Would the media ripping on a senior right before senior day

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From the Barn

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be acceptable anywhere else? Especially a senior that stuck around four years and had no off the court issues when seemingly everyone else did?

I won't link to it, because he/it doesn't deserve it.
 

Just fired this email off to Mr. Scoggins (see below). I'm so tired of the press in this town. In no other Big Ten town would media editors have allowed this article to run right before the last home game of a senior player's career. Save it for the end of the season at least. The kid does everything right, short of meeting our own imposed basketball expectations, and gets this as he heads thru the final door of his college career. Pathetic. I'll post any response I get, but I doubt I'll get anything at all.

Chip,
All I can say is ‘unbelievable’. Your latest article “Sampson III finishing an underwhelming four years” is certainly not a original thought, nor is it particularly thoughtful. What it is, is an unkind poke at a player who has done everything right as a representative of the U, made shortly before the last home game of his career. There isn’t an educated Gopher basketball fan out there who isn’t frustrated with Ralph the III’s development as a player, but as the lone active senior of a team that has had a variety of troubles over the last 2 years, he deserves a little better than this kind of send off. Especially after hitting a significant statistical milestone in his career. And while this maybe isn’t a hatchet job on young Mr. Sampson, it’s not far off either. No, he didn’t meet all the expectations we the fans had for him, but he didn’t let us down like the kids who bolted when things got rough either. That deserves at least a modicum of recognition. But unfortunately that was nowhere to be found in your piece.

While it’s been pretty clear for years that your colleagues Souhan and Reusse are under some sort of directive to write nothing but negative stories about the flagship university of the state, I didn’t think you fell under their umbrella of jaded and predictable journalism. Were this article authored by either of those tired and lazy hacks, I would have shrugged it off as par for the course. In the future, please try and think outside of their polluted and warped perception of reality. While I generally avoid the Strib’s Gopher football and basketball editorial content, as it is usually either vapid and/or unreasonably negative, I still read some articles that catch my attention. You and Phil Miller have been the best and most level-headed writers when it comes to Gopher coverage and the balance to the more senior writers. Please don’t force me take you off that already very short list.

Sincerely,
Jon Tortomasi
 

bandana guy that was a very well written and rationale e-mail. well done. i look forward to chip's reply.
 

+1 A half-full article vetted by a half-full newspaper that simply did not need to be written.
 

I 2nd what Go4 said. You expressed yourself very well, and with class. I'll give Chip the benefit of the doubt on this one because as Bandanna Guy pointed out I think he's been very fair. The last thing we need is another tird like Souhan.
 


I bet it would be fun to crawl up Chip's ass with a microscope and see his failures in life. How about we write a column afterwards? It'll be fun. Well, not the ass part of course.
 

Yeah, that was a well written email Bandanna guy. I have not read the article, but saw the headline and just shook my head. We all know III has his flaws, we all know we had great hopes for him and he didn't exactly realize those hopes.

But as he draws toward this last home game (likely) of his career, I think that's one of the few times we can at least appreciate the good things he brought to the table, and the fact that as mentioned, during a time when transferring was "vogue", he stuck with it and will graduate from our institution. That's worthy of at least some respect, rather than just lamenting on his failures as a send off.

Disappointing premise for an article, I'd say.
 

Good job bandanna guy. He should be bashing the would be senior who left when it got tough.
 

From the Barn said:
be acceptable anywhere else? Especially a senior that stuck around four years and had no off the court issues when seemingly everyone else did?

I won't link to it, because he/it doesn't deserve it.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

I felt the same way about the venom spewed at Adam Weber over the years.
 




Chip Scoggins response update: Nothing to report. If he doesn't email me back by the end of today, I don't think I'll hear from him at all.
 

Latest from Mr. Scoggins:

Rather than email back, he actually CALLED me in person, leaving messages on both my work and cell phone. I called him back shortly there after and we had a very civil and productive conversation. Said he didn't like to get into back and forths on email exchanges, and wanted to follow up with my email. He expressed to me his difficulty in writing the article, and walking the line of criticizing an amateur athlete, and because of this he did want to get Ralph's statements into this article. I explained to him more than anything, I disliked the timing of this article, and Chip stated that he had heard from a few others about the timing as well. He also explained that he did have regret for not putting anything in the article about how Ralph had stuck it out, when others in the program had bolted. I told him that I did enjoy his work overall, and that I personally get very tired with what I perceive to be a overwhelming amount of negative press year after year, and it wears on fans like me. He asked me if I thought part of the issue was that the Gophers were in a larger media market with pro sports. I explained that I certainly didn't think it helped the Gophers, but wasn't sure if you could quantify any real 'damage'. He also mentioned that he wonders if he'll be put in a similar situation if MarQueis Gray has a lackluster senior year. How critical should you be? How much critcism is deserved? Etc. To close, he even had the decency to say we should have lunch sometime if I see him on campus.

