MPR's Bob Collins shreds Souhan and the MSP sports media's bigotry

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http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/12/detractors-stay-silent-as-jerry-kill-proved-them-wrong/

Bob Collins has been harping about the bigotry shown to Mr Kill for over a year now, and is constantly calling on Twitter for these guys to apologize.

And please, don't just focus on Mr Souhan. Judd Zulgad, Jeff Dubay, Gregg Doyel, and on and on. Zero apologies. Zero accountability.

Collins:

"The face of your program can’t belong to someone who may be rushed to the hospital at any moment of any game, or practice, or news conference. No one who buys a ticket to TCF Bank Stadium should be rewarded with the sight of a middle-aged man writhing on the ground. This is not how you compete for sought-after players and entertainment dollars.

It can’t?

Even those who admire him most can’t believe that he should keep coaching major college football after his latest episode. Either the stress of the job is further damaging his health, or his health was in such disrepair that he shouldn’t have been hired to coach in the Big Ten in the first place.

He shouldn’t have?

Kill is unable to fulfill his duties.

He is?
Kill was getting additional treatment for his illness at the time Souhan, a handful of radio sportstalk hosts, and the fanboys who support them were declaring he was a lost cause and had to go.

...

Souhan, Doyel, Kravitz, the sports radio hosts, and most of the fanboys have had nothing to say since Kill proved them all wrong."


We know what GL'd friend Zulgad will say, that in a sport unlike pro sports where the future belongs to entrenched powers and lines up decidedly against upward mobility, that a program's best run/bowl game in 50 years still isn't that big of a deal. Don't listen to that station. Their ratings stink, let the Hubbards subsidize it if they want.
 

Souhan should be forced to write an apology article, SPECIFICALLY apologizing and admitting he was wrong for writing that article. He's god damn lucky to still have a job after that, some have said he was fortunate that his editor at the time was leaving and didn't want to make drastic changes before the new editor took over.
I really need to see in print, hell even a tweet from Souhan: I was wrong about Jerry Kill.

Any way you cut it, Kill has proven his critics(that's a nice word for bigoted idiots) dead wrong. That includes Souhan, Zulgad, Dubay, etc.

We are on the cusp of a new era in Gopher Football, one where we beat the lower tier teams we used to belong to, hold serve against rivals at home, and give the top tier B1G squads fits. That's a direct result of the U sticking with and believing in Coach Kill as their head man.
 

If these guys apologized every time they are wrong they wouldn't have time for anything else.
Again, most media have no more expertise than the average fan watching at home....and often less.
 

I'm glad to see people sticking to this one and not letting Souhan off the hook. I can honestly say that was the last Souhan column I have ever read. With something THAT wrong, how could one ever be confident reading another of his columns would be worth the time investment?
 

CP Gopher said:
If these guys apologized every time they are wrong they wouldn't have time for anything else.
Again, most media have no more expertise than the average fan watching at home....and often less.
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CP...I'd say less. They just show their lack of expertise on the stage called media.
 


CP Gopher said:
If these guys apologized every time they are wrong they wouldn't have time for anything else.
Again, most media have no more expertise than the average fan watching at home....and often less.
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There are degrees of wrong. The word applies to "incorrectly guessing who might win a sports contest" and "stating that epileptics shouldn't have high-profile jobs because it is icky". Nobody is asking for Souhan to apologize for being a hack, they are asking for an apology for his bigotry. Not that it matters now. He dug in his heels and any apology would be forced and meaningless, it would just feel good to watch one of our local hacks (who treat dissent from readers as a sign that they are on to something) eat a **** sandwich in public.
 

Funny, Soupcan hasn't written/tweeted about the Gophs at all. Not after Nebraska or Iowa, not before Wisconsin. Not after coach of the year. Nothing.

I know he and Kill met. I wonder if Kill told him not to write about his program.
 

Noticed a number of really positive things being said on several radio stations now, more talk of the town stuff for the Gophers. There was a good reason for the "Fight Their Balls Off" comment and why coaches stay with Kill.

As a season ticket holder, I have been "rewarded with the sight of a middle-aged man" bringing the U to respectability and recognition. Thank you, coach Kill and staff. Go Gophers!
 

We have been "rewarded with the sight of a middle-aged man dancing terribly in the locker room" a handful of times now.

And we love it.
 



Schnauzer said:
I'm glad to see people sticking to this one and not letting Souhan off the hook. I can honestly say that was the last Souhan column I have ever read. With something THAT wrong, how could one ever be confident reading another of his columns would be worth the time investment?
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Speaking of boycotts, I haven't listened to KFAN early in the morning since the one d-bag made a wise-ass comment to Nate Tripplett about the Rose Bowl about 4 years ago.
 

CP Gopher said:
Speaking of boycotts, I haven't listened to KFAN early in the morning since the one d-bag made a wise-ass comment to Nate Tripplett about the Rose Bowl about 4 years ago.
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Don't boycott entire orgs because of one D-bag. Lots of folks from all walks work in large orgs. But yes, you should boycott sports radio because it is terrible.
 

