Another reporter who made us look bad...

I would have bet a lot of money on this being Biofile.

 

the self-righteous outrage here is lamer than the feat itself. cease and desist with your disingenuous jihad to purify the "profession" -- deeds not words, please.

 

Ed is ... something.

Ed is "that guy" in that market. Every market has a "that guy." Yes, even yours. And no, I also couldn't make it through that video. It was ... something.

That said, I am a fan of Ed's. And I've always been friendly to "that guy" whenever and wherever I've met him. They tend to break every sacred rule in journalism, but not out of any sense of malice. In my experience, "that guy" always seems to have a heck of a good heart.

Look, Ed is not pretending to be anything he is not. As far as I can tell, he (and "that guy" everywhere) loves his job and works his ass off.

He is not doing the same job you are and is not pretending to. I think he knows who he is and accepts it. The audience knows who he is, and accepts it. Like I said, he's not pretending to be anything else. He's having a hell of a time and he works damn hard.

(Am I condoning his behavior? No. But he is "that guy," and I accept him for who he is. He's a nice guy. I'm not going to rake him over the coals just for the sake of doing so. I'm not going to try to get some poor guy who works at Channel 5 in Hastings, Neb., fired. We're all better than him? Fine. That should be enough, then. Ferentz's condescension should be enough. How many eye rolls and muttered remarks do you think this guy gets, all the time? And yet, he soldiers on, loving his job, can't believe how lucky he is, works his ass off. In a weird way, I respect and admire him for that.)

Last I saw it, Channel 5 in Hastings, Neb., was ... something. Our joke was, if you walked past the studio someone might pop out and say, "Hey, here's a tie. Can you do the 5 o'clock?" This is where he is, working at a place like this, with gray hair, giving his heart and soul to it. He's not taking anyone's job.

Ed is an institution.

I can't defend what he did. But I defend HIM. Enough already.

I hope the Iowa fan went for it.

 

Only if you buy my book.

 

Ha, me too!

 

But let's not pretend that he's the only nice guy who loves his job and works his butt off. How many unemployed people out there would love to have his job (even if it's in Hastings, Neb.), would be nice to everyone, love their job and work their butt off ... and not do inappropriate things like ask a coach for an autograph for a potential girlfriend at media day?

I get the "hate the sin, not the sinner" (and I'm not equating this to a sin, just using the phrase) philosophy. But this is something that a kid fresh out of college would know is wrong. Ed knows it's wrong, and he chose to do it anyway. So it's more of a "consequences for your actions" type of deal for me. If the station decides those consequences are that he needs to be fired, which I doubt would happen, then that's their right. And if that would happen, Ed would not be the victim. And I would bet a week's salary that this is far from the first inappropriate thing that Ed has done in his 20 years there. It's just the first thing that's been caught on tape and garnered this much exposure.

I also would be shocked if the Big Ten hasn't taken notice of all this and has made note of his name and station. If he gets denied credentials to cover Nebraska in the Big Ten championship game, who gets hurt then? His viewers and his station. All because he had to get an autograph for some girl.

So sorry, but yes I think "that guy" deserves some criticism here.

 

He definitely deserves the criticism and whatever consequences come his way. Especially, when he's confronted by his mis-step and simply excuses it away. Plenty of motivated people looking to get into this profession that can enjoy it and do it the right way. This bozo should be blogging somewhere in his own personal time, while pulling in a paycheck from the local McDonald's.

 

Ed may be an institution. He also belongs in one.

 

I wouldn't be so sure.

 

I almost wish I had had the opportunity to ask Kirk Ferentz for his autograph today so I would not do it.