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NYT Schadenfreude  |
Posted on 05/11/2003 6:57:05 PM PDT by kristinn
KENT, Ohio (U-WIRE) -- A New York Times reporter said Kent State is miscounting its football attendance. Kent State officials said he was lying.
Laing Kennedy, Kent State's athletic director, said the article's author, Jayson Blair, never even contacted the university about how the school counts its football attendance.
"It's full of inaccuracies," Kennedy said. "It's totally irresponsible and not true. It infuriates me."
Neither Blair nor various editors at The New York Times could be reached for comments after numerous attempts.
The story says the university has sponsored tailgating parties and counted those packed on flatbed trucks and sitting on lawn chairs in the parking lot as being in attendance.
In one version of the article, Blair quotes Pete Mahoney, associate athletic director who oversees marketing, as saying, "We are going to do it until someone tells us to stop." In another version of the article, the same quote was attributed to "one Kent State official."
"I never saw the article," Mahoney said. "I got a phone call after it ran. Those are not my quotes.
"We're not very happy, especially about some comments that were made. 'Flatbed trucks' never came out of my mouth. My whole objective is to get people in the stands. The gate revenue is very important."
Kennedy backed-up Mahoney's comment, stating attendance numbers are accurately reported based on people coming through the turnstiles at Dix Stadium.
"We are not free and easy with the NCAA," Kennedy said. "They are very clear on how to count attendance. We don't count tailgaters. We don't count people on flatbed trucks, and we don't count people in lawn chairs."
There are certain NCAA stipulations Division IA schools must meet to still be considered Division IA. A school must have 90 percent of its scholarships occupied, must sponsor 16 sports (six of them men's) and must have 200 scholarships. The final stipulation -- averaging 15,000 people per home game against Division IA opponents -- is still being decided upon. Kennedy said the rule has been referred to the NCAA board of directors and, if passed, will go into effect Aug. 1, 2004.
This stipulation is what concerns the university. In 2001, it was about 8,000 people short of the proposed standard, but numbers are creeping up. In 2002 it averaged 11,447 people -- a hike of close to 90 percent.
Ramifications of not meeting the requirements have not yet been settled on by the NCAA, but the ramifications for the university could be huge.
To be a full-fledged member of the Mid-American Conference, the school must sponsor football, volleyball, baseball, softball and men's and women's basketball at a Division IA status. If the football program is dropped to IAA, Kent State would lose all its MAC membership.
The athletic department is working on new and innovative marketing ideas to put more people in the stands at football games. While Kennedy admitted winning is the best way to boost attendance, he said there are ways of encouraging more participation. Mahoney said the marketing department wants to reach out more to the community and to the students. Kennedy is looking at some schedule changes in order to not directly compete with larger football powerhouses like Ohio State.
"We need to be proactive and get creative and get rid of the sacred cow that Kent State football has to be played on Saturday at 2 p.m."
Kennedy said he wants to play more games on Thursdays and Fridays and make some of the game times later in the evening.
...The Daily Kent Stater, a student newspaper, published an article in December in which school officials took issue with Mr. Blair's reporting. The writer of the article, who said that he could not reach Mr. Blair because his voice-mail in box was full, then left detailed messages for The Times' sports department. No one at the paper responded to the messages.
This is a perfect example of why Howell Raines should be fired. His newspaper smears a university's football program and can't be bothered to respond at all to complaints about it.
The Times does mention that they recently interviewed Mr. Mahoney about his alleged quotes. Mr. Mahoney stated, again, he never spoke to Mr. Blair or made those remarks.
This is not just a Jayson Blair problem, this is a Howell Raines problem. Raines must go.
What, he did? never mind...
Just an hour ago, I settled on the Raines-New York Times as the subject for my next column. The story about the Times stepping on Kent State like a bug in the corner is more grist for the mill. I think you'll like how I climb the ladder to Raines.
Congressman Billybob
The Times' problems are bigger than this fool, and bigger than Raines. But Raines is a huge part of the problem.
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NYT Schadenfreude |
Angelwood and Marylander, who knew better, protested in front of The Times' D.C. bureau at 17th and I Street trying to meet the reporter to tell him how wrong he was.
For their troubles, Times staffers threw eggs out the windows at Angelwood and Marylander.
'Cause there is no outrage in the mainstream media.
The funny thing is that although most newspapers reprinted the NY Times article, very few have done their own independent story on the scandal. It's as if they're afraid to turn over the rocks because of what they might find in their own newsrooms. I wonder what percentage of datelines don't match expense reports. hmmmmm?
Now, they have no standards. This episode proves that in spades.
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