The thing with Souhan is he probably still doesn't get it. It was one thing to bring up the subject. It's another to present it in the way he did. As Bob Collins said in the comments section of his article when someone defended the columnists:

You'll note they weren't raising questions. Those were declarative sentences in those pieces.

You'll also note another thing about all of those pieces: Not a single one included a shred of information from someone informed about epilepsy.

Not one.
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The reactions would have been different if Souhan actually raised questions and concerns, and did some research on the disease. He didn't even try to do that.

I also continue to get a kick out of the fact that he only spoke about his article/opinion with people he knew wouldn't challenge him. Both the radio show on ESPN and his buddy in Indianapolis were going to agree and defend him no matter what. Souhan got invited to go on Outside the Lines on ESPN to talk about Kill and the article, and he didn't return their calls because he knew he would be challenged on that show. Coward.
 

Gregg Doyle is a solid dude.

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GophersInIowa said:
The reactions would have been different if Souhan actually raised questions and concerns, and did some research on the disease. He didn't even try to do that.

I also continue to get a kick out of the fact that he only spoke about his article/opinion with people he knew wouldn't challenge him. Both the radio show on ESPN and his buddy in Indianapolis were going to agree and defend him no matter what. Souhan got invited to go on Outside the Lines on ESPN to talk about Kill and the article, and he didn't return their calls because he knew he would be challenged on that show. Coward.
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Yep. That is the 1500 way. Even back when Tom P was there. He does excellent NFL stuff and I'm really happy for his career ascent, but his guest spot for Jimmy S was basically a place for him to spew garbage and ridicule dissent.
 

Stan said:
Gregg Doyle is a solid dude.

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At least Doyel is extending an olive branch and wants to get Jerry some positive press. The other two can't even manage to make a simple comment via twitter or otherwise. It does make me wonder if Kill or somebody else told Souhan to completely avoid Gopher football after the fiasco of a column he wrote last year.
 

My Strib subscription remains dead.

I wonder if Jerry gave Souhan an ass chewing in private. SOmething was said between the two that you no longer hear Souhan comment anything about Gopher Football.
 

I think it is worse when one of our own, Studwell, piled on during this time.
 

hungan1 said:
My Strib subscription remains dead.

I wonder if Jerry gave Souhan an ass chewing in private. SOmething was said between the two that you no longer hear Souhan comment anything about Gopher Football.
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It could just be that the Strib told him to look elsewhere for topics to give the local Skip Bayless angle to.
 


Soupcan was for sure given a ban on talking about the Gophers in any way
 

Has Souhan really said nothing about Gopher football since then? I could have sworn I saw a tweet of his in one those Gopherhole "post-game Twitter reactions" threads, after the Michigan game I think, lightly poking fun at himself for his usual negative attitude toward the Gophers and giving the team a pat on the back. Might have been someone else though, might try to find it later today.
 

I think we need to make sure we distinguish different types of articles. When Kill had missed all or part of multiple games due to his health concerns, I don't think it was unreasonable to question whether he would be able to continue to do his job. A coach can't be missing games every year, regardless of the reason. Fortunately, the U had faith in Kill's ability as a coach and his commitment to controlling his health concerns, and Kill has come through big time. That said, I'm not going to hate someone just because they disagreed.

The Souhan article was something different. That was an offensive piece, which contained a joke where the punchline was basically "epileptics look ridiculous when they have seizures." Souhan's piece was unacceptable in my opinion, a well-thought out piece discussing the health concerns and their potential impact on the football program would not have been.
 

I'm very glad I'm not alone in wanting to punch souhan in the face. He sounds like a bitter and negative person , so it's possible he might enjoy it. At least gopherhole keeps their attacks about the game. It's not right to make fun of a mans condition. I better not get started or I will write a wall of text.
 



2nd Degree Gopher said:
GopherSteak, if you decide to approach souhan, please think twice before starting a physical altercation--he's quite fit.
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Ya, after all we would not enjoy watching Souhan writhing and twisting and shaking on the ground, ya know.
 

Wow, cannot believe this is still an issue. I think its time to let it go and move on.
 

GoldenUMNGopher said:
Wow, cannot believe this is still an issue. I think its time to let it go and move on.
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No way in hell should it be put to rest. MPR just exposed after the fact what a bigot and prejudiced thing Jim Souhan is.
 

monk10 said:
I think it is worse when one of our own, Studwell, piled on during this time.
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I didn't take what Studwell wrote that way at all. I seem to remember him saying that Jerry should go up in the box (which is what happened). Maybe I'm wrong on that, but I don't think I am.
 

Schnauzer said:
I'm glad to see people sticking to this one and not letting Souhan off the hook. I can honestly say that was the last Souhan column I have ever read. With something THAT wrong, how could one ever be confident reading another of his columns would be worth the time investment?
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That was the last sTrib article I have read. No Souhan apology is necessary for me. Nor a public admission he was wrong. The fact that he has remained silent is about all I could hope for.
 

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