It says here he is.
Personal animosity because of his arrogance and the fact it is noticable how badly his work suffers on game stories because he listens to music during them aside, on April 1 he wrote a story that speaks of Paul Stanton starting a "Long Range Committee" for ETSU athletics- for the next 25 years.
It also says Stanton doesn't like George Steinbrenner.
SO WHERE IS THE FOLLOW UP COLUMN BLASTING STANTON?
He says he doesn't like Steinbrenner, yet he runs the program exactly like Steinbrenner with four athletic directors during his term.
Smith lets him get away with this?
And considering how ETSU athletics have fared since Stanton has come aboard, is there anyone you'd LESS LIKE TO SEE try to form the future of the Bucs?
All this shows me is that Stanton still doesn't get it. He now says he wants another committee to study the long-range plan.
Dr. Stanton- when you dropped football, you said you wanted to be thought of as "someone who did what was best for the university."
Now you seem to be backtracking.
Where is the criticism? Instead, Wardrobe by Jim Ignatowski curls up with Stanton, listening to this man's wisdom and letting him get away with changing his tune at every interview.
We have to face the fact that Smith, instead of being the heroic figure that brings ETSU to prominence, is the guy who gave MORE of a green light to Paul Stanton than ever before and caused him to extend his damage permanently.
This is not to say that he shouldn't have done the football series.
This is to say he's playing favorites with his commentary and the end result could prove fatal.
Pitt---
Stick to the stories dude, you were getting better. Get over the Brian Smith thing.
So you approve of Paul Stanton designing the future of the sports landscape of the area?
My, how you have changed since you took to carpetbagging.
No, I'm not a Stanton fan, but the Brian Smith stuff is getting old. If you're wanting to crush Stanton for being a moron, then crush him for being a moron. Trying to attack another writer given the history between the two of you isn't helping you at all. You were doing better, don't worry about what he does, stick to Stanton and Mullins, and ok, maybe the occasional Avento looks like a leprechaun comment here and there, but leave it at that.
Okay, here's the thing on Smith.
First of all, there is a personal distaste I have for him because I had tried to befriend him on numerous occassions and he was not only indifferent, but he goes into this mode where he then thinks he can tell you how to do your job.
You may say that such behavior doesn't affect you, the reader, because you are merely reading his work and not sitting next to him, whereas my nose-tweaking over the years on here is a personal, one-on-one reaction. Fair enough.
However, the one thing you can't say about me is that I've been dishonest. And I know on at least one occassion where Smith has been.
Smith tends to listen to music while he's watching a game. He defends this by stating that "In a high school girls game crowd noise isn't that important."
However, back in November he actually DID write a high school girls story where he spent half the article writing about the crowd noise!
That's dishonesty. And to go into such a defense of listening to music on headphones during a game- when "Oh, it helps me relax and I can still keep stats" is all you need to say- shows a very thin skin and, honestly, an admission that he knows he's slacking.
It clearly affects his work. His game stories are absolutely horrible.
However, game stories also are, arguably, the least important thing on the sports page. We almost always know who won the game by the time we pick up the paper- even if it isn't broadcast.
We read the paper to for stuff like this on the softball game going to Milligan instead of ETSU.
And I have to give him credit for doing it. And I have to give the BHC- jerks as I have found their staff to be- credit for supporting him.
However, on the enterprise about ETSU football- there was a lot of fluff. A lot of people in the local media scoffed at the "Tennessee Titans coulda trained here" piece because it was 10 year old news- but in an enterprise there's nothing wrong with a bit of rehash.
But there was a bunch of showoff in it. Quoting Jay Bilas or Dr. Jerry Punch or whoever- who cares?
I did a piece with Beano Cook talking about ETSU football's demise when it happened. I learned something from the experience- these national figures know NOTHING about the ETSU situation and can only make- at best- broad general statements.
The worst thing was writing nine articles and not quoting Mullins until the end of the ninth article. Look, I'm no Mullins fan but he is the A.D.
And while I realize Mullins is very evasive- you have got to get that guy's perspective on these things. You had three hours with him. If you're any kind of an interviewer- you ought to have SOMETHING.
That said- I have to give him credit for uncovering things- such as the flirtation with the OVC. I honestly wonder if we ever would have ever heard about this if he wasn't on the beat.
However, recently there has been a recklessness. Look, I don't mind him reporting the mistakes ETSU has made. But lately it's been a wink at yellow journalism.
A recent story of Smith's said that "The winds are swirling" and such regarding football's return.
That same day- Bill Meade responded to callers wanting to talk about the issue with "I don't see a big movement for the team to return."
Well, what is it? Probably somewhere in the middle.
But the winds aren't necessarily swirling, unless it is from reporters patting themselves on the back. There's no stadium, there's no fundraising, there's no plan. The same administration is in charge and the same Faculty Senate is in place.
The April 1 article was the worst. He mentioned "Only 27 percent of the students voted AGAINST bringing it back."
That's like a writer for The Nation saying "Only one in five Americans voted for George W. Bush in 2004."
So where is Smith's criticism of Stanton for implementing such a ludicrous proposition as a student vote to decide the community's cultural future?
Whereas Smith goes out of his way to make Mullins look bad with his quotes, he goes out of his way to IGNORE the absurdities of Stanton's quotes.
To allow Stanton to say he's putting together YET ANOTHER TASK FORCE determining the long range future of the program without even saying "Uh, haven't you had similar plans before?" is either total blindness or absolute shilling!
And yes, there's the feeling he is riding on my coattails. There's the feeling that I did a lot of this stuff back in 2003-04 at Sports Talk and was never given any support for it- instead having gutless editors write "The opinions of this column are not necessarily that of . . . "
There's the feeling that had some editors actually had some BACKBONE- or a certain newsroom had SOME DIRECTION AND NOT BACKBITING- then maybe things would be different now.
All I know is in the last month, I've talked to two publishers of newspapers in this area who have come out and ADMITTED to me "Well, we try to stay away from controversy."
Criticize the mayor for selling out his town and giving millions to Austin Peay instead? NO! We'll put his picture on our masthead- never mind that's free pub for his Congressional run.
Print how the RPIs of the A-Sun don't compare to the So Con in six of seven sports for the past six years? NO! Let's do this high school basketball game- and make sure you report that David Crockett played hard when they lost 60-19!
And when we finally find the editor who is willing to report the news and not do PR for the local institutions, then the investigations are reckless and may ultimately wind up putting ETSU into even more of a hole than they were before if this Stanton long range plan becomes fruition.
So that's my opinion. I think Kelly Hodge is a lapdog and Brian T. Smith is a yellow journalist and I think the majority of the broadcast media don't have a quality news sense.
And they used to laugh at me- being scorned by them. One poster on here even scolded me for not being "so ashamed I that [I] should never post again."
Well, unlike Smith, I got a thick skin. I have things to say. I have knowledge- more than most in the area- and I'm willing to take the shots that come when people speak the ugly truth.
It is the area's shame people in paid positions to do the same do not- so if this is to be my forum- so be it.
At least this way I don't have to watch high school basketball.