Pjs kw........

[mexicobufan]

The first exhibition game is two weeks from today, we are a little over three weeks away from the Fall LOI period, practive has started but this is the best thing we have to talk about? Dont get me wrong, I think KW has it out for BU for some reason, maybe its Les? But there should be some reports from practice, some rumors about recruits coming to campus, something positive or at least productive? I would take a good old guess the the starting five over talking about KW. I know everyone loves the guess the starting five deal, right?

I would give anything for a recap from someone that has witnessed some part or all of practice. I would love to hear that Smith was walking around campus this last weekend. Its that time of year when there are usually about 10 threads going on pretty interesting Bradley related topics.

Help me out here and make one up if you have to, I live in Mexico I will never know!!!!

[braves12]

t,

It won't be the 1st or last time I get wrath from posters...

KW is a writer, not a basketball expert. He is paid to write columns and help sell papers. I actually think his writing makes things interesting, and a little journalistic controversy by a sports columnist is not hurting the program...I am sure some will disagree. I am 1 who doesn't want all of the sports writers to just fall in line and write all positive articles if everything isn't positive. I will say again, he is a writer, not an expert. Part of the fun is having people reading, disagreeing and commenting.

As far as your last part........you are learning.....

[Dallas Brave]

Not to beat a dead horse (no insult intended), but I did find KW's comments to be lazy journalism. Every coach is going to talk up his team. There is no news in trying to pick apart a coach for being positive going into a season. KW has been covering the Braves a long time. He could put a little more thought into his article and compare this group of players to what he has seen in the past. He does a little of that and says that he too thinks this is a good squad. There is his story ... expand on it.

[BU ICEMAN]

...they are 100% positive and supportive of Creighton! In fact, they are so far over-the-top with positivity and optimism, they could have been written by the PR people in the Creighton Athletic Department!

Hate to pick on just one comment, but this one seems reflective of the mood of many here on the board.

My question is:

Is this seriously what a writer should be; an extension of the PR department for the local university?

It seems that some would want the writers, no matter what the situation, to be like Kevin Bacon at the end of Animal House, "ALL IS WELL!" regardless of the situation happening around him. (No, there's no chaos right now with the program.)

I find it more responsible for the media to be initially skeptical rather than a mouthpiece for the University. I hope I don't have to draw the parallel for everybody.....

Sure, a lot of what Wessler said in the article is "Duh!"-type material for us, but again, any writer needs to write to the masses, not a niche; in this case (as has been said by dogsrus), casual fans and die-hards, respectively. Basically, it's the "Lowest Common Denominator" argument.

It's a fact of life for almost every sport, when you move to the next level, the game is faster, stronger, quicker, etc. "Rookies," generally speaking, do not initially match production levels they achieved at the lower level. Now, do some "rookies" achieve productive seasons, yes, and Coach pointed out good examples in one of his initial posts. But, Andrew Warren and Jim Les' quotes provide "evidence" that indicates "rookie growing pains," for lack of a better term, are the norm, not the exception of productive rookie seasons.

Is this article a rehash of a widely-accepted theory and applied to the team? Yes, but articles like this are written all over the country about all sorts of teams. Here's a general example: when da Bears went into this week with a couple of rookie cornerbacks, should the Chicago media have completely ignored this and just honked for them instead? Here's what David Haugh of the Tribune said in his article ( http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...6373427.column ) about one of those guys: "When the Bears elevated Bowman from the practice squad Tuesday, the thought of counting on him with the game on the line didn't exactly fill people at Halas Hall with confidence." Should Bears fans form up and storm the Tribune and haul David Haugh out to the streets so he could be tarred and feathered because he (as well as da Bears Coaching Staff!) dared to be skeptical about rookie contributions?

I cringe every time this comes up because it seems to me that a "persecution complex" seems to have made inroads to our fanbase. We're better than this.

[Da Coach]

At least the Tribune writer you use as an example actually reported on something new that was happening with the Bears personnel and opined on it. KW's article didn't do that at all. As I said before, there was nothing in his article that couldn't have been written 3 or 4 months ago when this year's roster was set.

And as far as reporting negative stuff, I don't expect newspaper columnists to be mouthpieces of the school. But I also don't see why they have to try so hard to look at things in a negative way, when there isn't anything negative yet to report. I am sure there will be plenty of negative things coming, and I am also sure we'll hear all about them.

I pointed out several columns by writers from other MVC cities, and the only one that basically calls out the coach for over-optimism and tries to warn all of us not to believe what we hear coming from the Coach is the PJ Star.

