BLEACHER REPORT WRITER NEEDS TO FIND A NEW BEAT

Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 2:11 pm Posted in overreacting, randomness, showdown 55 Comments

We were listening to Dan Scott’s radio show on WCCPFM this morning and he covered an article that was posted on The Bleacher Report a few days ago about college basketball coaches that should be on the hot seat for this upcoming season. The article is a blatant example of how to write an article and do absolutely zero research on a subject that you are completely unfamiliar with. The article, The Road to the Final Four at Ford Field: Coaches Whose Seats are Hot, Hot, Hot, was penned by Jameson Fleming.

If you start the article out, it seems fine enough. It lists in the number one spot Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. Carmody has gone 3 – 33 in conference play over the last two years. Then, just below him at number two is Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. Did you hear us? I SAID THAT HE LISTED AS OLIVER PURNELL AS THE SECOND MOST COACH IN THE COUNTRY WHO SHOULD BE ON THE HOT SEAT. OLIVER PURNELL ON A HOT SEAT. HOT SEAT. LARGE WORDS IN BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS. IMPORTANCE!!!!

Let’s peruse through the reasons that Jameson Fleming is wrong. By the way, his name just screams, “I’m a nerd. No, not the Georgia Tech kind… worse than that.”

- It’s OBVIOUS that he DIDN’T do ONE BIT of RESEARCH for this article. Because googling phrases like “Oliver Purnell” or “Clemson basketball wiki” is way too hard. Standing on a metaphorical soap box and just spouting biased opinion is much better journalism… or at least easier.

- He’s been at The Bleacher Report for seven months and he’s a senior writer. The guys over there tried to get us to write for them about four months ago (back when we were DFIG) and we pretty much told them no. They continued begging so we finally told them that they could feed our articles but we were going to do zero work. Hrm. Following that progression, where is the DFIG article feed in this chain of command?

- Oh, ok. It’s obvious why you should be writing on matters related to Clemson. Because you go to Syracuse University. And you’re a broadcast journalism student… at a school that is 850 miles away. Great. Grand. You’re an idiot.

- Wait… is that your profile picture? That’s… you?

Wait… hold on. This is better:

That’s because just like in the movie your name and your journalism belong in MADE UP FUCKING FAIRY TALE LAND, FAGGLE. You’re a douchebaggot (see what I did thar?) Next time, do your homework. Please. Purnell had two straight disappointing seasons? What are you, huffing adhesive spray mixed with ether? Clemson basketball used to be terrible. At least it’s respectable now. Believe it or not, that first disappointing season was an improvement on the season before that. And that second disappointing season… catching on yet, Fleming? Get it together before the owners over there fire you and give DFIG newsfeed the title of “senior writer”.

**UPDATE** You’ve got to give him credit. Jameson nutted up and changed his article. We were hard on him but cmon, it was fun as hell. We do appreciate you volleying back and forth with us.

55 Responses to “BLEACHER REPORT WRITER NEEDS TO FIND A NEW BEAT”

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1Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:19 pm:

Admittedly, calling out something on the Bleacher Report as being stupid is like shouting “RETARD!” at a 50 foot tall Voltron made of hundreds of Down Syndrome kids all slapped together, bowl cuts flopping akimbo as it meanders down the street towards some big shiny object.
2Charlie on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:21 pm:

I’m speechless. This guy obviously didnt have courtside seats during the Shiatt era like myself.
3Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:23 pm:

Oh, and Fleming replied to a comment on his post:
“Clemson’s situation dictates he won’t be fired for a long time, but if his team continues to under perform during his tenure he deserves to go. The last two years were pathetic the way they fell.”

Yes, completely pathetic how Clemson made it to the ACC Championship game.
4Beauty is Only Pigskin Deep on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:30 pm:

here are his lame comments to getting smacked down by RevDodd. I guess his research methods don’t involve the internet, just Athlon.

“I stood by my statements until your comment. It’s sometimes hard to grasp what’s going on with every team in the country at my position. I can watch all I can, read all the preview magazines I can get my hands on but I can’t always get the fan perspective.

