Craig James.

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NateDawgUM

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Am I the only one that thinks ESPN is completely out of line by giving Craig James a platform to spew his side of the story?

They are asking for a lawsuit.

He should keep his mouth shut. And ESPN should make him keep is mouth shut. It's like TMZ, sports style.
 

I think it's a tough spot. If they put the clamps down and shut him up completely, people will be all over them for not having James address the subject.
 

Craig James

NateDawgUM said:
Am I the only one that thinks ESPN is completely out of line by giving Craig James a platform to spew his side of the story?

They are asking for a lawsuit.

He should keep his mouth shut. And ESPN should make him keep is mouth shut. It's like TMZ, sports style.
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Here in Texas the overall feeling is ESPN is protecting one its own. ESPN quotes one or two TTU players who support Adam James. There are all kinds of Red Raider former players, current players and coaches who certainly do NOT support the James family claims. You never hear them quoted.
 

I think that ESPN is flat out wrong in how they are handling this story. I have never heard all of the opposing viewpoints about the James story until I went to the Red Raiders message board. The vast majority of the team, current/former staff and players all have a different percpective about the James family and their allegations. I don't think it comes across as an unbias network when James is allowed to give his side without much talk of the other side of the story.

In reality, most of the people who seem to know the most about the situation tend to think the James story is merely a scapegoat to fire Leach.
 

NateDawgUM said:
Am I the only one that thinks ESPN is completely out of line by giving Craig James a platform to spew his side of the story?

They are asking for a lawsuit.

He should keep his mouth shut. And ESPN should make him keep is mouth shut. It's like TMZ, sports style.
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Leach's lawyer has confirmed much of what Leach is accused of so what would they sue over. The truth is an affirmative defense against libel, add that to the fact that as a media outlet, you would have prove malicious intent you wouldn't get far in the courts.
 


Am I the only one that thinks ESPN is completely out of line by giving Craig James a platform to spew his side of the story?
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Absolutely not. I was floored by the fact that ESPN let Craig James "analyze" this particular situation, and it's a little disturbing to me that James did it, as well. The network saw an opportunity to really create waves with the story by being able to get the exclusive story from Dad, and so they did it. And they got what they wanted, which was chatter regarding it.

If I were Mike Leach, I would demand some sort of equal time on ESPN for his side of the story, at the very least...similar to how politicians do during elections. Allowing only one side to speak their mind allows the public to form only one side of the opinion; someone deserves equal time to balance that out.

Either way, this whole story is so terribly bizarre that I really can't make heads or tales of what really happened...
 


At no point was Adam Jones' safety or well being put into jeopardy by Coach Leach's actions. I think ESPN is being ridiculous in the way it is handling this entire situation. Is having Jones sit in a utility closet or equipment room strange? Very much so. But I don't think his actions were bad enough to fire him. Soon its going to get to the point where a coach has a player run laps as a punishment and will get fired because he is singling him out.

What has society come to?
 





Can't get too worked up over a coach with an ego now being a victim. Leach seems to have done something that was sort of stupid even if the James kid is a dink. That by itself, isn't what got him fired. By many accounts, Leach's been pretty difficult to work with before this. Now he became defiant and dug his heels in over the James incident. He's an employee with bosses. At some point, it doesn't matter how many wins you have. You can't just continue to think you're some sort of god who can do whatever you want. One of the great parts of this is that this is happening at the school that took Bobby Knight after he was fired. The two coaches seem to be pretty similar in some ways.
 

Not everyone deserves a trophy...but everyone does deserve not to be locked in a closet and punished for not playing with a concussion. Also, ESPN should not let Craig James specifically comment on the story...If he can prove able to do his job and be objective that's one thing, but apparently he cannot(even though I agree with his side).
 

GopherHomer said:
Not everyone deserves a trophy...but everyone does deserve not to be locked in a closet and punished for not playing with a concussion. Also, ESPN should not let Craig James specifically comment on the story...If he can prove able to do his job and be objective that's one thing, but apparently he cannot(even though I agree with his side).
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That hasn't been proven. ESPN keeps reporting that but it's an allegation and many of the TTU fans and some of the insiders down there are saying that's not the case.

(edit to add the operative word is locked...it's been known he was sent to the closet but under supervision from trainers and perhaps a strength coach but he wasn't "locked" per se...)