All in all, I was very impressed with Chip's willingness to talk with me about the article, and his ability to accept criticism and and discuss his difficulties and opinions openly. Maybe he checked out Gopherhole and didn't want to be chastised. Maybe not. Either way, I respect the guy for calling a critic directly, and not chalking me up to be some rube fan just looking to complain or stir the pot.

So if you spot this post Chip. Thanks again. Appreciate your forthrightness and the discussion.
 

No need for the article whatsoever. It is a cheap shot on a kid that did his best. I am glad some are writing to Chip to let him know it is inappropriate especially right before senior day.
 



Mr. Scoggin's should read the comment section under his article before he thinks of writing an article like this again.
 

Even though I think he messed up in writing the article at all, props to him for engaging in that convo.
 

From the Barn said:
be acceptable anywhere else? Especially a senior that stuck around four years and had no off the court issues when seemingly everyone else did?

I won't link to it, because he/it doesn't deserve it.
Click to expand...

I agree. I wish all of our recruits were good students and good citizens -- stayed and contributed for four years. If that was our recruiting strategy, I think we'd rebuild into a respectable conference team in a few years.
 

Monty519 said:
Even though I think he messed up in writing the article at all, props to him for engaging in that convo.
Click to expand...

More than anything, I think the timing was poor. But it went a long ways with me that he actually called to discuss, and I think he was genuinely thoughtful on how much to rip a amateur athlete.
 

Great letter, Bandana.
If I were to assess the better skills in general, writing and personal, I'd give them to you. Whatever we are examining, you rise to the top both in your assessment of the fairness of the article and your fairness to the writer.
Really what Chip was bringing up is the challenge writers have in a bitter, cynical atmosphere needing to report about people we associate, not as professional athletes, but as kids who ate in our kitchens as our friends/friends of our kids. While I have sympathy to the challenge, I'm not so inclined to leniency for writers who succumb to taking the predictable low road.
 


That's cool that had offered to buy you lunch.
 





From the Barn said:
Here is the article Scoggins should have written. (shameless self-promotion, forgive me.
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Excellent read. Why is writing articles like these from time to time anathema to the Strib? I'm not asking for gushingly positive press at all times, but a little balance (sans the ridiculous Sid statements) would be nice. It's OK not to hate the Gophers when they disappoint. And it's OK to write something nice about a player who didn't meet externally imposed expectations.
 

Moonlight said:
Great letter, Bandana.
If I were to assess the better skills in general, writing and personal, I'd give them to you. Whatever we are examining, you rise to the top both in your assessment of the fairness of the article and your fairness to the writer.
Really what Chip was bringing up is the challenge writers have in a bitter, cynical atmosphere needing to report about people we associate, not as professional athletes, but as kids who ate in our kitchens as our friends/friends of our kids. While I have sympathy to the challenge, I'm not so inclined to leniency for writers who succumb to taking the predictable low road.
Click to expand...

Thanks Moonlight, that's a high compliment. I'm a hydrogeologist by day, and write a lot of very dry and straightforward reports and the like, so when I get to write about things I'm most passionate about (Gopher athletics), it's far more enjoyable.

Your point is well taken about leniency for writers who take the low road. Reusse and Souhan have taken it so often, they've lost all credibility in my book. Scoggins strikes me as 'better than that', and I do believe he struggled with some of the choices he made in this article.
 

Gopher Bandanna Guy said:
Thanks Moonlight, that's a high compliment. I'm a hydrogeologist by day, and write a lot of very dry and straightforward reports and the like, so when I get to write about things I'm most passionate about (Gopher athletics), it's far more enjoyable.

Your point is well taken about leniency for writers who take the low road. Reusse and Souhan have taken it so often, they've lost all credibility in my book. Scoggins strikes me as 'better than that', and I do believe he struggled with some of the choices he made in this article.
Click to expand...

+1
 

Wonderful ovation by the fans when Ralph was removed from the game. I'm happy for him.
 



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