Bianchi vs. firebrianhill.org

[Ned Ryerson 94]

quote:

Meanwhile, Winsor sits at his home in Hollywood, Calif., and watches the Magic on DirectTV, and he doesn't like that they are hovering around .500 halfway through Coach Brian Hill's second season. So 10 days ago, he plopped down $58 for a domain name and launched FireBrianHill.org.

 

"I love my team," Winsor says. "I just don't want us to have a horrible coach."

 

Do you sense a slight generation gap here, a troubling sign of the times? Even though Edmondson and Winsor both are from Tampa, one is the traditional fan who has missed three home games in the last half-century and supports his team through good and bad. The other is the Internet fan who watches on satellite TV and starts a fire-the-coach Web site from 3,000 miles away.

 

quote:

"I'm working with people across several message boards [to get Hill fired]," Winsor says.

 

This is the wireless, high-speed world we live in; where every fan with a laptop can influence public opinion. And don't think these Internet insurgents don't have an effect.

 

"From the day I was hired at Florida, that Web site -- FireRonZook.com -- set the tone for all the negativity," former UF coach Ron Zook told me once.

 

At the time, the Zook site was novel; the first of its kind. Now these sites appear with the regularity of an ad for erectile dysfunction. I used to think these fire-the-coach sites were amusing; now I just find them annoying.

 

Then again maybe I'm just jealous my influence has been eroded. Remember when sports columnists used to have the market cornered on calling for a coach's head? These days columnists are four months, five Web sites and six bloggers too late by the time they deem it necessary to fire the coach.

 

Like Mr. Two Bits, maybe I'm hopelessly out of step, too. It just seems wrong that Weston Winsor, a 24-year-old kid trying to make it in the movie business, sits at a computer screen in California and tries to double-click a coach in Orlando out of a job.

 

Two clicks, four clicks, six clicks, a gigabyte!

 

All for firing Coach Hill, sit down and log on to my Web site!

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-bi...?coll=orl-sports-col

 

Is it just me, or is our influence increasing? As Bianchi said, before the internet, it was up to sports writers to set the agenda. Now, rather or not you agree with him, someone like Winsor can lead the debate, and all sports writers can do is react.

[Ned Ryerson 94]

quote:

Meanwhile, Winsor sits at his home in Hollywood, Calif., and watches the Magic on DirectTV, and he doesn't like that they are hovering around .500 halfway through Coach Brian Hill's second season. So 10 days ago, he plopped down $58 for a domain name and launched FireBrianHill.org.

 

"I love my team," Winsor says. "I just don't want us to have a horrible coach."

 

Do you sense a slight generation gap here, a troubling sign of the times? Even though Edmondson and Winsor both are from Tampa, one is the traditional fan who has missed three home games in the last half-century and supports his team through good and bad. The other is the Internet fan who watches on satellite TV and starts a fire-the-coach Web site from 3,000 miles away.

 

quote:

"I'm working with people across several message boards [to get Hill fired]," Winsor says.

 

This is the wireless, high-speed world we live in; where every fan with a laptop can influence public opinion. And don't think these Internet insurgents don't have an effect.

 

"From the day I was hired at Florida, that Web site -- FireRonZook.com -- set the tone for all the negativity," former UF coach Ron Zook told me once.

 

At the time, the Zook site was novel; the first of its kind. Now these sites appear with the regularity of an ad for erectile dysfunction. I used to think these fire-the-coach sites were amusing; now I just find them annoying.

 

Then again maybe I'm just jealous my influence has been eroded. Remember when sports columnists used to have the market cornered on calling for a coach's head? These days columnists are four months, five Web sites and six bloggers too late by the time they deem it necessary to fire the coach.

 

Like Mr. Two Bits, maybe I'm hopelessly out of step, too. It just seems wrong that Weston Winsor, a 24-year-old kid trying to make it in the movie business, sits at a computer screen in California and tries to double-click a coach in Orlando out of a job.

 

Two clicks, four clicks, six clicks, a gigabyte!

 

All for firing Coach Hill, sit down and log on to my Web site!

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-bi...?coll=orl-sports-col

 

Is it just me, or is our influence increasing? As Bianchi said, before the internet, it was up to sports writers to set the agenda. Now, rather or not you agree with him, someone like Winsor can lead the debate, and all sports writers can do is react.

[weezt0e 0]

That article was such a fine display of the decline of ethical journalism. He grossly misrepresented me. One of the quotes he used bordered on fabrication. The other was merely a retort to something he said. He basically took my half hour interview, fished it for things to make me look juvenile, and threw it out the window. He made it sound like I am a struggling PA "trying to make it in the movie buisness." I edit movie trailers and TV commercials for movies. I probably make more money than Bianchi. He knew that, yet still tried to make me seem like I didn't have a job! I'm just floored.

