Wessler Praises Team, Coach, and Effort

[Future Walk-On]

Much agreed! It seems like he takes advantage of every opportunity to personally attack Les. I remember Cellus' junior year Coach Les let the players choose the song for the starting lineups. Chosen was the instrumental of a 50 Cent song......Not the song......the instrumental because of the beat. OHHHHHH NOOOOOO, KW wasn't having that so he wrote an article about it the next day and how it was so ridiculous to him. The next home game, ol' 50 was gone. When you write articles that do nothing more than express your personal likes and dislikes and try to somehow influence what the program does as a result, it makes me want to puke!

so they eliminated the song because of KW's article? that would show that he carries some weight lol. why is it so sickening wessler didn't remove the song himself he just wrote article!

[lefty]

Olbermann is great. I love his stuff.

He went out with Rebecca Lobo back in the day

Ok JD.......really....if you weren't a Packer fan I would be questioning your mental state regarding Olbermann

[BradleyJD]

Ok JD.......really....if you weren't a Packer fan I would be questioning your mental state regarding Olbermann

Come on, Man!

[Dallas Brave]

After reading KW's articles for five years, it is apparent that he is usually very quick to jump on negative down drafts of the program and a little slower when it comes to covering the up drafts. It always seems like the "upbeat" articles come at times when he has no choice but to be positive. His writing can get personal which is more apparent in his live game blogs.

Given his position, I'm always a little surprised when he comes out with the occasional, whiney article like he did about the black uniforms. Those articles always seems like he wrote them when he had a fifth of whiskey in him. His predicament is an interesting case ... an Ill St. graduate covering Bradley basketball. The emotional conflict in his writing is easy to pick up ... pay check vs. school affiliation.

[wizard1]

Wessler praises team, Etc.

T---You are way off base in your comment about Dick Lein. Dick was a great BU supporter and loved the school and its B Ball program. When he thoought BU was wrong, he said so but he was never, never anti Bradley. I don't know where you came up with this conclusion but you are 1000% incorrect!

[tornado]

Dick L. and Dick V. did not see eye to eye and I will leave it at that..
Dick V. had a "pet" nickname for Dick L. that I heard him speak, and it basically tells all..

[Beninator]

Olbermann is great. I love his stuff.

He went out with Rebecca Lobo back in the day

He also dated laura Ingraham for a while which, imo, is hilarious.

I guess you and Beninator have something in common. Can't we all just get along?

lol

After reading KW's articles for five years, it is apparent that he is usually very quick to jump on negative down drafts of the program and a little slower when it comes to covering the up drafts. It always seems like the "upbeat" articles come at times when he has no choice but to be positive. His writing can get personal which is more apparent in his live game blogs.

Given his position, I'm always a little surprised when he comes out with the occasional, whiney article like he did about the black uniforms. Those articles always seems like he wrote them when he had a fifth of whiskey in him. His predicament is an interesting case ... an Ill St. graduate covering Bradley basketball. The emotional conflict in his writing is easy to pick up ... pay check vs. school affiliation.

very true. KW's articles are just too up and down for me.

[wizard1]

Wessler Praises Team, Etc.

T--You are correct in that Dick L. and Dick V. did not see eye to eye. Dick V. had pet names for many people and Lein was only one of many. Lots of people did not see eye to eye with Dick V.---You either loved him or hated him---not much in between. However, in no way at all did this affect Dick L.s loyalty or feelings about BU. Again, he was NEVER anti Bradley and this statement remains very wrong!

[tornado]

OK - depends on how you see it.... I saw that Dick L. said many subtle and not so subtle things about Versace that were clearly anti-, and as newspaper people oft do, he took Versace's words, kinda misused them and twisted them to his advantage and to Dick V.'s disadvantage, and that led to the two of them barely speaking...... so if you don't want to count that as anti-BU, then OK..but I would.....
There have also been some similar misquotes and slams coming from current PJS writers that cause the current coach to also choose his words extremely carefull lest he get labelled as being a liar, dishonest, not revealing the true lineup or availability of players, etc....
I, too, have spoken to news people then had my words severely distorted in print, so I likewise would be dearth to ever speak to a newspaper person...
..you know...the pen is mightier...and he who buys ink by the barrel....
Strangely...in every other Valley city (and I have read all their coverage for years) there is nowhere near the distrust between the coaches and the journalists...so make what you want of it..
but then in every other city, the press deals pretty fairly, honestly, objectively, un-begrudgingly, and in a supportive way of the local programs...
in fact, in most media markets they are quite proud of what they have and don't look to be the "Woodward & Bernstein's" of the local market, always looking for some sleaze to report on or to take someone down...
This desire to "take someone down"...especially someone who you already hold a grudge against.....does indeed go back to the Dick Lein era, and it's kinda MSNBC-ish in nature...and borders on the unethical.......and as I surmise from your post, you appear to agree with that.

