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Post by derhut on Dec 22, 2014 11:38:56 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2014 12:19:15 GMT -5
Mr. Pollock has always had an inflated sense of his importance. The OTH sports section is horrible. They really have almost no original content. They have hs coaches call in all their games and then they write a paragraph with the top two scorers mentioned. Then a throwaway quote in the article and voila a paper. JP Butler does a good job, but could we ever get a quote from an opposing coach? Schmidt is never going to say anything interesting, but maybe the opposing coaches will. Tom roof only wants to write about volleyball and wrestling . Overall it is a sad paper that probably won't last long.
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Post by sbu79 on Dec 22, 2014 12:58:57 GMT -5
I don't know whether the OTH sports sections is horrible or not, but, other than his opening sentence, I found his article to be thought provoking. First, he shared some information that I had not heard before regarding a going away dinner and that some people knew what was going on, but more interesting was his choice to challenge the program's secrecy in such a public manner.
Consistent with my sentiment, Pollock raises the notion that you might want to get out in front of a story like this. Now, it might be the case that there are legal privacy issues in play here, but there is, I believe, a pattern of the program not saying anything until it absolutely must on similar matters. For instance, are we to belive that Jalen Adams' elibility last year was really decided just moments before the tipoff of the first game of the season? I see stuff like that reported in my local paper about the local program all the time. Maybe that is an indictment on the OTH, but the pattern seems strong to me.
Additionally, I obviously know nothing since I am a thousand miles away, but my gut is telling me that there is more brewing, but we won't hear anything until the 2nd semester starts.
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Post by tastylicks on Dec 22, 2014 13:09:25 GMT -5
Pollock is such a hack. How about doing some investigative reporting for once instead of being lazy and then bashing the university. It's the media's job to find stories not the University's job to give it to them. Everyone wanted to know anything they could about Gathers since the first practice. He works for a newspaper 2 miles up the road.. the bonnies are the biggest thing in Olean and Gathers the biggest story...go ask questions yourself..
The Olean TH is a horrendous newspaper. Such a shame that Butler who I like has to work for that crappy outlet. Maybe the Buffalo News will hire Butler when the OTH packs it in.
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Post by towniegrad on Dec 22, 2014 13:32:44 GMT -5
There are many things the oth could do better including dropping its right wing politics and providing better sports coverage to its local teams;OHS, pcs, A-L, and Salamanca...one area no one should have any complaint over is its EXHAUSTIVE coverage of everything bona...unfortunate the school wants total control of info and only positive news...even then the paper bends over backwards to do just that...for a town olean's size Pollack is overly competent...the t-h does use Butler almost exclusively as a full time bona reporter...an unwarranted use of scarce manpower...and jp does a fine job.
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Post by gdub2009 on Dec 22, 2014 13:53:21 GMT -5
When it was reported Gathers would be leaving Bonas, I really didn't think that the coaching staff told him to hang it up. I figured it was Gathers decision because he would have the opportunity for a full year of basketball next year closer to family and friends. And good for Gathers, I wish him nothing but the best. This whole story is getting blown out of proportion in my opinion. Players using their 5th year/Graduate year to play at another school is a common practice now. Let's not act like this is something unheard of.
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Post by derhut on Dec 22, 2014 13:55:01 GMT -5
When the Brown Indians were rolling in the '60s and 70s the OTH had two great writers, Bob Davies and Mike Abdo. Back then, there were three very strong sports pages daily in the OTH. I believe that is when Pollock crossed the state line from Bradford and began working at the OTH. Davies and Abdo were entertaining and thought provoking...probably even SBU homers, but always had good content to read. The OTH sports section did a bang up job of covering the "big 30" high school area...box scores and stories after every high school hoops or football game..I have been away from the area for quite some time, but I would venture to say that the quality and depth of reporting in the OTH has slipped much like the population in general in the Olean/Bradford area. I have seen OTH scribes plead with local HS coaches to phone in scores and game details to no avail. I was under the assumption that the beat reporters went after stories and did the initiating, digging up of facts and reporting..sounds like the OTH is operating on budgetary fumes and cannot get reporters out to cover sporting events. Also to note, isn't Tom Missel, the SBU director of media relations and marketing the same person who was an OTHer who covered the Brown Indians years ago ? Sounds like Mr. Missel is the guy to contact directly in an effort to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship between the OTH and SBU.
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Post by res on Dec 22, 2014 14:03:00 GMT -5
When the Brown Indians were rolling in the '60s and 70s the OTH had two great writers, Bob Davies and Mike Abdo. Back then, there were three very strong sports pages daily in the OTH. Ne I wasn't quite the fan of Davies and Abdo as you and many others, though I admit they were good. But, it was a different world then. Newspapers were king then. The number of OTH subscriptions in those days was nearly 30,000. I'd wager the number now is between 10,000 and 15,000. It's hard to pay for quality journalism with what has happened to subscriptions and classified ad revenue. My god, the print Washington Post now has about as many pages as the OTH did then. Frankly, I'm surprised the OTH has survived at all.
