The University of Kentucky is infallible. All great things come from the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky has a wonderful plan for our lives. Blessed be the University of Kentucky. We shall never doubt her.
(Are the angry mobs gone? Can you still see the makeshift torches made from couch legs? No? Okay. Let’s start.)
(shh; the UK mob can still hear us when we type)
Jerry Tipton from the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER has been nigh crucified for two recent articles (and accompanying podcasts) on new UK recruits, including one about UK head coach Billy Gillespe recruiting an eighth-grader. The abuse has grown so vehement that HERALD-LEADER editor Linda Austin felt she had to step in and defend Tipton.
In both articles, Tipton speaks to all parties involved in the issues (when available) and presents reactions in an even-handed manner. You can see the flaw in his approach.
In the second article, the recruited player’s mother states that she finds Gillespie nowhere near as “arrogant” as she had heard. Who does Tipton think he is to write down what other people say and then put it into newsprint?
Jerry Tipton, as pointed out by his editor, has covered UK basketball for over 25 years. Despite that old school pedigree, he also has a blog and podcast (where the inflamed colons of UK fans reached their irritability bursting point).
As everyone knows, bloggers are not allowed to attack each other as per the Marc Andreesen Act of 2005. Therefore, we support Tipton fully in this matter. (Also, he used an interrobang in one of his quotes. Interrobangs are our favorite punctuation mark. We’re so easy to please, really.)
For those of you looking for news reporting with a little more respect for the people it covers, we have a suggestion.
4:22 pm on May 9th, 2008
Sorry but your summary of this issue is far off base.
For one thing, the issue has nothing to do with the articles Tipton wrote. The issue had to do with the telephone conversations that Tipton had with the parents of Kentucky recruits where he made them ‘feel uncomfortable’ (their words) and where he apparently tried to bring up rumors and innuendo that was damaging to UK coach Billy Gillispie. At least one of the parents said he ‘reconsidered’ his son’s commitment after speaking with Tipton.
To those who have read Tipton for years, none of this is surprising. Tipton has exhibited a negative streak for many years and has done some completely classless things (most notably the way he used the fact that Kelenna Azubuike’s father had legal issues to try to drag the young man through the mud and continually write stories about it, as if it had any bearing on the player himself.)
The only thing that is surprising in this case was that 1.) someone had the balls to directly ask about Tipton’s tactics and 2.) that it was captured on a podcast so that people could hear exactly the types of negative things that Tipton tells recruits and their parents. These are the ‘podcasts’ which you refer to but mistakenly suggest they come from Tipton or the Lexington Herald Leader (the Podcasts come from a recruiting guru/blogger/UK fan)
I’m sure you and countless other clueless outsiders will assume that this issue is about UK fans taking to task someone who does not fall into lock-step with praising UK. This is not the case at all.
There are plenty of well-respected columnists who do a credible job covering UK who are critical of the programs when warranted but also aren’t one-sided (either negatively or positively) and who do their job in terms of covering what’s going on. They do this without turning everything into a negative, without digging for dirt wherever possible and without being classless and vindictive the way Tipton has been. And beyond that, Tipton in the last few years has become so negative that he really doesn’t do a good job at what he’s supposed to do, that is to cover the UK program. (ie he now rarely says anything positive about UK that he fails to mention much of the news)
Again, this is not about taking to task someone because they don’t agree with UK. This is confronting someone who has been caught redhanded trying to directly harm UK’s recruiting efforts. The fact that he for a long time has been overtly critical of the program to the point of being one-sided, and has been shown to be classless and out of touch hasn’t engendered much sympathy from those who are familiar with his work.
This reaction is really the culmination of many years of Tipton’s own negativism and shoddy work. It was simply lit off by public evidence of things that many people have suspected of him for some time.