Florio's latest: UM Should Be On Watch...

[GrizMusician]

Florio (and Devlin) totally missed the point of the Penn St sanctions. Penn St was shredded by the NCAA for it's actions in covering up the known actions of Jerry Sandusky. Not because of the horrible crimes he committed himself.

The UM... as I best know, has covered up nothing.

Hence, no comparison in terms of the way the NCAA will look at this.

Trying to be somewhat objective in all of this...

There are underlying similarities between PSU and UM. There is a general culture of football being above all else in a smaller community. Now - the results of these similarities are drastically different, and I think that is very important to point out (which Florio does not). To link UM to PSU without this commentary is unfair reporting, but none of us should be surprised by Florio's tactics at this point.

And if you really want to start focusing on the worst offenders of this behavior, the next targets should be high major football schools that reside in cities of less than 100,000 people (like State College, PA). While a community like Missoula has fallen into this type of culture, there are universities where this culture is way more out of control.

The SEC is full of these types of communities where football is far above everything else. The cultures of some of these cities are dangerously out of control - and what happened at Penn State could just as easily happen at some of these universities.

The positive at UM is that Engstrom has taken some actions. Now while we don't all agree with them, at least there is a heavy focus on running a cleaner program. There's nothing wrong with people loving their college football, but that creates a tempting environment for those without strong characters to take advantage of. It's the responsibility of university presidents to prevent this from happening, so I commend Engstrom for trying - even if I don't agree with all of his actions.

So - are there similarities between the cultures in Missoula and State College when it comes to college football? Absolutely. Could this have happened in Missoula? Quite possibly. Are the current circumstances in Missoula comparable to what happened at PSU? Not even close. And shame on Gwen again for not reporting the full story without bias or an agenda.

Great post! :clap:

 

[jcu27]

Florida is the worst. Winning will always come first. Coach loses a few games, guess what? Fired!

 

[EverettGriz]

Florida is the worst.

Coincidence that Florida and Florio so closely resemble one another??

Me thinks not....

 

[UMGriz75]

I love her closing sentences:

"A case involving the expulsion of an unnamed student accused of rape is on appeal to the university court.

Meanwhile, interim football coach Mick Delaney dismissed quarterback Gerald Kemp from the team earlier this month for unspecified violations of team rules.

Delaney has said Kemp could be reinstated. Both Kemp’s and Johnson’s names remain on the team roster."

This is what drives me nuts about her reporting. She is implying that Kemp is now part of the sexual assault scandal. Is he? This is the first I heard about it.

It is kind of like reporting "There was a mass shooting in Colorado and Alpha was seen with a gun."
I just failed to include that Alpha was seen with a gun at a rifle range with in the past month in Missoula.

While the quote is true, it leads the reader to make false conclusions.

The Missoulian has come to specialize in National Enquirer forms of innuendo. Careful placement of a sexual assault allegation is followed by "and gee, Gerald Kemp was suspended." Gosh, nothing to suggest anything?

The routine "ability" of the reporter to dig up appropriate negative quotes from the local YWCA director, or the "National Coalition Against Violent Athletes" on allegations that the person being quoted has virtually no role in whatsoever, obviously has little direct knowledge of, and plainly has an "agenda," while at the same time never managing to find a "balancing" quote or interview with anyone who offers a different perspective is becoming not just tiresome, but libelous.

It is "agenda" reporting of the worst kind.

Are either the YWCA or the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes actual "experts" on anything? Do they have any genuine expertise to offer? Have they published any scholarly studies? Are they legal experts? Do they have any specific knowledge of the story at hand?

No, no, no, no and no.

So why does the Missoulian dredge up these irrelevant sources? HOW does the Missoulian dredge up these irrelevant sources?

Unfortunately, the Missoulian reporting has all of the appearances of a particularly shady form of Journalism; the reporter seeking out the agreeable source with an established agenda, providing the "information" that generates the quote, virtually inserts the desired quote into the conversation, then reports that the source said what the reporter set the source up to say. It is nearly as bad as simply attributing fabricated quotes to "sources say that ....". And it is almost at that level.

The Missoulian's odd inability to find the "balance" quote is particularly odd. Indeed, many of those who offer an alternative view have already been subject to a "hit" piece against their credibility to offer observations, because they post to a "testosterone soaked" website deluged with non-existent abusive remarks about women.

Florio goes to the director of the YWCA, then the "National Coalition Against Violent Athletes," both ostensibly out of the blue, to add hearsay to allegations of a "testosterone soaked universe," then to skew reporting on various young men who happen to be athletes, but won't -- underscore won't -- go and talk to a genuine professional at the heart of the reporting and prosecuting system? I am referring to a former prosecutor in the Missoula County Attorney' s office who aggressively pursued these cases, and was active in First Step Sexual Assault Resource Center, the Montana Sexual Offender Treatment Association, the Missoula Family Violence Council, and numerous organizations focused on child abuse and domestic abuse.

It is an extraordinary example not of "overlooking" appropriate sources, it is an extraordinary example of refusing to even talk to appropriate sources, in favor of seeking specific quotes from unknowledgeable sources who happen to have pre-determined social biases.

When the Montana Journalism Review gets around to its own potentially award-winning article, covering the Missoulian's extraordinarily poor and biased reporting on this matter, it will have plenty to work with.

 

[Herd]

Certainly, this isn't close to the Penn State saga, but I wouldn't be thumping my chest about being squeaky clean either. You have a president who fired an AD and Head coach, why? Clearly your president was not happy with the actions by these two, which could point to effort by them to conceil information, or not hold players accountable for code of conduct. Why else would they be fired?

I understand that Griz fans are going to fall on their swords for the team, but investigators will be more objective in their review. Are you sure that emails from your former AD and coach would not point to inactivity in situations where actions were clearly warranted? Just trying to make sense of two quiet firings, something is clearly not right with the situation.

From an outside view, things appear to be fishy. On a positive note, those firing will prove to be a positive action to investigaors.

 

[EverettGriz]

Certainly, this isn't close to the Penn State saga, but I wouldn't be thumping my chest about being squeaky clean either. You have a president who fired an AD and Head coach, why? Clearly your president was not happy with the actions by these two, which could point to effort by them to conceil information, or not hold players accountable for code of conduct. Why else would they be fired?

I understand that Griz fans are going to fall on their swords for the team, but investigators will be more objective in their review. Are you sure that emails from your former AD and coach would not point to inactivity in situations where actions were clearly warranted? Just trying to make sense of two quiet firings, something is clearly not right with the situation.

From an outside view, things appear to be fishy. On a positive note, those firing will prove to be a positive action to investigaors.

I don't know anyone who has suggested the program is squeaky clean. As for the AD and HC who did not have their contracts renewed, the number of potential reasons exceed the potential guesses. Of one thing I'm fairly certain, however; they didn't have their contracts nonrenewed due to "conceiling" anything.