Alabama journalist claims Ingram won Heisman

[Nexus]

BY NICK TAYLOR & DAN HARRALSON

 

A source that claims to be affiliated with the accounting firm that is supervising the vote count of The Heisman Trophy told THE TIDE TIMES Friday morning, via telephone, that Alabama running back Mark Ingram had won The Heisman Trophy. Seems farfetched I know but the voting info he went on to give doesn't seem to be. He stated that Ingram had won the award by the closest margin in its history and that Suh, the Nebraka DL had finished in second only a few total points away. Here's how the top 5 went down... Ingram, Suh, Gerhart, Mccoy, then Tebow... You can catch this historic moment in ALABAMA FOOTBALL legend @ 8PM Eastern 7 Central live on ESPN this Saturday night...

 

http://thetidetimes.blogspot.com/2009/12/i...ns-heisman.html

[huskrplaya]

Don't worry, he was being sarcastic. Suh is going to win of course.

[cscott2win]

Rumorville!! It may happen that way but I seriously doubt someone leaked out the info from the accounting firm in charge of the results. I wasn't aware that Bama has never had a Heisman trophy winner until I heard it last Saturday. I'm just glad that it looks like the award is coming down to what I see as the most deserving trio.

[TheKiD]

most likely just going by the stiffarmtrophy projections

[imgonnasuhyou]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

[mitch7]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

Link and please put this in rumorville. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the way it turns out though. If he gets beat by 1 vote so help me God I am going to freak.

[SealBeachHusker]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

 

Citing what as their source?

[Husker Richard]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

 

Citing what as their source?

 

 

i saw it to. probably the same story as this thread.

[SealBeachHusker]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

 

Citing what as their source?

 

 

i saw it to. probably the same story as this thread.

 

on stiffarmtrophy's twitter page he mentions they quoted his numbers on ESPN2 about 15 mins ago, but that would have just been his current standings...not a winner. Other than that, they must be referring to the Alabama report. Isn't the Heisman show on ESPN? No way they leak and announce it on their own network.

[HuskerT]

espn just confirmed that ingram won.

 

Citing what as their source?

 

 

i saw it to. probably the same story as this thread.

 

on stiffarmtrophy's twitter page he mentions they quoted his numbers on ESPN2 about 15 mins ago, but that would have just been his current standings...not a winner. Other than that, they must be referring to the Alabama report. Isn't the Heisman show on ESPN? No way they leak and announce it on their own network.

I agree. They would just ignore it and they certainly wouldn't confirm it.

[NEBRASKANHEAT]

What went wrong for Nick Taylor & the Tide Times

Posted by capstonereport on March 27th, 2009 filed in General, Media Reviews 24 Comments »

The Tide Times blog rocked the world with an exclusive story claiming that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo would be hired by the Alabama Crimson Tide. The story by Nick Taylor was discussed on Paul Finebaum’s radio show, Internet message boards, blogs and at the water cooler.

 

Taylor fueled talk and drove traffic to his blog by calling into Finebaum’s radio program promoting his story and relationship with persons close to the University’s athletic department.

 

Now that Izzo won’t be coaching the Crimson Tide, it is a good chance to evaluate what went wrong with the blog, and how the fiasco injured the new media—Internet blogs—a segment of the media gaining in prominence, but lacking in respectability.

 

Taylor fell victim to two very real problems in his report, 1. the reliance on only one source, and 2. not understanding the limitations of his source’s knowledge. Both of those problems could have been overcome with vigorous editorial supervision. Newspapers have a reputation for getting things correct because newspapers have a bureaucracy designed to challenge the reporter.

 

Good editors ask hard questions and challenge a writer to verify information. A good editor would’ve asked Taylor how his source knew Izzo would take the Alabama job. From Taylor’s appearances on Finebaum and in Taylor’s own blog posts, it was clear the source was someone connected with Nick Saban’s family. Kudos to Taylor for identifying his source much better than most newspapers or websites. While this source likely would know Izzo’s name was being talked about, how could this source know definitively Izzo would take the job?

 

This is where a good editor would’ve asked for corroboration. Other sources with more direct knowledge of Izzo and any contacts with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

 

Everyone makes mistakes, but the trick is to make as few as possible. This process doesn’t guarantee you won’t make a mistake, but it does help reduce gigantic errors that ruin your reputation. The next time Taylor reports something, who is going to believe it?