So thank you for that perspective. I guess I would not consider him on the hot seat, but I would be slightly frustrated that the team did have disappointing ends to the season because expectations were higher.

Thanks for your well informed comment.”
5Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:34 pm:

I will admit I made a mistake.

But at the same time, you go can through my seven months of archives and not find another article where I messed up. I read several preview magazines and a lot of other previews, several had a common theme of Clemson needs to step up in and win in the postseason and/or make the NCAA Tournament. So that was the theme I went with and that’s why I chose him.

For you to sit here and attack me without reading the rest of my work is just as bad as what I did. You accuse me of not googling Clemson or doing research so why didn’t you research the rest of my archives to see what a good job I’ve done in the past.

I didn’t get to be a syndicated writer for Fox Sports and CBS sports by being an awful writer.

I made a mistake, I later admitted it in the comments when the guy double posted.

This is an immature attack on me for one mistake I’ve made in seven months.

Thank you,
Jameson
6Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:34 pm:

Comment #4, please find a new commenting nickname other than DannyFordisGod.
7Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:36 pm:

Thanks Jameson, I liked your overall article and your coverage in general, but the OP thing was off base and we teed off on that. All in good fun, sir. All in good fun.
8Penthouse Tiger on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm:

“Two years ago, Clemson opened the season 17-0. The school was flying towards the top of the rankings and had big aspirations for the rest of the season. Things derailed quickly and Purnell’s team didn’t even reach the NCAA Tournament.”

This guy does realize that the first 10 to 12 games of our season have traditionally been against cupcake teams right? If you Clemson didn’t have at least a minor drop off from that when entering into your schedule in the ACC, THE STRONGEST CONFERENCE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IN THE COUNTRY, then Oliver Purnell could safely be called God.

Everyone knows Oliver Purnell can never be called God, because, as my Dad has taught me since birth, Danny Ford is God.

oh, and “Douchebaggot” is now one of my top 5 favorite words.
9Penthouse Tiger on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:43 pm:

I was writing my response before the author commented, at least he was man enough to apologize (kinda) for his gross misstatements. He also pretty much called himself perfect other than that one mistake, which means he’s still a douchebaggot.
10Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:45 pm:

Thanks Chili.

I really didn’t want to right that article honestly because this was one thing I didn’t think I had the background to write, but I wasn’t going to pass up to be on CBS Sports. And unfortunately even with all the research I did, I got one thing wrong.

I apologize for that and it won’t happen again.

Rev’s comment swayed my opinion to your side because he provided a very good explanation to where Purnell stands as the head of the program. I made the mistake of taking a snapshot of the last two years and seeing two teams that should have been in the NCAA Tournament winning games rather than not in two years and a first round exit last year.

I failed to take in account how he even built the program to that point.

I hope you see where I was coming from even though I was wrong,

–Jameson
11Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:47 pm:

I think that, considering how Willy Mac blew him out of the water in the post, Jameson replied like a gentleman and a scholar and took probably less offense that either of us choleric motherfuckers who make up Block-C would’ve taken.

And to respond to Jameson’s comments at #10, I can see how taking a snapshot of the past two years would overlook the vast wasteland of misery the post-Barnes era has been. I guess everyone can’t be expected to school themselves in the flailing mediocrity Clemson basketball has been defined by recently.
12Charlie on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:47 pm:

Well I stand by my own statement that it was bad journalism to evaluate OP the way he has, but if he wishes to change his opinion on Purnell he should do so in the main article and not the comments because most people dont pay attention to the comments.

