Tennessee bans Knoxville reporter

That is sadly true. But there is still a right way and a wrong way to do it most of the time.

And if you’re going to do it, get the damn news.

 

Injured Johnson talks about hit

By DAVE HOOKER
October 4, 2006

Inky Johnson said it took a serious injury to truly understand what Tennessee fans were all about.

"The response has been great," the UT cornerback said Wednesday in is his first interview since a career-threatening injury in a game against Air Force on Sept. 9. "I've got over 2,000 e-mails. I appreciate the fans a lot and their support helping me get through it."

Johnson has had plenty to get through since that fateful day when his football career likely came to a sudden stop.

Those watching remember it well. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Johnson tried to tackle Justin Handley, a 5-8, 175-pound halfback from Air Force late in the fourth quarter. Johnson took the worst of the hit as he fell motionless to the ground.

"It was real scary at first because I blacked out on the field for a minute," Johnson said. "I got scared at first. When I got to the hospital, the coaches came and talked to me and my family came and I was all right."

"I remember everything about it. He jumped and hit me under the neck and it tore my shoulder."

The damage to Johnson's upper right extremity was severe. Immediate surgery had to be performed to repair blood vessels in the area. Surgery to repair nerve damage was also recommended.

"I thought it was just a broken arm," Johnson said. "I didn't know it was something as serious as this."

Johnson will travel next week to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to undergo surgery to repair nerve damage in his shoulder. Then, they'll know just how life altering the injury will be.

Football may be a long shot, but Johnson isn't giving up hope. Just being able to use his right arm would be a welcome change for a student who's just returned to campus.

"Oh, man. It's great," Johnson said of his return to class. "To be back in class, back around the student body, back around my teachers, back in that dorm doing my work.

"I always appreciated school but writing with my left hand, that's kind of rough. It's been all right. Sometimes I have people helping me."

UT's players and coaches have marveled at Johnson's attitude concerning his injury. The small, smiling defensive back from Atlanta is still doing what he does best, smile.

"It hasn't been frustrating," Johnson said. "I just go with it. I take things as they come. I appreciate it because I know my injury could have been worse."

Johnson cites his strong faith as the main reason he's been able to remain optimistic. Faith and fan support have carried Johnson a long way.

"I'm going to be all right," he said. "I'm going to pull through it with their prayers. I want to thank them for their prayers."

 

That story seems to cover the upcoming surgery and mentions more than once that his career may be over.

 

All of that ground already had been covered and widely reported by the UT guys.

 

This has been a valuable thread. With less than two weeks remaining before the Bama-UT game, I had forgoten how much I despised everyone and everything involved with the Big Orange Menace. My hatred has been sufficiently renewed. Thank you.

 

OK. So you wanted reaction from Inky on those two subjects.
Fair enough.
Should have been asked.
Or Maybe they were and not answered or maybe the ground rules were no talk about medical future.

 

And maybe UT could have arranged to finally let Inky meet the press, since he's at least feeling well enough to return to class and field (at least a portion of) over 2,000 e-mails. Wonder if all those well-wishers will be getting repremands from The Hill as well.

 

The media freakin loves Shula, too. Just ask the beat guys.

 

This is nothing new in Knoxville.

 

You missed the whole point of this thread, which is that the paper hadn't done real journalism and that it chastized a reporter who went around the athletic department flack. Now's the time to tell the athletic department "no more," not to childishly stamp your feet and say "I will get you for that."

 

I have another question on all this.

Do fans/readers care?

I've been at the keyboard itching several times to take up this subject of access when things were choked back at one or another local school, but figured it'd just sound like whining. (I did sneak in one on it, shameless plug: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060821/COLUMNISTS02/608210387).

My guess is there's a sizeable segment of the readership who are partisans of the teams who'd get a kick out of seeing the paper shut out of the press box. Heck, I've had readers write me telling me they were going to lobby this team or that to do just that.

But I'm beginning to think that with all the issues facing press freedom, every little bit anymore will help, and that if there are going to be issues with access, they at least need to be pointed out.

Schools have a right, I think, to have some kind of rules concerning player access. There's so much media demand at the highest level that I don't think it's unreasonable. I know here, we've gone against those rules several times knowing we could face a penalty, and in some cases, I think there have been some minor sanctions, nothing to the level of having a writer barred from a press box.

If I were Knoxville, I think I'd be tempted to have the banned reporter buy a ticket, go to the game and write his game story from the stands. Talk about the drunken brawls, print what the fans say about the Vols good and bad.

This reporter in Knoxville did what you have to do. It was only a matter of time until word on the kid hit the message boards. And the player was the one who talked. There's no privacy issue involved there. The player could have said, "No comment" and there'd have been no story. Of course, Tennessee saying they'd make the player available "as soon as possible" was a lie. He was clearly willing to talk. I'm also perplexed at how they banned a guy from a bowl week. The bowls issue credentials, not the teams. And how do you ban someone from "community service appearances." What are they going to do? Make him leave town for a week? These rules wind up coming down hardest on beat writers and the papers who cover the teams the most.

I once had a basketball coach, angry with something, refuse to talk to me for a week. I just kept writing my stories, but didn't mention his name in a single one of them. I didn't just not quote him, I didn't put his name in the paper, period, even after one significant victory. I don't know if he noticed or not, but he started talking again after a week, and neither of us ever mentioned it again. That might not have been the most responsible thing in the world, but I was young, and the paper was dying anyway!

The main thing is to try to be professional. But damn, some of these schools need to be taken down a notch, it seems.

 

As long as UT wins, readers won't care unless every media outlet shows more balls than Melinda McElroy at the NS...
All they'll care about is readin bout their Voles.....

If they were losing, they'd use it as another thing to hold against Fulmer -- not like that's a bad thing..