Nashville media: sickening

[deportes]

i agree with eric. it's a big story in that town, and you can't let a coach or organization dictate what is news and when it should be reported.

espnguy, your mentality is the reason why a lot of folk in news see sports as the toy department.

 

[broadway joe]

What's the point of having access to practice if you can't report a story like that?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

What bullshirt. Run with it, and dare Fisher to cut you off.

Way things are, you'd only have to endure Jeffy through the remainder of this season, anyway.

 

[Twoback]

I think Fisher abused his agreement with the media, and I believe the reporters should have gone ahead and written it. It's one thing to agree not to report that a coach grabbed a player by the facemask and told him he was a weenie. That's the kind of thing that a coach can protect by closing a practice, and therefore it's the kind of thing that should be covered by an agreement such as this.
What Fisher did here was use this agreement to protect news that might have leaked out through the normal course of reporting. The reporters were stuck; they had to make a choice between reporting the story or getting the practices closed. Fisher knew that, and he played them. I'm a believer in a fair and working relationship between coach and reporter; in this case, I'd have told him to stick it.

 

[SF_Express]

I'm not understanding this, exactly. ???

I mean, I understand how people are uncomfortable with this, don't get me wrong.

But the two parties here -- Titans/Fisher and the media -- have a deal. You can watch practice, but you can't report specifics about those practices.

This has been going on for a while, and as noted, is the case in other places.

I don't even think it's right to write the story with the understanding that you lose open practices. You've got a preexisting deal, and you'd be breaking it. I don't think that's ethical.

I certainly wouldn't be shocked if this agreement is examined again next week. But I just don't think it's as simple as, "fork it, run the story."

 

[SF_Express]

I think Fisher abused his agreement with the media, and I believe the reporters should have gone ahead and written it. It's one thing to agree not to report that a coach grabbed a player by the facemask and told him he was a weenie. That's the kind of thing that a coach can protect by closing a practice, and therefore it's the kind of thing that should be covered by an agreement such as this.
What Fisher did here was use this agreement to protect news that might have leaked out through the normal course of reporting. The reporters were stuck; they had to make a choice between reporting the story or getting the practices closed. Fisher knew that, and he played them. I'm a believer in a fair and working relationship between coach and reporter; in this case, I'd have told him to stick it.

Well, fair enough, but let me ask you this, just an example on a lesser scale.

You're watching practice, and the team works on a double reverse out of a kickoff return.

I think it's clear the understanding would be that you wouldn't be reading that in a notebook the next day.

Maybe it IS a matter of scale, but if you don't report that, do you report that Vince Young took snaps with the first team for the most part?

The more I type about this, the more I can see both sides of it. But again, I think these guys were stuck this week. They had a deal.

 

[Eric P.]

SF,
Maybe this wasn't clear...especially from the Tennessean story...but Fisher actually closed doors and said to reporters, they should turn off recorders and cameras and if word of this gets out he would close practices. Then he proceeded to tell them that Vince was starting on Sunday. This was Wednesday.

 

[SF_Express]

SF,
Maybe this wasn't clear...especially from the Tennessean story...but Fisher actually closed doors and said to reporters, they should turn off recorders and cameras and if word of this gets out he would close practices. Then he proceeded to tell them that Vince was starting on Sunday. This was Wednesday.

Well, so he gave them off-the-record information. Happens all the time, right?

I mean, the alternative would be to say, "Sorry, guys, we have to close practice today."

 

[Vic Mackey]

I'm also with Eric P. on this one. One of my responsibilities is covering a football team that allows media at its practices. When that team tells us not to report certain things, it's talking about trick plays -- which is perfectly acceptable. I can't think of another example. (And from what I understand about TV production meetings with coaches, the rule is you don't talk about something you're given until it happens.)

Now, Jeff Fisher has been pretty good with the media over the years. Sounds like he is cracking under the pressure. But for everyone to go along with this is wrong. Someone had to sit down with Fisher, Titans pr -- whoever -- and fix this.

Come on, even Parcells allowed cameras to follow Terrell Owens at practice this week.

 

[Pringle]

I hate when sources do this. "I'm about to tell you something juicy, but you can't write it until (blank)." I'd rather they not tell me. Fischer should have closed practice this week. I think he thought he was being a good guy, though. I'm not sure he realized the spot he was putting the beat writers in.

 

[fever_dog]

well, off the record is off the record. nothing you can do about that.

 

[daemon]

SF -- here's the problem: Even if Fisher had closed practices, there's a good chance this would have come out anyway.

There are 58 players at practice. Chances are pretty good if you ask the right questions during the week, you can figure out which quarterback is taking the majority of the reps with the first team.

What would a reporter have done if Keith Bulluck had come up to him and said, "Vince is taking all the reps in practice. I can't wait for him to start on Sunday. Kerry Collins sucks."? Ignore it?

Any way you look at it, assuming it happened the way Eric P said, the media conspired with Jeff Fischer to withold information from the public.

As a sidenote: Coaches like Fisher are morons when it comes to this shirt. Did he really think that surprsing the Cowboys by starting Vince Young would reflect on the scoreboard? Give me a forking break.