If his stance has changed, he should change the main article to reflect it. I think thats fair and the right thing to do.
13Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:48 pm:

I suppose… we can let it go. But just this once. We did kind of blow him out of the water, but that’s kinda a strong suite of mine and I don’t really get too many chances to take that club out of the bag anymore. Also, you listed our post as ignorant. Put it this way, if it was ignorant it was because it was about as well researched as yours.
14Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:48 pm:

@ Charlie I’m in the process of doing that right now.
15Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:50 pm:

Willy Mac, how did you get a photo of me circa 1993 as your avatar?
16Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:50 pm:

Jameson, let us know and we’ll update the article… but the drivers license picture stays.
17Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:51 pm:

I’m sorry. You must have mistaken a picture of you for the awesomeness that is Steve Sanders. KEG house for life… nmind, I just realized it updated to the mullet kid.
18Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 2:53 pm:

I just changed it.

Although your post was a little over the top, I do understand your criticism. I’ve been in blogging before and am familiar with the domain. Must bloggers I’ve always been in contact wouldn’t have worked with me and I thank you for being understanding.

As mad as I was at your post I did chuckle at the McLovin’ photo.

–Jameson
19Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 3:14 pm:

Thank you for the update. I strive to be as accurate as possible and it bothers me how badly I screwed up on that one.

In my haste to read this post down quickly I missed the first sentence of being mentioned on that radio show…how badly did I get bashed?

Next time I write anything Clemson related I’ll pass on the link to try to redeem myself.
20Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 3:19 pm:

You got the pretty good once over. Sorry man. The guy’s name is Dan Scott. dan@wccpfm.com
21Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 3:30 pm:

It’s alright the guy probably had fun with it. I’ll email him about it.

It’s just frustrating because we all make mistakes eventually and I own up to it when I do.
But at the same time, I don’t want to put myself on a pedestal or anything of that sort. But I can only think of one other time in my 129 other articles that I messed up and I had to change the article and that was because I read a player’s statline from the wrong year.

So once again thanks for understanding,
Jameson
22JasonL on Oct 29, 2008 at 3:36 pm:

waaaaah. i’m jameson from B/R
somebody call the waaaaaahmbulance!!!!
23Tully on Oct 29, 2008 at 3:58 pm:

Does he want a WAHmburger with French Cries? Sorry I had to follow up with JasonL. He should change his article so it says Tommy Bowden is on the hot seat.
24Andrew The Terrible on Oct 29, 2008 at 4:39 pm:

I’m no writer. My grammar is decent, but not great. I learned the difference between words like “your/you’re,” “its/it’s” and “whether/weather” very early in my South Carolina public school system education.

…which leads me to this quote from Mr. Jameson’s B/R profile:

“Please don’t spam random articles on my wall. If its an article you specifically want me to read for my input because it’s something that will definitely interest me than post it.”

I hate being that guy who is a grammarnazi for random blogs, but this guy is a self-proclaimed sports writer. I think I just saw Mr. Jameson’s integrity blowing away with the wind.
25JamesP on Oct 29, 2008 at 4:51 pm:

I’m not going to attack Jameson as much as I am going to say that I think this is the first time I have seen any form of news media whether it be a blogger or main-stream actually admit to being wrong. Now maybe we can use this power to make other media outlets admit when they are wrong.
26Jameson from B/R on Oct 29, 2008 at 5:06 pm:

Thanks JamesP,

Clemson fans can nit pick all they want and bash me all they want, but I know I owned up to my mistakes and I know what kind of writer I am. What several people have pointed out is that I’m a student. As a student, I’m in school to become a better writer so I avoid major mistakes like my goof in my hot seat article, but also stupid mistakes like it’s/its. Like I said before I’m human, I make mistakes. If people want to continue to mock me for my mistakes fine, it doesn’t at this point.

If you made an error say as an engineer where you plug a number into a formula wrong, but later fix your mistake before any real damage is done, would people make fun of you? No.

So attacking a writer is pointless and immature. People do it because they can hide behind anonymity and it’s easy.