ESPN's coverage of this is so slanted against Leach that applying the term bias doesn't even do the story justice.
 



I'm not trying to justify Leach's actions but why the hell did Adam James get into the closet in the first place? I know the reason given was that the coach was going to kick him off the team if he didn't but if he refused to get into the closet and was kicked from the team as a result then it would make him look like much less of a wimp. That part is just strange to me.
 

paulser21 said:
At no point was Adam Jones' safety or well being put into jeopardy by Coach Leach's actions. I think ESPN is being ridiculous in the way it is handling this entire situation. Is having Jones sit in a utility closet or equipment room strange? Very much so. But I don't think his actions were bad enough to fire him. Soon its going to get to the point where a coach has a player run laps as a punishment and will get fired because he is singling him out.

What has society come to?
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Completely concur. Unfortunately, with the concussion angle, your point gets buried. It used to be that a disciplinarian coach with quirks was admired, not admonished. Think about the legends. I can think of many that in my opinion would not think this 'punishment' is excessive. Weird? As you point out, absolutely. But excessive? Sitting in a dark room for a few hours? No way.

He should have handled it differently, but I'm sure if you asked him over a few beers he would tell you that his mindset is that if you're injured you don't play, but you're still a part of the team and don't just get to waltz away from practice to play kissy face with your fat little girlfriend. That's completely within a coach's jurisdiction.
 

Mulligan said:
Can't get too worked up over a coach with an ego now being a victim. Leach seems to have done something that was sort of stupid even if the James kid is a dink. That by itself, isn't what got him fired. By many accounts, Leach's been pretty difficult to work with before this. Now he became defiant and dug his heels in over the James incident. He's an employee with bosses. At some point, it doesn't matter how many wins you have. You can't just continue to think you're some sort of god who can do whatever you want. One of the great parts of this is that this is happening at the school that took Bobby Knight after he was fired. The two coaches seem to be pretty similar in some ways.
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+1. Pretty much my thoughts. Ignorance is no defense and regardless of how big a pain in the butt young Mr. James may be, Leach's stupidity put him in the situation that he's in today.

I don't watch ESPN that much, but I thought James the Elder was reserved doing his analysis of the Nebraska/Arizona game (if that could have truly been called a game). I sensed that James is pretty uncomfortable with the situation and it showed through in his performance. He seemed on edge. As for other ESPN coverage, I haven't watched Sportscenter regularly since the days of Craig Kilborn.
 

50PoundHead said:
+1. Pretty much my thoughts. Ignorance is no defense and regardless of how big a pain in the butt young Mr. James may be, Leach's stupidity put him in the situation that he's in today.

I don't watch ESPN that much, but I thought James the Elder was reserved doing his analysis of the Nebraska/Arizona game (if that could have truly been called a game). I sensed that James is pretty uncomfortable with the situation and it showed through in his performance. He seemed on edge. As for other ESPN coverage, I haven't watched Sportscenter regularly since the days of Craig Kilborn.
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You guys are dead on here. Leach dug his own grave here.
 

The whole truth has yet to come out on this situation, and it might never. But I think it's important to make one distinction here - people keep bringing up the fact that being forced to sit in a closet is not that big of a deal. In fact, he was made to stand in the "closet" or "garage" or whatever you want to call it. When he was found sitting down the first time, they cleaned out the entire area so he would have no place to sit and would be forced to stand. That, at least for me, is what took it from being ostracized to a full-blown punishment. Ostensibly, it was for a concussion, but it was probably a cumulative effect of James the Younger generally being a d*ckhead the entire time he has been at Texas Tech.

In my mind, there is no doubt that Leach was punishing him for not playing hurt. Is that wrong? Yes, and he should've been admonished for it. But fired? No. Especially since this was the first-ever case of wrongdoing regarding Leach and the Texas Tech program. Let's call it what it is - Texas Tech looking for any excuse to fire Leach before he inevitably bailed on them. Let's just hope they didn't throw the man's entire career in the crapper over having their feelings hurt.
 

