Not as fun to be a fan?

[knapplc]

What good to whom? That's a question that depends on who you (and/or they) think butters their bread. Is it the audience, us, who read their articles? Or is it the University, the "hand that feeds them?" That's a tough call for a journalist to make. Ask Eric Olsen how much fun it is to report on the Huskers when you've burned bridges with pretty much every coach, Admin and local journalism house. His is a cold world, and his articles are full of guesswork and vitriol rather than inside info.

I think the reality is that, if you're not covering the Huskers, you're not truly covering sports in Nebraska. Do you blow the lid off a story and get the cold shoulder for the next half century, gnawing on the bones of high school volleyball stories and (now) the Nighthawks? Or do you play ball, report what won't rock the boat, and stay relevant? It's a tough line to toe.

 

[kchusker_chris]

What good to whom? That's a question that depends on who you (and/or they) think butters their bread. Is it the audience, us, who read their articles? Or is it the University, the "hand that feeds them?" That's a tough call for a journalist to make. Ask Eric Olsen how much fun it is to report on the Huskers when you've burned bridges with pretty much every coach, Admin and local journalism house. His is a cold world, and his articles are full of guesswork and vitriol rather than inside info.

I think the reality is that, if you're not covering the Huskers, you're not truly covering sports in Nebraska. Do you blow the lid off a story and get the cold shoulder for the next half century, gnawing on the bones of high school volleyball stories and (now) the Nighthawks? Or do you play ball, report what won't rock the boat, and stay relevant? It's a tough line to toe.

It's not that tough if you consider yourself a "journalist" vs. a "reporter". You can't call the guy that holds a story for fear of rocking the boat a journalist...because all he does is report what he's told.

 

[kansas husker]

Does it take the fun out of being a fan? NO

Is it sometimes painfull to watch a press conference? Yes

Watcing or not watching a press conference or the Bo Show isn't what makes being a fan so enjoyable, atleast for me, it is interacting with other fans and cheering for the team.

 

[knapplc]

What good to whom? That's a question that depends on who you (and/or they) think butters their bread. Is it the audience, us, who read their articles? Or is it the University, the "hand that feeds them?" That's a tough call for a journalist to make. Ask Eric Olsen how much fun it is to report on the Huskers when you've burned bridges with pretty much every coach, Admin and local journalism house. His is a cold world, and his articles are full of guesswork and vitriol rather than inside info.

I think the reality is that, if you're not covering the Huskers, you're not truly covering sports in Nebraska. Do you blow the lid off a story and get the cold shoulder for the next half century, gnawing on the bones of high school volleyball stories and (now) the Nighthawks? Or do you play ball, report what won't rock the boat, and stay relevant? It's a tough line to toe.

It's not that tough if you consider yourself a "journalist" vs. a "reporter". You can't call the guy that holds a story for fear of rocking the boat a journalist...because all he does is report what he's told.

I don't disagree with this. I also think that's a much easier stance to take from 150 miles away.

 

[Big Red 40]

Coaches have been drilled into saying the same crap day in and day out to the media. Sometimes during the game breakdowns Bo will have interesting things to say about what went wrong or right on specific plays but the pressers don't afford coaches the time to really give complete answers to questions that are usually nonspecific to begin with. Not entertaining rumors and innuendo is a policy I happen to agree with too because once you start down that road that's all you'll be doing and those sorts of things tend to feed themselves. It's obvious that the PR side of coaching is not something Bo enjoys very much.

About Bo's relationship with the media...it's not like TO was that great either. He mostly smiled and said let's go get 'em and stuff like that. Completely different story in sit down interviews though when the intellectual TO came out and had time to give complete answers in regards to past events he could be candid about.

That, and because a lot of the time if Bo actually said exactly what was on his mind he would probably get called on the carpet or fired. I suspect Bo views the media with suspicion--that they only want to sell newspapers and generate controversy. And he's probably right.

Totally agree! The only reason i hate watching press conferences/football shows is because of the idiotic questions asked over and over again by the media.Seems like many of the questions are designed to see if they can get him to snap more than they are for any informational purpose. Hes trying to give the right answer and stay calm instead of saying what he really thinks, which would get him in trouble or fired.I would do the same thing .Sure its part of the job, but i just hope he gets through that kinda crap without getting in trouble, and gets back to coaching Football. I care much more about how hes doing at that myself.