And I also don't buy the explanation that he has to write such uninformative columns because most Bradley fans don't know anything about the team like we do. That's ridiculous. Bradley fans are extremely well informed.

Maybe they should just listen to Phil Theobald's advice after a miserable loss by a Jim Molinari coached team a few years ago--
he once said that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, then he left his half-page column totally blank. It was the best column he ever published!

[Chico]

Iceman, IMO the difference is, Bowman is making big bucks and should be expected to do the job, just like any worker on any job. Everything doesn't have to be positive in KW's articles, but don't take a coach's positive comments about his players before the season starts and immediately become negative. I've been a BU fan for many years and have yet to see a coach, no matter who he was, say anything but positive comments about a new recruit.

[mexicobufan]

I am warning everyone for the last time, if this thread keeps going I WILL START A GUESS THE STARTING FIVE THREAD...........now back off or you will force me to do something no one wants!!!!!!!!!!

[KillerB]

I'm a little late to the game but I just read the article and really have no problem with it. Maybe it's just too late and I'm tired and missed something.

I don't think you missed anything B4L. The article seems pretty straight forward to me. There might be a poor choice of words like "rare".. but I thought it was mostly on the money.

Was it negative? I sure didn't take it that way. Did he call Les a liar as posted here? That tought never entered my mind until it was posted here.

It seems like some posters here have it in for the columnist just as they accuse him of having it in for Les & the Braves.

And who cares if he ever writes a positive column? Most of you apparently think he is an ***** and has no clue what he is talking about. So if he writes a positive column does that mean he's wrong about that too?

Lighten up guys, it was only an editorial.. written to remind you not to take everything at face value. It was not groundbreaking.. but also was not some guy sitting on a grassy knoll taking shots at Les and the team.

[Chico]

Not hard to start a thread Mexico, if that's what you want. If it draws interest it might get more replies than this one.

[Chico]

Tornado, if you read the rag every day like I do, you know why that happened.

[mexicobufan]

Chico I know how to start a thread, I was just having some fun with long time posters on here. The starting five threads have always been a favorite.......

[BU ICEMAN]

Iceman, IMO the difference is, Bowman is making big bucks and should be expected to do the job, just like any worker on any job. Everything doesn't have to be positive in KW's articles, but don't take a coach's positive comments about his players before the season starts and immediately become negative. I've been a BU fan for many years and have yet to see a coach, no matter who he was, say anything but positive comments about a new recruit.

Sounds like it's a question of responsibilities.

Just because BU isn't "paying" the player with cash money isn't to say that the player is not receiving "payment" from BU in the form of tuition, room, & board in exchange for his athletic performance (or anticipated performance). I don't see that as a difference. I think it's completely fair for a college athlete be expected to do his "job," as well (Yes, he has two jobs, studies and sports). The difference is in the fan's or fans' understanding of the player's current state in life with regards to age, maturity level, etc. and that while it is fair to have expectations, be able to temper their feelings if those expectations aren't met.

Of course, it's part of any coach's job responsibilities to pump up his team and players, whether that be at practice or when talking to the media. I wouldn't expect a coach to talk junk about any new player, or any player, for that matter. But, when a player deserves criticism, I don't think that a coach can't do that, either. Certainly, there's a fine line between criticism and talking junk.

Emotion has to be left out if you want to be truly analytical about a situation. There's a gray area between negative and positive, and just because something is not positive, does not automatically make it negative. I don't think it's necessary to pop champagne corks and set off fireworks every time you talk about a team.

[Chico]

Once the season starts and a player is not doing his job I don't mind a negative column. I've been negative about many a player, even some popular ones. But why even a hint of negativity because a coach brags up his team at a function before practice even starts. That's what we wanted to hear at that time and I for one wasn't disappointed.

[BUBraves06]

For what it's worth I saw KW on campus earlier this afternoon outside the Markin Center. I guess that in itself isn't that surprising, but he was sporting a red Bradley jacket and I don't think I've ever once seen him in any BU gear.

[lefty]

Man some of you guys are sensitive. I read the article put it down and went along with my day.
I didn't think about it, I didn't try to analyze every line and see where KW was a BU or JL hater.
He writes what he thinks and that's ok. If you disagree then that's ok too.
I really don't see what all the fuss is about in this article.

Have we ever thought we were going to have MVC championship type team and been dissappointed? Of course...

I thought much of what he wrote was fairly accurate but I wasn't looking for anything really either.