Media Coverage

[TheCatInTheHat]

I'm just waiting for our Spring Game in two weeks to downgrade a tier and pull the plug on the Pac-12 Network. They aren't doing much coverage of our spring sports down the final stretch anyway. I've noticed that Big XII baseball gets on the ESPNs with fair frequency. Beyond that, there'll be ESPN+ and so forth. An expected downside in terms of the coverage of non-revenue sports.

On another topic, it's been interesting seeing Wilner trying to re-position himself. He's really talked up the ACC, which I guess is understandable as the destination of the two Bay Area schools located in his true region and where his contacts are. Fair enough, but his approach is to try and elevate them above the new expanded version of the Big XII. Other than FSU playing Clemson or Miami in football and Duke/UNC in hoops, the ACC doesn't particularly do much for me. And the football schools would all jump to the SEC as soon as asked and the lawyers say it's okay. Meanwhile, the Big XII has Arizona, Oklahoma St, West Virginia, Kansas St, Kansas, and Utah all coming off pretty big years in football, and other schools who've had historical success poised to move up if any falter. So there's more of an ebb and flow and sharing of the wealth, rather than entrenched powers, which is great for us. Not to forget Arizona/Kansas and other very good teams in basketball. And everything's on average much closer than ACC country. Wilner can keep trying to sell the ACC to his audience, but it doesn't mean anybody's buying.

[Ghost]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

[azgreg]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

[Ghost]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

The ones who refused to grill Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke. The ones who knew that Fisch was gutting the collectives while Heeke stayed silent. The ones who knew about Robbins deal with Fisch to use school money for rebuilding ventures of offices that were supposed to be covered by donors. Robbins signed off on projects that were unnecessary. The local media collaborated and stayed silent to keep the narrative that Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke were all in lockstep, and building a power house. Why? Because if fans found out what was really going on, they would tune out of the media and pay money to know “fake insider” news. That’s just for starters.

[azgreg]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

The ones who refused to grill Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke. The ones who knew that Fisch was gutting the collectives while Heeke stayed silent. The ones who knew about Robbins deal with Fisch to use school money for rebuilding ventures of offices that were supposed to be covered by donors. Robbins signed off on projects that were unnecessary. The local media collaborated and stayed silent to keep the narrative that Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke were all in lockstep, and building a power house. Why? Because if fans found out what was really going on, they would tune out of the media and pay money to know “fake insider” news. That’s just for starters.

So, not actually corrupt but just bad journalist in your opinion.

[Ghost]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

The ones who refused to grill Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke. The ones who knew that Fisch was gutting the collectives while Heeke stayed silent. The ones who knew about Robbins deal with Fisch to use school money for rebuilding ventures of offices that were supposed to be covered by donors. Robbins signed off on projects that were unnecessary. The local media collaborated and stayed silent to keep the narrative that Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke were all in lockstep, and building a power house. Why? Because if fans found out what was really going on, they would tune out of the media and pay money to know “fake insider” news. That’s just for starters.

So, not actually corrupt but just bad journalist in your opinion.

Definitions of corrupt;

having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

[azgreg]

This is all irrelevant. I don’t understand why your focus is on Wilner and not our own corrupt local media members.

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

The ones who refused to grill Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke. The ones who knew that Fisch was gutting the collectives while Heeke stayed silent. The ones who knew about Robbins deal with Fisch to use school money for rebuilding ventures of offices that were supposed to be covered by donors. Robbins signed off on projects that were unnecessary. The local media collaborated and stayed silent to keep the narrative that Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke were all in lockstep, and building a power house. Why? Because if fans found out what was really going on, they would tune out of the media and pay money to know “fake insider” news. That’s just for starters.

So, not actually corrupt but just bad journalist in your opinion.

Definitions of corrupt;

having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

What money or personal gain have they received for being "corrupt"?

You're not applying the term corrupt correctly here. It sounds more that you are butthurt over poor journalism.

[Ghost]

What Arizona media members are corrupt and how?

The ones who refused to grill Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke. The ones who knew that Fisch was gutting the collectives while Heeke stayed silent. The ones who knew about Robbins deal with Fisch to use school money for rebuilding ventures of offices that were supposed to be covered by donors. Robbins signed off on projects that were unnecessary. The local media collaborated and stayed silent to keep the narrative that Fisch, Robbins, and Heeke were all in lockstep, and building a power house. Why? Because if fans found out what was really going on, they would tune out of the media and pay money to know “fake insider” news. That’s just for starters.

So, not actually corrupt but just bad journalist in your opinion.

Definitions of corrupt;

having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

What money or personal gain have they received for being "corrupt"?

You're not applying the term corrupt correctly here. It sounds more that you are butthurt over poor journalism.

If the truth is told…access is cut off. Fans get apathetic. People stop subscribing to sites/digital stories. Journos lose money and quite possibly jobs. So, it’s lying and corruption so they can keep their status quo. Corrupt.