–Jameson
27commentor#4 on Oct 29, 2008 at 5:08 pm:

you’re easy.
28edbo on Oct 29, 2008 at 5:27 pm:

Jameson, you had enough balls to retract you story, and I respect the hell out of that. You do NOT,however, have enough balls to not give a flying shit about what people are writing about you on this post. Man up, drink some beer. Shit , go kill a deer or something.
29manse on Oct 29, 2008 at 5:37 pm:

Here’s a writing lesson, Jameson:

Spend more time on content analysis and grammar/style editing up-front, and spend less time on blog comment pages trying to defend your mistakes (which includes repeatedly saying things like “at least I owned up to my mistakes”). Moreover, I don’t see how it’s “pointless” to criticize you if you’re both a student–who, by definition, needs input to become a professional–and a regular contributor to several news orginatzations–which means that you should be held to a higher standard because you’re not getting paid to produce garbage.

And here’s a lesson in logic:

You can’t use your status as a college student as a shield for making grade school-level mistakes. Even if you could, that all goes out the window when you start touting yourself as a “syndicated” professional writer for two major networks. You can’t have it both ways: either you’re a pro, or you’re not experienced enough to be “nit picked.” The only other options are that either those networks have low standards, or their editors must be the ones making all those other pieces of yours look as good as you say they are.

Lastly, for the sake of argument (which is clearly all that we care about at this point) i’ll note that the engineer in your hypothetical fixed the mistake BEFORE any damage was done. You, on the other hand, sullied the good name of a beloved coach who took his team to the ACCCG last year. Publishing an article on a well-known web site that he’s “on the hot seat” was borderline libelous.

And if you’d like, come on down for a basketball game. We can eliminate the “anonymity,” hoot some bourbon outside the Esso, and get past all this. Or at least go out and enjoy college. If you’re as good a writer as you make yourself out to be, you’ll have plenty of time to clack away at the keyboard after you get your degree.
30Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 6:03 pm:

Damn fellas, enough already.
We threw Jameson under the bus, and he said “Fuck me? FUCK YOU!” and gave it as good as he got it. He’s alright in my book. I mean, yeah, he was wrong, but he came out and admitted it, there’s nothing else to say. We’re all moving on.
31CUvinny on Oct 29, 2008 at 7:27 pm:

Naw, fuck that, the guy is a hack. In his apology he is making back handed remarks to try and feed his inflated ego. As manse said, you can’t go on talking about who publishes your shit and how great of a writer you are then try and use being a student as an excuse. If I had any initiative I would go through his other shit posts and point out other mistakes just so he would quit saying you can’t “find another article where I messed up.” If your research is from preseason mags I’m sure they are there.

But seriously, is there really any worse pseudo sports news site then Bleacher Report? It’s a fucking horrible site for wannabe journalist (read: Jameson) to post their drivel and pretend it matters.
32Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 7:30 pm:

In the words of Dennis Hopper, “FUCK THAT SHIT! PABST… BLUE… RIBBON!” I can’t remember what movie that was from. Also, I don’t really have anything to add except for the fact that manse knocked that one out of the park. Sorry, but I’ve gotta agree here. It really annoys me when people don’t do their homework.

Also, CUVinny, you’re right on as well. They recruit from facebook. There are writers for that website that are probably freshman in high school. Not knocking young writers, but that brings down the content of the work around it. We kinda purposely didn’t tell Bleacher Report that we moved sites.
33aftiger on Oct 29, 2008 at 7:38 pm:

Fucking horse is dead, and the bones picked clean. I guarantee he learned his lesson. WIth Bowden gone there are a lot of people with no one to focus their aggression on. Chili and Willi Mac, now you know the power you wield–use it wisely great ones.
GO TIGERS!!!
34CUvinny on Oct 29, 2008 at 7:46 pm:

Why am I not surprised this bitch posts there.

http://bleacherreport.com/users/19606-Lisa-Horne

I was thinking of her while reading McLovin’s bragging about being featured on FoxSports. This idiot said at the beginning of the year that the ACC would not play in a BCS bowl this year, clearly forgetting that the ACC has an automatic bid. Her efans were agreeing with her statements like sheep. When someone called her out on it, she refused to back down and was convinced that an ACC team would not be playing in the Orange Bowl.

