Vinny Del Negro-John Paxson spat

Obviously, everybody pretty much read the story of the altercation involving Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro and VP John Paxson, but I've been more interested reading about the different versions of the fight and who had the story first. On Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported Paxson walked into Del Negro's office a couple of weeks after a loss to the Suns and started pulling Del Negro's tie and took a couple of jabs to Del Negro' chest because Del Negro over extended Joakim Noah's minutes, who was coming back from an injury.

During TNT's telecast of Tuesday's game, Craig Sager gave props to Tribune beat writer KC Johnson for breaking the story, but was quickly corrected that Wojnarowski broke the story earlier in the day, but Sager added that Johnson had the story and was just waiting for a better time to break it. During the game, Reggie Miller pretty much ripped Johnson for holding the story back.

Now today, ESPNChicago's Melissa Issacson, who covered the Bulls during the Jordan championship run, reported that Del Negro initiated the confrontation. Obviously, Issacson has sources in the Bulls organization, but is she being swayed by friends of Paxson for damage control?

I wonder who has this right.

 

Doubtful this is the first time someone sat on a story only to get burned when someone else reported it.

 

This is the problem granting anonymity to everyone for everything. By definition, Paxson or Del Negro is lying. Who is it? The reporters should be trying to figure out who's telling the truth, and instead they're happy to be the relays in a game of Telephone.

I know -- it's the way of the world now and if Yahoo and ESPN didn't want the story, someone else would get it. But the reporters are being used and they're going along with it.

 

Sun-Times credited Yahoo today.

 

it sure as hell wasn't going to credit the Trib...

 

Yahoo! unequivocally broke the story. Everyone credited Yahoo. Sager and Co. got confused, since they were trying to decipher it on-air, while the game was going on, and then Sager sold out Johnson on national TV. The Trib updated the basic story online two times during the game, with extra nuggets, and then added nuance in the newspaper stories the next day.

 

Aren't we burying the lede here? The fact is that a journalist sat on the story for weeks.

http://deadspin.com/5518014/chicago-tribune-writer-sits-on-fighting-bulls-scoop-sun+times-has-no-problem-with-that

 

I don't care who you are, you are a hack if you sit on a story like this.

 

Anyone who believes K.C. Johnson, maybe the finest NBA writer in country, is a hack shouldn't be allowed to call himself a journalist. And certainly has never covered a professional beat.

 

Quite a stretch to call somebody a "hack" when you don't know all the facts. I don't know them, either.

 

How do you defend what he did, though? That's a significant story he got scooped on. I can't imagine his editors are too pleased.

 

Saw on the Trib site they sent Bears beat guy Vaughn McClure to Charlotte to cover last night's game. McClure also had a sidebar on del Negro denying he instigated the situation with Paxson.
Anything to read into here?