[azgreg]

Taht's not corruption.

[TheCatInTheHat]

My primary interest in re-introducing a media thread was to provide a box for this kind of discussion, so here it is. The forced changes to the media landscape from conference realignment and expiring contracts are topical and impactful, and anyone who touches on Arizona Athletics is fair game, regardless of their physical location in the interweb world. Star, Republic, LA Times, Merc, ESPN, etc. ... all grist for the mill.

[Fishclamps]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

[Ghost]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

[Chicat]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Another tip of the cap set of kudos to Justin Spears with another nice summary of personnel. You can't read too much into the weekly ups and downs of two-deeps in spring ball, but frankly, it's the real story and the real interest, particularly as the team develops with a new coaching staff. That'll continue, and there will be fall arrivals, already scheduled, and from the portal, who will cause further re-juggling, but it's nice to see who's getting established now. It's also interesting to read about the new communication approach with the radios in the helmets.

[TheCatInTheHat]

The "don't read too much into spring ball" bit brought back a memory from the Stoops years. For anyone who remembers, we had a fullback named Taimi Tutogi (who some folks either nicknamed, or thought was actually named "Tiny.") He was a bowling ball type with long hair flying out the back of his helmet. And he tore it up in the Spring Game for two years running. The first time, people were amazed and thought we'd found the next John Riggins out of nowhere. Clearly the game MVP, if there was ever such a thing. But, he almost never played, so people maybe thought he had an injury. Next year, same thing: MVP Spring Game performance. Then the same disappearing act. Maybe there was more to the story, but that's the only time I can remember something like that.

[Merkin]

UA had Nathan Tilford too, a 4 star RB, but could never crack the rotation since he couldn't block or figure out the UA playbook. Maybe the same thing with Tutogi?

[Ghost]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

[Chicat]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

Thank you for acknowledging what everyone already knew to be true.

[Ghost]

Am i missing the part where he said who the corrupt media members are?

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

Thank you for acknowledging what everyone already knew to be true.

All I acknowledged was your obsession with that dude on Twitter. You mention him a lot. I think that is strange. He’s a nobody.

[Alieberman]

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

Thank you for acknowledging what everyone already knew to be true.

All I acknowledged was your obsession with that dude on Twitter. You mention him a lot. I think that is strange. He’s a nobody.

What's your twitter handle?

[Chicat]

I was specifically told by board management not to mention any names or I will get banned. Sorry.

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

Thank you for acknowledging what everyone already knew to be true.

All I acknowledged was your obsession with that dude on Twitter. You mention him a lot. I think that is strange. He’s a nobody.

I didn’t name anyone. I said to link your feed. You brought up Chief. You told on yourself (what we all already know).

[Ghost]

Just link your Xitter feed. Everyone will quickly know who you have a weird obsession with.

You have a strange obsession with the guy whose name I can’t say or I will be banned. How crazy is that?

Thank you for acknowledging what everyone already knew to be true.

All I acknowledged was your obsession with that dude on Twitter. You mention him a lot. I think that is strange. He’s a nobody.

I didn’t name anyone. I said to link your feed. You brought up Chief. You told on yourself (what we all already know).

You would make a horrible detective. All you’ve done since I have been on this message board is talk about the guy on Twitter. That’s all you do. So, every reference or conversation with you is about him. It’s pretty sad.

[Chicat]

You would make a horrible detective. All you’ve done since I have been on this message board is talk about the guy on Twitter. That’s all you do. So, every reference or conversation with you is about him. It’s pretty sad.

You poor thing. Always the victim.

[84Cat]

[TheCatInTheHat]

Wilner cracks me up.

He likes to do on-line term paper research and throw dollar figures around. Within reasonable limits that's okay, as long as you don't pretend to be some all-knowing expert on every school, conference, and media contract with a highly debatable understanding of context. And his narrative is clear: the schools who left the Pac made a mistake, and he wants to lobby to eventually get the band back together...because it would benefit him. So he's going to throw shade at every opportunity about any financial concern, travel concern, scheduling concern, officiating concern or unhappiness about media coverage involving those who left. All of which happens in every conference. Hey, if the Poindexters with their bow ties and bad ideas hadn't screwed up the Pac, that could have been okay. But they're there, and the LA schools would always want the lion's share of favorable terms in everything. And if anybody claims OSU and WSU are better off in the soon-to-be-renamed (I assume) MWC...well, counselors are standing by. So don't hold your breath expecting anything from him about fans, players, or coaches at "the Four Corners schools" being happy in the Big XII.

As far as I can tell, the local papers in Big XII cities pretty much focus on their local teams. Those who despise audio/visual blogger types will probably have a stroke over this, but there's a YouTube channel called "Locked On Big XII" with a couple of young guys having fun. They're kind of doofus-y, but it's also kind of interesting to hear their takes about the overview of the new league composition, with the prospects of the newcomers vs. the "hateful eight," as they put it.