[wizard1]

Wessler praises team, Etc---

T---OK, I guess you and I simply see things differently with PJS sportswriting.
We'll have to agree to disagree.

I'm not particularly a fan of the media---I rant & rave about the National media and many PJS editorial opinions and columns.

However, I believe local sportswriters certainly should have strong bias and loyalty to local teams and schools. They should be fans like the rest of us.
Dick L. and KW were and are.

But--- I also believe that they should not be unabashed "cheerleaders" with rose colored glasses who only see and report on the good but never the bad which is what many on this board seem to want.

Game reporters write about the facts of the game---"what happened". Columnists very often write their opinions---Sometime we agree with them and sometimes we disagree.

FYI, two of my kids were scholarshipped Divn. I athletes at BCS schools and had many, many things written about them in PJS Sports. I cannot ever recall over the years anything that was negative, cutting, or incorrectly written about them.

[Braveman]

My question would be- what would Wessler and the PJStar have to gain by alienating Bradley and its fans? None in my opinion... Sportwriters who write "anti-pieces" are no different than people who have websites who do the opposite....

[flipper]

My question would be- what would Wessler and the PJStar have to gain by alienating Bradley and its fans? None in my opinion... Sportwriters who write "anti-pieces" are no different than people who have websites who do the opposite....

good point. which has much irony to it.

[tornado]

then why the unusual tendency for the BU basketball players to be treated differently...
I agree when other local athletes are arrested for precisely the same offenses, assaults, DUI's, etc..they are not treated as the BU athletes are..in fact their offenses are often completely ignored...

BUT - if a local reporter hears a rumor that a BU basketball player might have failed a drug test as Mike Suggs was reported to have done, even though the university treats that as private info and nothing whatsoever was made public, nonetheless, the local paper reported it as if it was confirmed fact and part of some news release...and even said that's why he left BU - and of course, this is NOT at all correct!
In truth most really don't know since the info was NEVER either made public nor even comments on officially...the paper simply took a hearsay and rumor and reported it as fact...and even twisted it into a conclusion.
(recall RB's drug test was by NCAA and had mandatory penalties, but drug testing of other athletes is by BU and does NOT have the same penalties and results are kept confidential).

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7333&highlight=journalistic

[Da Coach]

FYI, two of my kids were scholarshipped Divn. I athletes at BCS schools and had many, many things written about them in PJS Sports. I cannot ever recall over the years anything that was negative, cutting, or incorrectly written about them.

This raises the issue that, I think, is what most Bradley fans have against the PJS coverage. There are a lot of negative things that happen in high school, college, and pro sports, but the PJ Star rarely ever reports, and even more rarely writes editorial columns about other teams or sports like they do with Bradley.

When it comes to Bradley, they seem to relish writing multiple stories and editorials about anything they can find or perceive as negative.
I won't repeat all the examples our posters have pointed to over the years (and there are many), but one that exemplifies what I am referring to was this--
A lot was made of some supposed illegal contact the PJ Star accused Bradley and Coach Jim Les had with Marcellus Sommerville, while he was still a student-athlete at Iowa. This story was based on something Marcellus' dad told the PJS, which he later said was a mistake, and that he had his timeline wrong. In fact, Mr. Sommerville later said no illegal contact was ever made, and that it was not until Marcellus had left Iowa and transferred to Southwestern Illinois College that the contact was made. This all happened around the time that New Mexico was proven to have had illegal contact with Danny Granger (after they repeatedly denied it, and before cell phone records were obtained proving it), and Bradley filed a complaint with the NCAA over it. The PJS reported all about the supposed illegal contact with Marcellus, and I recall the sports editor writing a column taking Jim Les to task for this, and accusing the AD of hypocrisy for filing a complaint in the Granger case, but ignoring this phony charge of tampering with Sommerville.
But when Mr. Sommerville came out with his correction, the PJ Star never reported that, and never retracted their accusations.

Again, I don't have time to bring out all the similar issues our fans here have had with the PJ Star reporting, but they go back many years. Other nearby D1 schools have had worse player discipline issues, and yet the PJ Star gives them a pass, and reports and editorializes in depth about less serious issues at Bradley.
The dramatic difference in the way the PJS reported on the Jamar Smith issues (overly sympathetic and understanding) versus the way they have gone after Bradley players who are in the news is like night and day. And in the past there have been some low blows, such as the accusation of Jim Les associating with people and taking the expedient route, rather than the principled one, that were never explained.

Personally, I couldn't care less. But as can be seen here on the message board, an awful lot of fans do see a disparity in the way these things are covered.

[tornado]

...And in the past there have been some low blows, such as the accusation of Jim Les associating with people and taking the expedient route, rather than the principled one ..

yup - this Theobald swipe was never explained and never justified even when time has proven it wrong...
lots of coaches associate with the AAU scum and go kiss up to the powerbrokers in Chicago -- but our coach never has...