 

So, what do blogs need to do? Here are some random thoughts on the subject:

 

Try editorial standards

While you can put anything you want in a newspaper, if you own the paper then you probably are going to exercise care over what appears in it. Why? Because you have a vested economic interest in it. You pay to buy the newsprint. You pay to buy the ink. You pay to run the press. You pay the writers. You pay for distribution.

 

Simply put, you refrain from doing things that would undermine your financial investment. That is why newspapers have editorial standards. Don’t be fooled and believe papers have standards because of some grand concern for reporting the truth—it is an economic interest with visible economic consequences. You can’t forget newspapers are a business.

 

The Internet has a much lower cost structure than print. You can start a blog like the Tide Times for free, and with only the cost of sweat equity to create the content. For some there isn’t an incentive to be careful. For some there is an incentive to be reckless because outrageous items get noticed—attracting Internet traffic.

 

However, you can’t build a reliable business model on smoke and mirrors. The Internet provides a venue to examine gossip, but gossip or rumor must be clearly defined as such. If Taylor had blogged the Izzo story as speculation based on his conversations with people close to Saban, he wouldn’t look so bad today. Why? Because he would’ve been honest about the extent of his knowledge. People like honesty.

 

And honesty is a good place to focus when you are building a business.

[Nexus]

What went wrong for Nick Taylor & the Tide Times

Posted by capstonereport on March 27th, 2009 filed in General, Media Reviews 24 Comments »

The Tide Times blog rocked the world with an exclusive story claiming that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo would be hired by the Alabama Crimson Tide. The story by Nick Taylor was discussed on Paul Finebaum’s radio show, Internet message boards, blogs and at the water cooler.

 

Taylor fueled talk and drove traffic to his blog by calling into Finebaum’s radio program promoting his story and relationship with persons close to the University’s athletic department.

 

Now that Izzo won’t be coaching the Crimson Tide, it is a good chance to evaluate what went wrong with the blog, and how the fiasco injured the new media—Internet blogs—a segment of the media gaining in prominence, but lacking in respectability.

 

Taylor fell victim to two very real problems in his report, 1. the reliance on only one source, and 2. not understanding the limitations of his source’s knowledge. Both of those problems could have been overcome with vigorous editorial supervision. Newspapers have a reputation for getting things correct because newspapers have a bureaucracy designed to challenge the reporter.

 

Good editors ask hard questions and challenge a writer to verify information. A good editor would’ve asked Taylor how his source knew Izzo would take the Alabama job. From Taylor’s appearances on Finebaum and in Taylor’s own blog posts, it was clear the source was someone connected with Nick Saban’s family. Kudos to Taylor for identifying his source much better than most newspapers or websites. While this source likely would know Izzo’s name was being talked about, how could this source know definitively Izzo would take the job?

 

This is where a good editor would’ve asked for corroboration. Other sources with more direct knowledge of Izzo and any contacts with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

 

Everyone makes mistakes, but the trick is to make as few as possible. This process doesn’t guarantee you won’t make a mistake, but it does help reduce gigantic errors that ruin your reputation. The next time Taylor reports something, who is going to believe it?

 

So, what do blogs need to do? Here are some random thoughts on the subject:

 

Try editorial standards

While you can put anything you want in a newspaper, if you own the paper then you probably are going to exercise care over what appears in it. Why? Because you have a vested economic interest in it. You pay to buy the newsprint. You pay to buy the ink. You pay to run the press. You pay the writers. You pay for distribution.

 

Simply put, you refrain from doing things that would undermine your financial investment. That is why newspapers have editorial standards. Don’t be fooled and believe papers have standards because of some grand concern for reporting the truth—it is an economic interest with visible economic consequences. You can’t forget newspapers are a business.

 

The Internet has a much lower cost structure than print. You can start a blog like the Tide Times for free, and with only the cost of sweat equity to create the content. For some there isn’t an incentive to be careful. For some there is an incentive to be reckless because outrageous items get noticed—attracting Internet traffic.

 

However, you can’t build a reliable business model on smoke and mirrors. The Internet provides a venue to examine gossip, but gossip or rumor must be clearly defined as such. If Taylor had blogged the Izzo story as speculation based on his conversations with people close to Saban, he wouldn’t look so bad today. Why? Because he would’ve been honest about the extent of his knowledge. People like honesty.