[TheCatInTheHat]

From a viewer perspective, I think that's the best Spring Game I've seen. Great job by the announcers, and it just came off as a great commercial for Arizona Wildcat Football. The best comment by Desriee Reed-Francois was to mention the $260M (or thereabouts) economic impact of Arizona Athletics on the state of Arizona. Just for the ABOR, the Phoenix legislature, and those who seem to live to tear it down.

[TheCatInTheHat]

From the retirement home, the Star lets Hansen write his views about the (old and) new opponents in the Big XII. When I bother to read his stuff, I just speed-read/skim, so I'm not going to go line-by-line. As usual, there a few buried easter eggs of info that I suppose might make somebody's mouth hang open in wonder. But the gist is the usual and expected approach, roughly along the following lines: "TCU built a $238M tiddly-wink palace that causes Arizona fans to drool with envy!" "The record of West Virginia's basketball program against left-handed point guards puts Arizona's to shame!" "Did you know that Cosmo the Cougar has to go on a two-year mission (to Orlando) before he performs in the most beautiful setting on earth?" So, the caveat for any curious Big XII fans reading the Star or coming here, to paraphrase Mr. Incredible: "He's not affiliated with us!"

[Carcassdragger]

I like Wildcat Country. Their serious insight, discussions, and guests are good. Not sure they are very good x's and o's guys though.

This week's podcast missed the mark. Several times they mentioned how the fans are down on this team. I don't think anyone is down on our guys. In fact, I think since most of us know the potential of our guys, and how they have never ever quit, it heightens our frustration with the staff. The many penalties and lack of execution isn't on our boys, but certainly indicative of a staff that isn't bringing out the best of them.

Sure. Coach Brennsn is a good guy and good coach and of course he needs time to get up and running, but after spring ball, and fall camp, we're on our 4th week of the season and this probably the best roster Coach Brennan will ever see at Arizona.

The time is now.

[Chicat]

I don't think anyone is down on our guys. In fact, I think since most of us know the potential of our guys, and how they have never ever quit, it heightens our frustration with the staff. The many penalties and lack of execution isn't on our boys, but certainly indicative of a staff that isn't bringing out the best of them.

LOL you’re the poster child for being down on the team. Every other post is about how we are only going to win maybe two more games this year.

Yeah, the coaches have to coach the guys up, but they don’t get to step between the lines with pads on. Saying you’re not down on our players is a cop out. Posting repeatedly about how shitty we are and then trying to say you’re only talking about the coaches is weak sauce. They were talking about YOU my man.

[Carcassdragger]

I don't think anyone is down on our guys. In fact, I think since most of us know the potential of our guys, and how they have never ever quit, it heightens our frustration with the staff. The many penalties and lack of execution isn't on our boys, but certainly indicative of a staff that isn't bringing out the best of them.

LOL you’re the poster child for being down on the team. Every other post is about how we are only going to win maybe two more games this year.

Yeah, the coaches have to coach the guys up, but they don’t get to step between the lines with pads on. Saying you’re not down on our players is a cop out. Posting repeatedly about how shitty we are and then trying to say you’re only talking about the coaches is weak sauce. They were talking about YOU my man.

Nah, we've all seen what this group of players, and the leaders on the team can do.

I'm reminded of Todd Graham. That dude's teams were always amongst the least penalized in the country. He didn't always have the greatest personel, but he could get alot out of them. I always thought ASSU should've kept that guy.

Again. Our lack of discipline, numerous penalties, and lack of execution are on the staff. I really am pulling for Brennan and staff to get it together. Our kids are already proven.

[tgrumpy2]

I don't think anyone is down on this team. The issue is we know what this team is capable of and we aren't seeing it. The penalties and poor execution are observations that are visible to anyone that watches them. Those issues are coaching issues. Coach Brennan even acknowledged that in the post game interview after our loss. Brennan isn't one to embarrass an assistant coach publicly so we'll never know what he has said to them. Coach Akina even acknowledged there had to be accountability not just from players but also coaches. We'll see if there is an improvement this week.

[TheCatInTheHat]

I checked out the SLC newspapers for their post-game coverage. Just glum about losing, that the Utah players "lacked energy" and their play-calling was too predictable. But nothing about our revised increased emphasis in the passing game, and probably the big one: Akina changing the defensive front to confuse their QB. And resulting in Utah, playing at home, having just 3 points after 3 quarters of play. It was a curveball after a bye week, and you can't expect that kind of adjustment all the time, but you've got to hand it to Akina and the rest of the coaching staff. Maybe that was always the plan when they looked at the schedule and the start of conference play at the supposedly toughest team. Or maybe it was just a case of fixing problems with the changes. In any event, now everybody's in a much happier situation. Except Utah.