to Alabama and its wait on the NCAA verdict.
He drops this about Alabama, “Many Alabama fans are sitting on the edge of their seats awaiting word from the NCAA on the probe into athletes selling textbooks for a profit. As you will recall, All-SEC center Antoine Caldwell was one of several athletes that were allegedly getting free books via their scholarships, then passing them on to other students at a reduced rate while pocketing the proceeds.”
No.
That isn’t correct. According to the Alabama report on the matter to the NCAA, “The investigation did not reveal that anyone converted the books or materials to cash by reselling the items, and did not reveal that anyone acquired items that were not academic in character (no iPods, no sweatshirts, etc.).”
If you can just make stuff up, then anyone can be a columnist. The Dothan Eagle has a responsibility to its readers to do a better job of editing its writers.
Paramore also engages in a scare by putting into writing rumors that the NCAA sanctions could be worse than first thought; he even suggests a television ban could be in the offing.
Does anyone remember the last television ban handed down by the NCAA? Seriously, I can’t recall it. The 2002 Alabama case, which involved serious allegations, did not include any television ban.
Nice scare try there Paramore, but you really should try reading before you spew stupidity onto the pages of a newspaper.
13 thoughts on “Columnists need to know stuff”
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Recon he’s a Barner P.O.S. or just one of the stereotypical Alabamians the Wolverines were referencing? LOL! RTR!
I believe the last T.V. ban was 93 Auburn. Thank goodness those days are over. At least I think they are.
I think that detail would’ve made the column more interesting because IF the NCAA returns to television bans, it would be a historic change in the way penalties are administered. A columnist writing about tv bans should do a little research into that. 🙂
I do beleive it was the UNDEFEATED 93 AUburn team 🙂 its sad but true….
oh and I would be a Hypocrite if I didnt say this guy should get his stuff right before he lays it down, Thats just what we talked about with SHane and TWS…I personally dont want to read ANYONES homer rhetoric AU, uat or otherwise
Cap, I agree that the investigation didn’t reveal that the players passed the books on for a profit, because there really was no way to prove that. As I recall, the players said that they simply passed the books on to their friends for no charge. There really wouldn’t be any way to confirm or deny that the players received cash for the books from these “friends”, though. Do you really believe that those players didn’t sell those books for cash under the table?
P.S. I agree with you that Paramore shouldn’t be passing that off as fact, because that hasn’t been proven. I just have a hard time believing thos books weren’t ultimately sold by the players. (And yes, I’d say the same thing if it happened at any other school, including Auburn).
I don’t know, I have a hard time believing that these male and female athletes sold the textbooks to their girlfriends and boyfriends.
Paramore just inserted what he heard on his talk radio as fact. The Dothan Eagle needs to fix this.
Will they?
My inlaws live in Dothan so when we visit I have to put up with his dribble. Paramore is the biggest moron ever to type on a computer. I told Finebaum one day after having Paramore on talking about Alabama was akin to talking to the cow college athletic dept. about Bama. He is an absolute disgrace to his profession. And we are talking about journalists.
Funny Omni, you claim you don’t want to read Shane, yet you keep getting on the Capstone Report. Could it be your obsessed with The University of Alabama? Sounds like it. If you don’t like UA writers, I suggest you go read a board that covers Alabama Polytechnic Institute. There you could read about your 5-19 coach and/or the latest All-star longsnapper to commit to API.
Maybe the Dothan Eagle should just run a syndicated column if their lead sports columnist just can’t come up with material for that day or whatever. How pathetic — spewing wrong information for “filler material”.
Next time — run an AP feed. RTR!
I have listened to Paramore and the guy is not stupid or a moron. He is doing what most “talkers” in the Media are doing. He is repeating what other bloggers have said or posted. Hell – some of the posts here are better than what you can pay 75 cents for.
Yup. That is what print journalism has come to now. Repeating what others say.
Pitiful.
He is the head Moron of the Jugghead Brigade.
I hate “journalists” who dont know what they are talking about so they “invent” some of the facts.
I am sure it might pass as journalism to some people. But in truth it is pandering to an audience and telling them what they wish were the truth.
Phil Marshall has made a living doing it for years.
I was always told that journalists strive for excellence. And that credibility was thier stock and trade.
Apparently no one told Mr. Paramore of these high ideals.
I would label him as yet another in a long list of media prostitutes.
Great points — I know for a FACT that the major newspapers just take stories from ESPN/AP/REUTERS — and will just spin it around into their own words and print it — that’s their paycheck for the day. The days of REAL journalism are gone. I’m talking about the old school investigative reporting from newspapers you used to get back in the day — they are all scared of lawsuits and they got no balls to go out and get REAL stories.
Why go out and actually work when it’s all a “click away”. Silly “columnist” and “news reporters”.
HELL — even the LOCAL TV NEWS STATIONS spin crap they’ve already read on the internet/newspapers.