60 cent, you're right that it hasn't been proven that he was 'locked' in the closet. I would argue, though, that the act itself is not the issue but the larger lack of compassion and respect (for lack of a better word) for concussions and their seriousness. It is this mentality that one day will lead to a player dying on the field. I mean if a player was just whining about doing sprints or something, I would find it hilarious to lock him in a closet...but concussions are a serious thing. Also the entire metaphor of being in a closet should not be ignored here either.
 

dpodoll68 said:
The whole truth has yet to come out on this situation, and it might never. But I think it's important to make one distinction here - people keep bringing up the fact that being forced to sit in a closet is not that big of a deal. In fact, he was made to stand in the "closet" or "garage" or whatever you want to call it. When he was found sitting down the first time, they cleaned out the entire area so he would have no place to sit and would be forced to stand. That, at least for me, is what took it from being ostracized to a full-blown punishment. Ostensibly, it was for a concussion, but it was probably a cumulative effect of James the Younger generally being a d*ckhead the entire time he has been at Texas Tech.

In my mind, there is no doubt that Leach was punishing him for not playing hurt. Is that wrong? Yes, and he should've been admonished for it. But fired? No. Especially since this was the first-ever case of wrongdoing regarding Leach and the Texas Tech program. Let's call it what it is - Texas Tech looking for any excuse to fire Leach before he inevitably bailed on them. Let's just hope they didn't throw the man's entire career in the crapper over having their feelings hurt.
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The problem with Leach is that he believes he should not be admonished at all for this. We all know that Leach and the University did not get along with each other and some people wanted him gone. If he would have just accepted his original punishment he would still have a job. The Chancellor of the school said he tried to help Leach but couldn't because Leach is so "stubborn". Leach also pissed some people off earlier in the year with his "fat little girlfriend" rant.
 

There has been more attention given to the seriousness of concussions in football this year than any year I can remember, and as soon as it came out that James had a concussion when this happened, Leach was done.
 

The younger James kid seems like a real piece of work.....why in the world would he take a cell phone video while he is in the "closet".....(it's like a boiler room). The kid knew right than that he was going public with this information so he choose to document it. This wasn't about him being in "danger"....

FWIW, I'm not defending Leach's actions. Seems like both parties are at fault.
 

This is a classic "lose lose" situation. Leach is a very skilled coach and recruitor. He's also appearantly a world class d*ckhead. Tech is in a crappy location and with Leach had their best results in a long time but Leach became unbearable. The result; a situation gets blown out of proportion, a coach loses his reputation and the school's football program probably goes into the toilet. Everyone gets what they deserve and they all lose. The school, the coach, the players and the fans.
 

I think that Craig James is the ultimate "little league dad" who just happens to have a bully pulpit courtesy of ESPN. And the network has leveraged this story for all its worth. In front of the camera, James has said all the right & contrite things, but I'd bet privately he's gloating like the Cheshire Cat. And its pretty obvious that TT was looking for any excuse to S-can Leach. You can bet that Maturi would have kicked Brewster to the curb over something like this as well.

What would be poetic justice is at the Alamo bowl game, the interim coach should have James, Jr suit up, then have him filling Gatorade cups for the whole game. With his helmet on.
 

From someone who has been there

It is extremely sad that folks have the audacity to be upset with James (the son)? Without knowing all the details folks are blaming him for what happened? Is it possible? Sure, but I have heard nothing that would make this the case.

There is a huge difference between bullying and leading. My father was a career military man. On occasion he would come across a know it all private. You know what he would do? He would take the stripes off and give the youngster a chance to "go for what he knows." If Leach is such a bad ass he should do the same and not hide behind the title of coach and humiliate a kid.

Leach left the kid, his family and more importantly his boss with few alternatives. As a parent you have to trust the football staff with your Childs well being. Putting him in a closet when he has a concussion does not help the trust factor. That's mean spirited and vindictive.

If Leach thought James needed to learn a lesson no playing time, plummeting on the depth chart or the tried and true 5am workouts would have accomplished that. Doing what he (Leach) did is extremely dangerous. It tells every other player on the team "you better not get a concussion." The result is players will think long and hard about disclosing they have one or its severity. There isn't anything macho about that.

As for Craig James, why shouldn’t he use he job to his advantage? Leach certainly used his. It is not up to Leach to determine the validity of a player’s injury. That job belongs to the trainer. However, it is Craig’s responsibility to look out for the well being of his son. I’m sure his son wasn’t the first player Leach has abused…it was just the wrong player. Is Craig giggling like a school girl at how it turned out? Hell yes, I know I would be.:cool02:
 

"Is Craig giggling like a school girl at how it turned out? Hell yes, I know I would be."