 

[bshirt]

What good to whom? That's a question that depends on who you (and/or they) think butters their bread. Is it the audience, us, who read their articles? Or is it the University, the "hand that feeds them?" That's a tough call for a journalist to make. Ask Eric Olsen how much fun it is to report on the Huskers when you've burned bridges with pretty much every coach, Admin and local journalism house. His is a cold world, and his articles are full of guesswork and vitriol rather than inside info.

I think the reality is that, if you're not covering the Huskers, you're not truly covering sports in Nebraska. Do you blow the lid off a story and get the cold shoulder for the next half century, gnawing on the bones of high school volleyball stories and (now) the Nighthawks? Or do you play ball, report what won't rock the boat, and stay relevant? It's a tough line to toe.

Heh, that does sound brutal to an extreme. But I don't see anything relevent they bring to the table. Just worthless fluff.

But no one has a gun to their head. If they can't shoot straight maybe it's time for them to find another way to make a living.

 

[rawhide-jr]

I'm still proud and excited to be a Husker fan and that will never change... I think there are way more whiney folks out there with more opinion than they can handle (thanks to the internet) and said whiney folks think they are all "expert analysts." I miss the days before Al Gore invented the internet when the only people you could hear bitching were on ESPN...

 

[skersfan]

I agree he is hard to watch, and that is only from his interviews on National TV. I do not watch any of the local TV stuff.

I to have to admit, that I am not as excited about the team as I once was, I do not expect wins, and deal with losses much better than I once did. I am not sure if that is good or bad or that I have finally grown up at 63.

His antics on TV get a lot of attention, living in SCal I hear it a lot. Comments about going postal and killing half the team, to blowing up the stadium jokes. It does get old very quickly when we were once revered for our coachs actions. No LP comments please.

My wife who never says a negative about anyone, ask Rawhide, honestly can not stand him. She does not even watch the post game interviews when we win, as she feels he is an arrogant a$$. There is a good amount of dislike from her, and she is normally spot on on people. I keep telling her that he will grow into it. But I must admit I have my doubts. He tows the mark at times because he has to, not because he wants to is my view. I think he is on a very short leash, Tom/Nebraska is not going to put up with another TV display like A&M.

I hope he understands how important he is to Nebraska. I think if he realizes that he will get in line. I have heard he has a tremendous sense of humor and is a great guy to be around. He just needs to let those traits be seen more.

 

[Hercules]

There's LOTS of posters here on Huskerboard, HI, Scout & Pedia that are more informed and better reads than Barfknecht and so on imo.

I don't know about that. There's a difference between what the local journalists know and what they'll publish. I've talked to several writers from the LJS and OWH about stuff. They know what's going on. They just don't write stories about all of it.

That very well may be true but if they don't write about it what good are they?

I don't think that LJS and OWH writers are writing for this audience, the message board population. They're writing for the average joe who still reads the paper and that's it, not for the people who read every article from every paper in the state on top of surfing espn.com etc... And as opposed to the people on this board who are willing to post information if they heard it from a friend of a friend of a friend of a player, journalists with similar sources can't publish that kind of stuff.

I think most of the sports journalists in this state have a pretty good idea of what their role is, too. They're not breaking the Watergate story. Most of what they write is fluff, it is just entertainment, because that's what college sports is - entertainment. They're also not gossip writers for TMZ, they shouldn't be writing articles about whether they think some 18 year old kid is a jerk or not.

Where I think the sports journalists in this state need to improve is by writing insightful articles about the mechanics of the game, or of practice. Do a thorough report on what Nebraska does in practice, an in-depth description of what drills the coaches have the players do to improve ball handling skills or pocket presence or route running or whatever. Somebody earlier mentioned an article from earlier this year explaining the zone read. There is a lot more to be done in that arena, whether it's discussing blocking schemes or pass protection or playaction off the zone read, or whatever. Do some research and compare Nebraska's offense to Oregon's offense, and try to break down what the differences are... I'd be way more interested in reading that than some semi-rumor about Bo/Watson leaving or whatever.