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Post by bartmitchell on Dec 22, 2014 14:17:53 GMT -5
While Chuck pronounces it "inarguable" that Bonas dropped the ball (thereby rendering my, or any other discussion of the topic moot), maybe, just maybe, there's a reason they handled things the way they did.
Let me emphasis that I have ZERO personal information on Gather's situation. But, I did write 3-4 months ago that I was VERY concerned about his return from the particular injury he suffered and surgery that was required. In my mind, coming back from that injury/surgery to be something close to the ballplayer he was, was always an iffy proposition.
Suppose it has become clear to the program's medical people that Jordan may never return be the player he was before surgery. He seems like such a great teammate (boy was that reinforced by Fiske's 'good bye' tweet) that I would hope the staff would offer him a seat on the bench next year while there was any chance he could make it back on the court and contribute - assuming he would want to be back even if he might ride the bench all year.
Maybe they made the hard decision not to give him another year on scholarship. I hope that's not the case. As someone looking in from the outside, I think he deserved better. Or maybe, Jordan was recently told by medical personnel he was most likely not going to be able to play to near his old ability and decided to move on with his life. Perhaps to try to contribute to a team in a less competitive setting, or to get on with his life after basketball.
The point is, what was Bonas supposed to tell Mr Pollock or the rest of the media ? How do you tell that story without getting into Gathers's HIPPA protected medical information ? The school has no right to discuss any of it, and to do so would not only be against the law, but detrimental to Jordan should he try to play basketball anywhere in the future. The athletic department released a statement saying he was graduating, thanking him, and wishing him the best. I wish the statement was a little more enthusiastic in it's praise, but keeping it low key served to minimize the media attention, and questions.
As fans, we care about Gathers, and are curious for an explanation. Maybe in time, Jordan will address the situation.
In the meantime, Mr Pollock is entitled to complain that the athletic department didn't gift wrap the story for him. But I certainly disagree that his point is "inarguable".
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Post by bbb on Dec 22, 2014 15:17:05 GMT -5
One thing I totally agree with him on - nobody in the non-media world gives a crap who got the scoop. Yet they are obsessed with it to the point of getting it wrong all the time.
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Post by 123Rob on Dec 22, 2014 17:04:02 GMT -5
I made a call and sent a couple of texts and I have an understanding of the situation. Am I sure it is 100% correct? No. But the people I heard from are almost always correct. If they don't know and are just speculating they say so. They didn't say so in this case. I was told what they understood to be true. If the version that I heard is correct it is a bit of a sticky situation. Nothing sinister or shocking, but anything said by any one party probably does not tell the whole story in a fair way to all. So why does Pollock throw the school under the bus, insulting them along the way? When he got wind of the story from a fan, why didn't he make some phone calls and send some texts? Ask what happened. If no one would comment ask for something off the record and try to shape a balanced story. What does that say about his relationship with people at SBU both inside and outside of the bball program? Why didn't he call Gathers directly? The parties involved have chosen to say nothing for now. Why does Pollock feel he has to say something? In the process he says nothing, insults the athletic dept and fuels further speculation. No wonder newspapers are dead.
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Post by wgt on Dec 22, 2014 17:26:57 GMT -5
Bartmitchell…..You raise so many excellent points that highlight that this event has aspects & factors that some may not have given consideration to.
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Post by njbonnie08 on Dec 22, 2014 17:49:10 GMT -5
I will say this on Gathers' situation. I have been informed by a pretty reliable source on what exactly went down with his departure. I am debating posting the reported events on the website right now. There's a lot more at play then we broke the story which I could care less about. I have to think about it some more before making a decision on releasing it. www.thebonablog.com
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Post by az63 on Dec 22, 2014 18:43:26 GMT -5
I will say this on Gathers' situation. I have been informed by a pretty reliable source on what exactly went down with his departure. I am debating posting the reported events on the website right now. There's a lot more at play then we broke the story which I could care less about. I have to think about it some more before making a decision on releasing it. www.thebonablog.com I would like to see that post.
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Post by pistolpete on Dec 22, 2014 18:43:28 GMT -5
I will say this on Gathers' situation. I have been informed by a pretty reliable source on what exactly went down with his departure. I am debating posting the reported events on the website right now. There's a lot more at play then we broke the story which I could care less about. I have to think about it some more before making a decision on releasing it. www.thebonablog.com I have known since Friday and have not posted. I think it would be best not to post. Just my opinion.
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