[Ned Ryerson 94]

I am not at all surprised. Mainstream journalism no longer requires something to be the truth to be published. Journalists are self serving, writing things that will further their popularity and career. This wasn't always the case. Before the profit motive was introduced to newspapers, the goal was providing a public service. However, once papers became publicly traded, editors were required to increase readership and an acceptable profit, and did whatever it took to accomplish this. Granted, there are still journalists who are ethical and have a concern for the common good, but they are outnumbered by greed. Now I am mainly talking about the newsroom of papers, as this is where my field would land, but the same applies for sports.

 

weezt0e, you are one of the many causalities. I work for a non-profit organization that gets media attention weekly. The phone will ring, and a reporter will want a comment on something that happened. They don't care what I say, they are just looking for me say something controversial that they can plug into their column. Several times, I made a comment and it was published completely out of context. Yet, as it read in the article it made it sound combative, ignorant, and inappropriate.

 

Let's not forget that they are lazy. They don't want to do the research themselves. So, knowing I know what to do to get the numbers they want, they will call or email requesting information. They expect me to get to work and find what they want and deliver it to their doorstep. Why do they think it works? Because they know that they can offer us publicity, and help further our cause. True investigatory journalism is dead.

 

***Stepping off my soapbox.

[weezt0e 0]

Thats very insightful, and sadly, true. Seems like they just tow the RDV line. They know the press room at the O-rena is the sports section's bread and butter.

[Ned Ryerson 94]

quote:

Thats very insightful, and sadly, true. Seems like they just tow the RDV line. They know the press room at the O-rena is the sports section's bread and butter.

 

You're crashing their party. Why would I buy a paper if I know I can get everything Magic from forums like this and sites like yours? He sees you and realizes his declining importance.

[Drain-O 369]

Guys,

 

Journalists usually do not piss me off but for some reason this article rubbed me the wrong way. I sent him the following email which I doubt he will answer........

 

I really feel your article today paints a very bad picture of what you think is wrong with the younger generation of fans. First of all you are comparing a Gator fan to a Magic fan. This should be no shock to anyone since we all know you are a Gator homer. Why would you not compare an older Magic fan to a younger Magic fan and see how they feel about Coach Hill. You paint a picture like Mr. Edmonson is the reason that fans started cheering the Gators. I really think you can attest to the fact that Ron Zook was not a good coach and did not produce the results the "Gator Nation" was looking for. As a Noles fan I sat at the Doak in Zook's last game as UF beat FSU. Not one Gator by me did not cheer for UF because of Zook they just wanted better results. Your perception of a younger lazy generation is remarkable. You try to take away Winsor's credibility by basically calling him a struggling intern and saying he is just some dope who got bored and decided he hated Coach Brian Hill. How about talking about how long he has cheered the Magic or the fact that he travels to California to see the Magic. I live in Tampa and have not even been to 4 Magic games this year. I have two small children at home that are to young to go to games and choose to stay at home and help my wife. Just because I watch the games on TV and talk about it on the Magic message boards does not make me some hack. Going to every game for a half century does not make you a true fan. Mr. Edmonson seems like a great Gator fan but there are more ways to support your team than going to a game. I like Winsor realize that our team has immense talent that needs to be better utilized. If this team was producing at a level that was acceptable than there would be no issues. I really feel that alot of problems stem when a fan base gets content with mediocrity and it seems that Magic Management wants us to feel this way. I for one am tired of it and do not appreciate these articles that make it seem like the "younger generation" needs to get a life and keep their nose out of things. By the way your rhyme at the end was cute.

[Ned Ryerson 94]

Way to bring it... the whistle goes woooooo wooooo

[bhnole 153]

None of that surprises me, only Jamele Hill surpasses Bianchi as a bad sports writer in my opinion.

[MilitaryMagic 0]

The worse the better in the world of sports writing - Bianchi will never make ESPN.com like Jamele Hill did... wait a sec... Jamele Hill, I NEVER read her columns in the Sentinel - she writes the worst freakin' columns, she doesn't even have a good sense of humor.

 

At least Bianchi makes easy to read columns that are interesting with some humor, however much he twists the subjects of his articles.

 

Still, that's some quality publicity for firebrianhill.org. After all, it's not like the website is trying to raise money for tsunami victims or anything - it's a negative website. Only fitting the article would be negative towards the negative website... lots of negativity to go around.

[SmackDaddy 30]

How about we publicly challenge Schmitz, Bianchi, Povtak and any other Sentinel writer to join this forum and debate intelligently with us? They keep referencing the board and websites started by members of the board. It seems only fitting that they would stand up and identify themselves and their opinions in this forum.

 

I know if it was me, as prideful as I am, I wouldn't settle for being drug through the mud by forum members without retaliating (in a constructive manner of course).

 

So, here it is. A formal challenge to any Sentinel sports writers to join our board and demonstrate their range of knowledge against some of the most die-hard, informed, and articulate fans on the planet. Bring it boys!

[weezt0e 0]

Thanks for the support everyone!

I wish they would get on this site and debate. Too bad they have a huge forum with only 4 members, but hundreds of thousands of readers. They can just b*tch slap us from their high horse without so much as a response from us.