 

And honesty is a good place to focus when you are building a business.

 

 

Nice find. So we're dealing with a hack journalist?

[SealBeachHusker]

stiffarmtrophy's twitter page links to this article...he's skeptical as to the reliability of the report.

 

quote name='Nexus' date='Dec 12 2009, 01:57 AM' post='541733']

What went wrong for Nick Taylor & the Tide Times

Posted by capstonereport on March 27th, 2009 filed in General, Media Reviews 24 Comments »

The Tide Times blog rocked the world with an exclusive story claiming that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo would be hired by the Alabama Crimson Tide. The story by Nick Taylor was discussed on Paul Finebaum’s radio show, Internet message boards, blogs and at the water cooler.

 

Taylor fueled talk and drove traffic to his blog by calling into Finebaum’s radio program promoting his story and relationship with persons close to the University’s athletic department.

 

Now that Izzo won’t be coaching the Crimson Tide, it is a good chance to evaluate what went wrong with the blog, and how the fiasco injured the new media—Internet blogs—a segment of the media gaining in prominence, but lacking in respectability.

 

Taylor fell victim to two very real problems in his report, 1. the reliance on only one source, and 2. not understanding the limitations of his source’s knowledge. Both of those problems could have been overcome with vigorous editorial supervision. Newspapers have a reputation for getting things correct because newspapers have a bureaucracy designed to challenge the reporter.

 

Good editors ask hard questions and challenge a writer to verify information. A good editor would’ve asked Taylor how his source knew Izzo would take the Alabama job. From Taylor’s appearances on Finebaum and in Taylor’s own blog posts, it was clear the source was someone connected with Nick Saban’s family. Kudos to Taylor for identifying his source much better than most newspapers or websites. While this source likely would know Izzo’s name was being talked about, how could this source know definitively Izzo would take the job?

 

This is where a good editor would’ve asked for corroboration. Other sources with more direct knowledge of Izzo and any contacts with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

 

Everyone makes mistakes, but the trick is to make as few as possible. This process doesn’t guarantee you won’t make a mistake, but it does help reduce gigantic errors that ruin your reputation. The next time Taylor reports something, who is going to believe it?

 

So, what do blogs need to do? Here are some random thoughts on the subject:

 

Try editorial standards

While you can put anything you want in a newspaper, if you own the paper then you probably are going to exercise care over what appears in it. Why? Because you have a vested economic interest in it. You pay to buy the newsprint. You pay to buy the ink. You pay to run the press. You pay the writers. You pay for distribution.

 

Simply put, you refrain from doing things that would undermine your financial investment. That is why newspapers have editorial standards. Don’t be fooled and believe papers have standards because of some grand concern for reporting the truth—it is an economic interest with visible economic consequences. You can’t forget newspapers are a business.

 

The Internet has a much lower cost structure than print. You can start a blog like the Tide Times for free, and with only the cost of sweat equity to create the content. For some there isn’t an incentive to be careful. For some there is an incentive to be reckless because outrageous items get noticed—attracting Internet traffic.

 

However, you can’t build a reliable business model on smoke and mirrors. The Internet provides a venue to examine gossip, but gossip or rumor must be clearly defined as such. If Taylor had blogged the Izzo story as speculation based on his conversations with people close to Saban, he wouldn’t look so bad today. Why? Because he would’ve been honest about the extent of his knowledge. People like honesty.

 

And honesty is a good place to focus when you are building a business.

 

 

Nice find. So we're dealing with a hack journalist?

[JTrain]

Dude is just looking at StiffArmTrophy.com and hoping the projection holds so he can seem like a genius. a-hole.

[Twodocs]

Very interesting and Alabama and Stanford have the top backs while NU has Watson and an offense he says is, wait, what week is it? Oh, what is Watson calling his offense this week?

Woody Hayes offense?

Meanwhile I bet Colin Okafor wishes he had gone to Stanford. Colin is a smart kid but just not quite bright enough to understand this offense even though he was the top rusher in the spring game.

 

Get in the shotgun!

 

All of Huskerland is watching Suh while all the great running teams from Stanford and Alabama send backs for the award. Where is our Heisman running back?

Come to think of it where is our offense? What is our offense?