Look at this recent blog post here: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/8527540/10-most-delusional-fan-bases

I appreciate the SCU bashing, but she has a hard on for Clemson. She claims fans surrounded her and changed “Tiger Bait” at her when she went to a game at Clemson. Has anyone ever heard that before at a game?

The whole site is worthless.
35Chili on Oct 29, 2008 at 7:51 pm:

Lisa Horne also said that Clemson named their stadium Death Valley after LSU’s stadium and that they yell “Tiger Bait!” at opposing teams.
If you don’t know how wrong those statements are, go jump in front of a CAT Bus.
36Willy Mac on Oct 29, 2008 at 8:17 pm:

Yeah, she plays the part of the hole very well.
37manse on Oct 29, 2008 at 10:09 pm:

Many thanks for the compliments. As for Chili’s call to move on, fair enough. I encourage people to look at this potential EKR link material:

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2008/10/29/longhorns-gameday-3-return-to-snide-mountain/
38cuin1993 on Oct 29, 2008 at 10:20 pm:

McLovin fucked up. I’m sure that when he becomes a big boy, grown up, whatever the fuck sportswriter he’ll appreciate this valuable life lesson he’s been taught today. He should print manse’s comment, laminate it and keep it in his wallet for reference every time he considers some stupid shit.
Lisa Horne, isn’t worth the time to type some incredibly witty and cutting remarks about her inability to just get damn near everything wrong. What’s next? The Tiger entering the stadium to Also sprach Zarathustra while throwing a flaming spear at midfield? She just needs to STFU. Forever.
39cuin1993 on Oct 29, 2008 at 10:24 pm:

I meant her ability to get damn near everything wrong. See, anyone can be just like their favorite sportsblogger and fuck up.
40Joe on Oct 30, 2008 at 8:33 am:

This guy is a hack. He is still bashing OP for his last two years while he is “admitting he is wrong”. Last year we went the the NCAA tourney for the first time in how many years? We were screwed over and had to play the most underated team in the tourney. OP is the man, fans love him, players love him, and the administration love him. He is nowhere close to being on the hot seat.
41JamesP on Oct 30, 2008 at 8:34 am:

Kinda off topic but I just read an article on Tnet about Dabo reaching out to DF
http://thetigernet.com/view/story.do?id=7537
42Chili on Oct 30, 2008 at 8:55 am:

Already on it, JamesP, good lookin out nonetheless.
43Lawtonfunk on Oct 30, 2008 at 9:18 am:

First time to ACCCG since what, 1961? or was it 61 years . . . Purnell made me start watching basketball again. I hadn’t in 10 years.
44William Davis on Oct 30, 2008 at 11:11 am:

I was gonna post this as a response to the Bleacher Report article, but it told me there was a technical error, and after I went to all the trouble of typing it out, well, I’ve gotta post it somewhere, so I’m gonna share it with you fellas:

