Pat Forde a little misleading?

Following the Michael Bush injury in tonight's Louisville-UK game, Forde wrote this:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville Heisman Trophy and All-America candidate Michael Bush suffered a broken right leg Sunday night early in the third quarter in the Cardinals' game against Kentucky, ending his college career.

Isn't that a little premature? He is a senior, but he has not redshirted AND there have been plenty of medical redshirt cases in which a player was granted an extra year if there were hurt very early in the season.

I don't know, I was just surprised that he was willing to go out on a limb like that over something that is IMPOSSIBLE to know right now.

 

What were his pro prospects before the injury? And, assuming he heals up 100% in time, would he still go?

 

He would have likely been a first day, if not first round, pick after this season. There are just so many variables, I'm just shocked he offered no alternatives besides his career being over. There are many avenues that would make that assumption untrue.

 

Wait and see if he wrote thru.

He could have gotten caught up in the moment, and will expound on the possibilities when he re-works it.

 

As the style Nazi at my paper would say: "College players don't get paid, so it can't be called a career."

Seriously.

In our paper, we have to call a career-high 36-point night or a career-high 207-yard rushing day a "collegiate-high ..."

So I guess in Bush's case, the sentence would have had to say something like, "Ending his college playing days."

Ridiculous.

 

He didn't redshirt, then he could come back. If he had, he'd be done. The NCAA likely wouldn't grant him a medical. Those are really hard to get.

 

Old Tony, tell that guy all college players are paid - with free tuition, a stipend and room and board.

 

No shit, that guy sounds like a wiener. I'd be writing career high, career day, career milestone all day long just piss him off.

 

somehow i think pat's career will survive.... you guys are ridiculous sometimes....

also, michael bush is one of the top 15 picks in the draft whenever he turns pro.

 

Jason, no one stated Pat's career was in jeopardy. Making that jump from the title of the thread is ridiculous. :

The title of the thread questioned whether Pat jumped the gun and he did. (And before anyone plays the jealousy card let me say I've met Pat, like his work and don't covet his job) Could it turn out that Bush turns pro despite the injury? Of course. That has happed to guys on my beat.

But no way do you state that as fact and just leave the reader hanging. If Pat was told by Bush afterward that he is through, go with it. If Pat was told by someone close to Bush during the game or after that the kid isn't coming back, go with it. But you better use attribution.

No way that gets by me if I'm on the desk. It's a basic rule of attribution. When desk guys start letting that stuff slide solely because of the writer's name and rep the publication is in trouble.

If Bush is done and you have it cold, attribute it to someone other than your opinion.

If you don't have it cold, you suggest there are options if Bush chooses to return.

And I agree on the career/college-high part.

 

Plus, you don't have to be paid for something to be a career:

a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life

 

That was a quick-hitter piece by Forde, written right after the injury happened. I believe the write-through reflects a change.

Regardless, I think the original will wind up being accurate. Bush will likely have the option of coming back -- though maybe he should have to sit against Kentucky if he did. He's played against them four times and outrushed their entire team the last three. The only way he comes back is if the leg heals slowly and he can't get back into shape for the combine and draft workouts.

I have no problem with "career" for a college student or athlete. My dictionary calls a "career" -- an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress." College squarely falls within that definition. Especially when you consider the wide range of things that can be an "occupation," defined primarily as a job or profession or as a way of spending time. The notion that you have to get paid for it to be a career is ludicrous, in the first place, but in the second place, these guys are receiving scholarships, room and board, medical care and other benefits (heh).

It's a career. I'll use it in a sentence: "Thank goodness my career isn't defined by first-edition work filed against the gun."