Comments on: Whitlock Resurfaces Just in Time for the Ball State/John Thompson Mess

By: aland411

aland411 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:31:32 +0000

I didn’t know it was that FRED BROWN, after what happen to him in the championship game i’m sure he feels he was blamed by g-town and their fans. As i said, this is a guy waiting for someone to hand him something. By the way, the article didnt say big john wont return calls to former players, FRED BROWN said that. 1 player, where are the rest of the players who feel this way. And since you want to talk about race relations and what big john has done and hasnt done, he put his players in position to earn degrees from g-town. unlike all the coaches now and back then who brought black kids to their campus and let them sit around and play video games all day and get used by the system, he made his players actually study and go to class. He brought in players who needed discipline and gave them that, i refuse to believe that this is nothing more than 1 player who has a bad relationship with him. Where are all the other players who feel this way.Find quotes of them and post the links.

By: robert

robert — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:33:18 +0000

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401177.html

I removed the comma at the end, that should fix the link. It’s relevant because if Big John was so concerned with plight of black coaches at universities, then perhaps he should be concerned with the lack of black head coaches. And if he was concerned about that, then you’d think he’d do what he can to get some hired — starting with his former players that have tried to reach out to him only to not have their phone calls returned as the article states. Instead, Big John is more concerned with his son than race relations. If it wasn’t he son, you wouldn’t see him throwing his weight around.

By: L

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:03:54 +0000

Whitlock has the one thing most sports writers don’t have.

Common sense.

Great article.

By: Dirty Sanchez

Dirty Sanchez — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:08:15 +0000

Like I’ve said before, I’m a huge Wilbon fan, but he came off looking like Ahmad Rashad on this one. One of Thompson’s players states that Ronny told the players “not to trust white people”, but then Ronny turns around and cries racism? Good luck getting another head coaching job Ronny, famous last name or not.

Wilbon showed his ass on writing about this story without checking out all sides. Props to Whitlock for calling out the Thompson mafia on their strong armed tactics and holding them accountable for their bullshit.

By: PurdueMatt

PurdueMatt — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:24:06 +0000

If Whitlock sounds self important, its because HE IS important. He is the only nationally known journalist who writes the truth and is racially unbiased.

By: PurdueMatt

PurdueMatt — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:07:18 +0000

Thank you Mr. Whitlock. Well said.

By: Cole

Cole — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:58:19 +0000

wow, just read it and I must say, the fat man really doesn’t like Stringer. I enjoyed his perspective as a Ball State alum in the sense that he would know slightly more about the situation than the average writer.

By: aland411

aland411 — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:38:10 +0000

robert- your link doesnt work, so i could not read the article, you bring up van gundy giving ewing a job, well van gundy was the head coach on the team, it was his decision. Do you think that thompson can just say “i want this guy or that guy to be a head coach at this college or pro team” and make it happen. he is not an a.d at a college or g.m or head coach of a nba team. the only thing he can do is give a refrence. i dont know his personal relationship with this former player but i’m sure if he (or any of his former players) asked for advise, he would give it to them. There is only so much he could do, i can see him having pull at g-town but why would he have pull anywhere else. the player in the quote saying that Horace Broadnax got himself a job, yeah thats what he needs to do to, get himself a job. i dont believe that just because his son is the head coach now he is obligated to hiring former g-town players, he’s from princeton, he probaly has people on his staff who no how to run that offense. if you are smart enough to get a degree from g-town and play for big john, then your smart enough and hard working enough to make your own opportunity. of course it was probaly easier for his kids to become coaches, their father is big john! i not to certain that the particular player you speak of has tried to help himself. i have never heard of any player say anything bad about big john. Makes me wonder. What does big john not “getting his former black players” coaching jobs have to do with what happened at ball st.

By: NDub

NDub — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:16:56 +0000

I enjoyed Whitlock’s piece. At least he quoted people and talked about experiences at Ball State and with the Thompson family, specifically Ronny. You didn’t get that from Wilbon. Instead you got a fluff piece. Wilbon wrote exactly what Ronny and Big John told him to. Wilbon didn’t even call Ball State people for rebuttal. He was solely one-sided and it was frankly, inaccurate. Read Doug Zaleski’s piece from the Muncie Star-Press. He solidifies some of Whitlock’s claims and shreds Wilbon’s piece. I’ll trust Zaleski over both of these guys, since he’s been doing Ball State sports for 15 years now.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/SPORTS/708150334/1006/NEWS17

As I’ve said before on here, I’m a Ball State student, so I’m blogging the hell out of this and still sleuthing around.

By: The General Will Choke You

The General Will Choke You — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:10:03 +0000

Also, I am pretty sure Whitlock called out Notre Dame for giving a huge contract extension to Weiss even though he achieved the same record as Willingham.

I think it is pretty safe to say he will call out either side when they are in the wrong.

Personally, I think it is good that a top writer is willing to go against the grain and challenge the norm, better then 90% of writers who tow the company line.