Yes, Clemson’s team faltered down the stretch two years ago after a 17-0 start. Most Clemson fans felt they still deserved to go the NCAA, and they made the best of their NIT selection by going to the NIT Championship game. Purnell kept his team focused and playing hard despite the dissapointment of being snubbed by the committee. By the way, most observers expected Clemson to come back down to earth after that hot start because it was built primarily on an easy non-conference schedule. No one expects to maintain that type of record in the ACC when you have to play Duke and UNC twice a year. The other thing is that the team didn’t just fall apart and stop playing well, which would be an indictment of the coach. They lost several heartbreakers, such as the infamous clock malfunction game at Cameron Indoor stadium, or a game against Virginia where Sean Singletary went unconscious in the 4th quarter (btw, that game occured in the midst of a 7 game winning streak that UVA rode to a share of the ACC regular season title). These are not signs of a team falling apart and underperforming because of bad coaching, they are the types of things that occur when you are trying to build a contender out of a doormat while playing in the toughest conference in the country. In fact, it is a testament to Coach Purnell’s ability that he kept his guys focused and playing hard through this adversity, and as I said, led them to the NIT title game after the dissapointment of being snubbed by the selection committee.
Last season, after another hot start and some initial struggles in conference play, everyone around the country was saying this was a repeat and that Clemson would falter down the stretch again. Instead, Clemson finished the regular season strong, including a gritty comeback win against Maryland when their season was on the line, and a strong run through the ACC tournament in which they knocked off Duke to advance to the championship game where they gave UNC all they could handle. The Villanova game was very dissapointing. I thought Clemson should’ve advanced to the Sweet 16, where they probably would have lost to Kansas. But Clemson actually played very well in that game, what hurt them was that the Big East ref crew fouled out James Mays and Trevor Booker, our two starting big men, with 10 minutes left in the second half. Neither of these two players were prone to foul trouble all season long, but somehow both managed to foul out in this game, with a quarter of the game still to go. The officiating all game was terrible, and there are very few teams that could overcome a game being called like that, especially when it deprives them of their two best players for the entire end of the game.
I recognize that since you are trying to cover the entire national scene and not just Clemson or the ACC, you don’t have the advantage of watching how every game and season unfolds, but I think if you go back and look a little more carefully at how Clemson arrived at those final win-loss records that Coach Purnell hardly deseves the criticism of underperforming. For instance, three of our losses last season were to UNC, both regular season losses coming in overtime. I hardly think losing in overtime to UNC counts as underperforming. If so, there are a lot of coaches who need to be on the hot seat based on last season, including Coack K, Rick Pitino, the coach at Davidson…
In conclusion, Coach Purnell is the best thing that’s happened to Clemson basketball since Elden Campbell and Dale Davis, he has completely rebuilt the team (an important factor to consider when evaluating a coach. He didn’t just take someone else’s players and “underperform” ala Larry Coker, he built this team from the ground up), and so long as he wants to keep this job, it will be his and his seat will remain icy cold, as he has been what Clemson basketball fans have been waiting on for a long, long time. He is beloved by Clemson and all of San Diego.
45CUvinny on Oct 30, 2008 at 10:44 pm:

That’s a lot of words
46Sam on Jan 6, 2009 at 10:42 pm:

Clearly, you have know idea what you are talking about. Fleming is only a college student and he already writes for CBS and Fox..in case you haven’t heard of them they are pretty big deals in the sports world. Next time you decide to bash one of the future greats of sports you should try remembering that you are writing for Block-C.com…WOW big effing deal..
47CUvinny on Jan 9, 2009 at 3:04 pm:

Hi sam, thanks for bringing this thread back, I was just thinking about it the other day.

Your little butt buddy is still a tool, fyi
48Coby on Jan 9, 2009 at 3:06 pm:

@46 – Really? One of the future greats?

Jamison has potential, but this was a lesson well learned by him.
49PenthouseTiger on Jan 9, 2009 at 4:52 pm:

I thought we already made our peace with this guy. Why beat a horse that’s been dead, buried and is already well into the decomposition process?
50Willy Mac on Jan 9, 2009 at 5:07 pm:

Sam, one or two guest articles doesn’t constitute him as a stable writer for the two media outlets, as you (and he for that matter) are letting on. But thanks so much for your effort. And yeah, I am kind of a BIG FUCKING DEAL. LOL, what a douchebaggot.
51Coby on Jan 9, 2009 at 5:10 pm:

Douchebaggot. That’s a nice touch.

And without wanting to re-hash this again, I’d say that Jameson is much more a writer for Bleacher Report than he is ESPN.
52Harold on Jan 15, 2009 at 2:31 pm:

I guarantee Bleacher Report didn’t beg anyone to write for it. Doesn’t work that way.

Someone might’ve sent a mass e-mail out to several authors of blogs once or twice and made them look personalized, but that’s about it.
53Willy Mac on Jan 15, 2009 at 2:37 pm:

Harold, BR is a shit site. Drop it before i have to lock the comments.
54edbo on Jan 15, 2009 at 2:41 pm:

** Posting on “The Thread That Absolutely, Positively, Refuses To Die”**