You would be happy your kid got a coach fired and is now viewed as a primadonna jack-ass? This will follow Adam James for a long time.

This may have had to be done but I doubt either James is happy to be involved. If they are happy to be getting their 15 minutes of fame this way, then they truly are the dinks that many say they are.
 

Sportsfan24 said:
It is extremely sad that folks have the audacity to be upset with James (the son)? Without knowing all the details folks are blaming him for what happened? Is it possible? Sure, but I have heard nothing that would make this the case.
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I beg to differ. I highly doubt that all of these parties, many of whom no longer have incentive to fall on the sword for Leach, would come forth with independent accounts of James being a lazy, untalented football player.

If it proves true that Leach was punishing James for getting a concussion, that is reprehensible and he deserves punishment. But all parties in this case did things the wrong way. Leach for not meting out appropriate punishment, Texas Tech for acting rashly and using this as an excuse to fire Leach, and James for generally acting like a d*ckhead his entire collegiate football career.

Of course you are biased toward the player, because your son is a player. But don't act like James is an innocent victim in this. He isn't. It is most likely that what Leach did was unjust, but Leach wouldn't have singled out a team captain for this type of punishment. He (wrongly) did it because of all the bad equity James had built up for himself over the years.
 

Bingo!

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
I think that Craig James is the ultimate "little league dad" who just happens to have a bully pulpit courtesy of ESPN. And the network has leveraged this story for all its worth. In front of the camera, James has said all the right & contrite things, but I'd bet privately he's gloating like the Cheshire Cat. And its pretty obvious that TT was looking for any excuse to S-can Leach. You can bet that Maturi would have kicked Brewster to the curb over something like this as well.

What would be poetic justice is at the Alamo bowl game, the interim coach should have James, Jr suit up, then have him filling Gatorade cups for the whole game. With his helmet on.
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Bingo! This is NOT about young Adam James. This is about administrators being upset with Leach over the recent contract negotiations, his independent style, and buyer's remorse over his new contract. This is an excuse to do what they wanted to do, but up until now had no grounds to do so. If they liked Leach, the James issue would be no issue.

D1 coach with a big ego? Like that is something unusual? That may be irritating to some, but it will not get you fired.
 

Winnipegopher said:
"Is Craig giggling like a school girl at how it turned out? Hell yes, I know I would be."

You would be happy your kid got a coach fired and is now viewed as a primadonna jack-ass? This will follow Adam James for a long time.

This may have had to be done but I doubt either James is happy to be involved. If they are happy to be getting their 15 minutes of fame this way, then they truly are the dinks that many say they are.
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Leach got himself fired when instructed the training staff to put the player in the closet and followed that by not signing the paper his boss asked him to sign.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I beg to differ. I highly doubt that all of these parties, many of whom no longer have incentive to fall on the sword for Leach, would come forth with independent accounts of James being a lazy, untalented football player.

If it proves true that Leach was punishing James for getting a concussion, that is reprehensible and he deserves punishment. But all parties in this case did things the wrong way. Leach for not meting out appropriate punishment, Texas Tech for acting rashly and using this as an excuse to fire Leach, and James for generally acting like a d*ckhead his entire collegiate football career.

Of course you are biased toward the player, because your son is a player. But don't act like James is an innocent victim in this. He isn't. It is most likely that what Leach did was unjust, but Leach wouldn't have singled out a team captain for this type of punishment. He (wrongly) did it because of all the bad equity James had built up for himself over the years.
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My man...whatever Adam James is or is not is irrelevant. He suffered a concussion and the coach had him put in a closet. Said coach then would not sign a paper stating that TT athlete’s welfare is important.

Why in the hell would his boss NOT fire him? Leach was due $800,000 TODAY and would have been due a $400,000 buyout for every year left on his contract if he were to remain employed today. If Leach was willing to act like this without the money locked in, can you imagine what he would have been like with the money guaranteed? Leach fired himself. TT did not act irrationally; it was the financially responsible thing to do.

Am I biased? Naw, I just have better understanding of what goes on than you. Let's be clear. There is NOTHING Adam could have done that would warrant him being placed in a closet when he was suffering from a concussion. There was no corrective benefit to doing that. It was a spiteful, mean spirited act. As a parent, I do not dole out punishment when I am angry. Why? Because there is a chance that it may be done vengefully instead of as a learning or teaching tool.:cool02:
 

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