Come on now, mainstream media. Deliver like you’re supposed to. This is all one big game of tag and somebody’s always “it” – so get raw on New York and Denver as it’s their turn.
Miami has been “it” for a few months now regarding the on-the-field brawl with FIU. The footage ran on a constant loop. Everyone trashed the Canes for being an out of control program. The media had a one-week pass to trash Miami with no repercussions. Brawl footage was their ammo and for a few weeks no one could attempt to defend The U.
Two months later, the hardwood delivered. The Knicks and Nuggets mixed it up at the Garden on Saturday night. Ten players were ejected, including Nike pitchman and media darling, Carmelo Anthony throwing blows like it was a street game gone awry.
The Miami/FIU brawl was “it” and just tagged out the Knicks/Nuggets Royal Rumble. There’s your new “fight” stock footage, ESPNews. Loop it and play it relentlessly for the rest of 2006. It’s finally somebody else’s turn.
You trashed the ever loving hell out of the Canes for their on the field melee, started by FIU. Will you do the same with the NBA? Are you going to call out the “thuggish” behavior of Anthony, a Nike golden boy and part of the NBA Holy Trinity, featuring Dwyane Wade & LeBron James?
We all know this will get swept under the rug as ESPN and other media outlets won’t want to piss off David Stern and the NBA’s top brass. The University of Miami is an easy target, but the NBA is a whole different type of monster. Sunday’s coverage of the day after was tame and one can only assume that by midweek, it’ll be over.
Just another double standard in the world of sports, but we all know what’s really going on here.
.:Canes305:.
What’s worse is that our Brawl was covered fairly by almost every other media outlet, but since ESPN now has a variety of platforms on which to force their opinion down people’s throats public perception of Miami was cleary exploited and we took a major beating. For example, Stewart Mandel of SI, a respected College Football writer who has been unusually hard on UM for our performance on the football field going back to 2000 (He believed FSU belonged in the BCS over us) pointed out that we are in the top percentile of graduation rate in the NCAA and that we have had less players arrested in the last five years than just about every other D1 program. The Washington Post sports page ran a story on how Shalala and Coker worked well with problem kids and how Miami had cleaned up its rep, and that the brawl was just an unfortunate couple minutes during a game that doesn’t wipe out years of good work.
Yet on ESPN, blabber mouth Woody Paige a grauduate of Tennessee said our program should be shut down for being thuggish and all the “off the field incidents.” His alma matar has had like 30 arrests of football players while we have had 1 over the past few years! Besides, if a guy gets in trouble in the NFL chances are they went to Tennessee like Dwayne Goodrich, Jamal Lewis, Leonard Little and Albert Haynesworth.
Mark May not only called us thugs but in the same show called Ohio State a “class program.” This is the same Ohio State who allowed an ineligible player now in jail to play against us in the title game. Can you imagine if Clarett had come to Miami? ESPN would be calling for the FBI to shut us down! And it’s funny how ESPN glosses over Troy Smith’s trouble and Percy Harvin’s troubles. Willie Williams was a bad kid with no chance of rehabilitation, but these kids because they went to ESPN’s favorite schools have turned the corner.
John Saunders who is suppossed to be objective in the ABC studio, (Sorry I mean ESPN on ABC, ABC Sports doesn’t exist anymore)said he was routing against us and Craig James agreed! ESPN’s, Sean Salsbury from USC a program which seems to flaunt rule breaking said we should be shut down. When Kirk Herbsreit would try and defend us they would move on to other topics. Not once did ESPN discuss FIU’s role in the brawl or that FIU had 2 personal foul penalities on the drive before the brawl, nor that FIU is already on NCAA probabtion in Football.
Last year after every on location gameday show they would have a wrap up interviewing the players from the team that won. However when we spanked Va Tech in Blacksburg, ESPN was in a hurry to get out of the on location gameday crew and throw it back to Rece Davis, Lou Holtz and Mark May in the studio. Last year duing gameday there were twice as many features on Florida than on Miami and FSU even though most of the season the Canes and Noles were ranked ahead of the Gators.
In 2004, Florida State had a few off the field incidents that were blown out of proportion (I am not an FSU fan but they recently seem to be getting biased coverage from ESPN as well, even though they were at one time media darlings) while Florida and Michigan’s incidents were not covered.
ESPN has a clear anti Miami bias. Whether it is because they are appealing to the base instinct of their viewers, or because the producers at the network rout for Notre Dame and Florida I am not sure. What is clear is that they are out to get our program.
Sorry for getting on my soapbox but the ESPN bias against UM really gets me going.
I said it before and I’ll say it again…..”hated by many, loved by few, we are the U.”
Get used to it if you choose to root for the orange and green. I’ve been hearing it for years. As for espn, do as I do, watch whatever game you need to and turn the sound off. I, for one, could care less what the rest of college football thinks of me or the program I live for. They can kiss my ass. We will be back. Proved it before and we’ll prove it again. Stop listening to the haters, just be a proud fan of the Miami Hurricanes !!!
… Let’s Go ‘Canes …
big pimpin