 

[Apathy]

For the first time EVER, this past mid-season I completely withdrew from either:

a) Searching out and NOT missing the Nebraska Football show under any circumstance

or

B) DVRing the Nebraska Football show in case “a” didn’t happen

I don’t know if it’s just the way Pelini is or if he just flat out hates with a passion being here – but his attitude toward the media and fans is f’in exhausting and I HATE scheduling 60 minutes of my day to wince at it.

During the season, my life has always revolved around finding every article, watching every news clip, etc etc...but now I can hardly watch the post game pressers when we WIN…let alone when we lose. I always do, though, and every time I walk away feeling stupid that I thought it would be different.

For me – and this is just my opinion – he’s starting to take all the fun out of being a fan and I’m not so sure it would be THAT much better even if we won the MNC someday (though I still want that to happen ).....

Why the hell can’t the guy just have some fun with it and be a bit more lighthearted – just a bit!!!???? What a stiff.......

Maybe his problem was due to how bad Husker Nation was coming unglued after some bummer games, which is just part of the deal when you rebuild...and I can't say I blame him.....but none-the-less....it's just not as enjoyable to witness all things Husker as it used to be.....

I sure hope this isn't the new normal.

So the Nebraska Show is so hard to watch makes being a Husker fan less enjoyable LOL seriously.

The Tom Osborne show wasn't God like either. The next thing you'll start to complain about will probably be Bo not wearing a Husker shirt on the show.

Why does everybody act so surprised that Bo doesn't like the media......this is an old subject that is brought up numerous times and it gets pretty darn old.

The media to Bo is like taking your kids to a water park 3 hours away and they keep asking you "Are we there yet" over and over again.....they (media) repeat the same questions over and over again to the point you just get fed up with that crap.

 

[Hercules]

Has the Nebraska football show ever been good? I mean, even when Osborne was doing it, it was pretty dry. It was only fun because we were beating everybody by 60 points. You'd see Tommie Frazier make some ridiculous run, and Osborne would say, "Yeah, that's a decent run there by Tommie." Not too insightful...

 

[Hunter94]

I think the most draining issue for me, the fans, media (and Bo) has been our back to back record setting seasons of fumbles and penalties. Nebraska's top two season totals for penalties were the last two along with being near or leading the nation in fumbles. We have not been beat much the past two years but we have certainly beat ourselves time and time again...honestly its taking a toll on the whole program and fan base. The two things that most heavily reflect on coaching and discipline (besides W's and L's) are penalties and turnovers.

The 2nd coming of Tommie Frazier or Peyton Manning couldn't save our offense with all of the turnovers and penalties we've had.

[/quote

great post, this is part of the program that needs fixing....now! <_<

 

[corncraze]

 

[HotGrillonGrillAction]

So the Nebraska Show is so hard to watch makes being a Husker fan less enjoyable LOL seriously.

The Tom Osborne show wasn't God like either. The next thing you'll start to complain about will probably be Bo not wearing a Husker shirt on the show.

Why does everybody act so surprised that Bo doesn't like the media......this is an old subject that is brought up numerous times and it gets pretty darn old.

The media to Bo is like taking your kids to a water park 3 hours away and they keep asking you "Are we there yet" over and over again.....they (media) repeat the same questions over and over again to the point you just get fed up with that crap.

I wouldn't and couldn't argue with any of your points - they are all very valid and I completely agree other than your opening comment. A few other posters have missed the point I was trying to make, which say alot about how I actually conveyed it vs how I meant to convey it....

I also realize this is an old tired subject - but again, IMHO - the general feel is less fun and Pelini is a big part of it. I think someone hit the nail on the head when they said it was all the drama this season...I think it wore down Pelini and the fans, including me....

 

[knapplc]

I actually quite like the Bo Pelini Show. I like watching the players goof around on camera - it shows a more personal side than you usually see on field or in sterile interviews. I like the one-on-one interviews between a player and a coach. I like the footage from the games, and Bo's comments. I wish there were more of those, though - the TO Show featured a lot more in-game analysis by TO than what Bo does. Of course, Bo is less comfortable in front of the camera, so TO's show was less awkward.