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NavyIrish
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Internet Columnist Matt Morrison (on FanSportBar.com) slammed ESPN's Dan Shanoff for his comments concerning Notre Dame Fans "whining" and "griping" about the Irish not making the tournament. Morrison said that Shanoff's comments were "irresponsible and dishonest", and that they "demonstrated a complete lack of journalistic integrity."
http://www.fansportsbar.com/morrison050314.html
Concerning Dan Shanoff, Morrison wrote:
"This year was different in the regard that nobody who got left out really deserved to go. The top three teams left out (Notre Dame, Maryland, and Indiana) weren't going to win any games this March. And none of their fans really complained at all. Which was nice, because these fans had realistic expectations based on their team's performance (and trust me, this is rare. Most fans go bonkers if their team is close to deserving a bid and doesn't get one). So I was justifiably puzzled when I read two columns by ESPN columnist Dan Shanoff about the outlook of Irish fans on their tourney exclusion. He wrote in two separate columns that ND fans were "griping" and "whining" about their basketball team not making the tournament. Here are his exact quotes:
On March 13th (Tournament Quickie): ... AND WHO'S GOT NO MO'... Notre Dame: Seriously, stop the griping. Just
stop it
On March 14th (Daily Quickie): DQ'd Notre Dame Fans: Seriously, stop the whining. The case against your inclusion
was damning, and besides, even Buffalo would have been a better pick. Enjoy the NIT.
Notre Dame fans were angry? Really? They were so mad that they were not only the only group of fans called out, but
twice two columns in a 12 hour span? How furious would that fan base have to be to get called out like that? Turn over
buses and riot crazy? Shooting guns in the air and having to declare martial law crazy? Certainly, there would be some sort of evidence to justify his statements, which seem definitive and mean-spirited. So I did some research. I looked at Notre Dame message boards, such as Blue and Gold Illustrated, Unofficial Notre Dame Message Board, ESPN's Notre Dame Message Board, The Notre Dame Student Newspaper (The Observer). There was only two entry - out of all those websites - that seemed to say that Notre Dame got snubbed, on the UHND board:
FratBoy wrote (and if that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what does): "Fowler, Digger, Dicky V, Bilas, Katz, Packer... all said we shoulda been in over Northern Iowa and UAB." That post received these replies... "Too bad what they say doesn't mean squat," "Hard to argue we should have been in, no matter who made it," "We made our own bed," "I feel much worse for Miami(OH) and Buffalo," "it's our shame more than an outright snub," and "the posters on this board said ND didn't deserve to get in. The UHNDers are much smarter than the aforementioned right? (EXTREME sarcasm)." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Dickie Vitale or ND's credentials. I spoke to a ND alumni who often complains of "anti-ND bias" who said, "they played with no heart, and I gave up on their tournament chances six weeks ago. I'm glad the season is over."
and the ESPN Big East Board:
Irish_Fan_25 wrote, "You have to be kidding me. Have you seen the big east schedule ND has played. And they came out with a 9-7 big east record. I dont think Buffalo or Norther Iowa play Uconn twice,Syracuse twice,Pitt twice,Villanova twice. Everyone knows ND would rip Buffalo or Northern Iowa apart. ND deserves that spot and that is final." This post also received no replies agreeing with the claim.
My point is that I did a lot of research where I specifically looked for examples of Notre Dame fans whining and griping about their snub in places where the hard-core fans would definitely vent if they were complaining, and I only found two pieces of evidence that would back up Mr. Shanoff's claim. That's quite flimsy, considering the type of claim he is making. It's irresponsible and dishonest. Mr. Shanoff has a resonsibility as a columnist to be able to make a claim that can be supported with facts. And trust me, I understand how hard it is to write opinions without making people mad. I make opinionated statements all the time, especially about Peter "Ponytail" Angelos. But I try to make sure that I can base them with some sort of facts that you can draw an opinion from. For example, I wrote in "Funny Links" : "This is a phony display of loyalty, just like when Peter Angelos offered his legal support to Raphel Palmerio when Jose Canseco accused him of using steroids. But when Raffy needed 147 games to kick in that contract extension, what did Angelos do? He ordered O’s manager Lee Mazelli to not allow Palmerio to play past game 146. So Angelos will only support you when he can sue on your behalf. You’re a phony, ponytail! And so is Geraldo." It does seem mean-spirited, and I considered whether I should print it or not. I decided to after I realized that I didn't stretch any truths, and drew an inference from a set of facts. If you don't agree with my feelings on Peter Angelos (and I live near Baltimore, there aren't many of you out there), I hope you can see that I came up with my opinion after looking at facts. If you draw a different conclusion that I do, then we have two separate, but honest, opinions. What bothers me about Mr. Shanoff's comments is that they appear to have been written without any research. Heck, the tournament quickie was published only a couple of hours after the bracket was announced, which was before anybody could possibly gather the true feelings of Notre Dame's fans.
Which brings me back to my original complaint; that these media types often create controversy when it isn't there. Why call out ND fans as whiners when the evidence suggests otherwise in this circumstance? Does any mention of ND fans create page views? Does he not like Notre Dame? Is his dad a ND guy who complains all the time and that's how he made his inference? Either way, I fear that Mr. Shanoff has demonstrated a complete lack of journalistic integrity (and I do not throw that claim around lightly) and he should be far more careful with his column."
http://www.fansportsbar.com/morrison050314.html
Concerning Dan Shanoff, Morrison wrote:
"This year was different in the regard that nobody who got left out really deserved to go. The top three teams left out (Notre Dame, Maryland, and Indiana) weren't going to win any games this March. And none of their fans really complained at all. Which was nice, because these fans had realistic expectations based on their team's performance (and trust me, this is rare. Most fans go bonkers if their team is close to deserving a bid and doesn't get one). So I was justifiably puzzled when I read two columns by ESPN columnist Dan Shanoff about the outlook of Irish fans on their tourney exclusion. He wrote in two separate columns that ND fans were "griping" and "whining" about their basketball team not making the tournament. Here are his exact quotes:
On March 13th (Tournament Quickie): ... AND WHO'S GOT NO MO'... Notre Dame: Seriously, stop the griping. Just
stop it
On March 14th (Daily Quickie): DQ'd Notre Dame Fans: Seriously, stop the whining. The case against your inclusion
was damning, and besides, even Buffalo would have been a better pick. Enjoy the NIT.
Notre Dame fans were angry? Really? They were so mad that they were not only the only group of fans called out, but
twice two columns in a 12 hour span? How furious would that fan base have to be to get called out like that? Turn over
buses and riot crazy? Shooting guns in the air and having to declare martial law crazy? Certainly, there would be some sort of evidence to justify his statements, which seem definitive and mean-spirited. So I did some research. I looked at Notre Dame message boards, such as Blue and Gold Illustrated, Unofficial Notre Dame Message Board, ESPN's Notre Dame Message Board, The Notre Dame Student Newspaper (The Observer). There was only two entry - out of all those websites - that seemed to say that Notre Dame got snubbed, on the UHND board:
FratBoy wrote (and if that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what does): "Fowler, Digger, Dicky V, Bilas, Katz, Packer... all said we shoulda been in over Northern Iowa and UAB." That post received these replies... "Too bad what they say doesn't mean squat," "Hard to argue we should have been in, no matter who made it," "We made our own bed," "I feel much worse for Miami(OH) and Buffalo," "it's our shame more than an outright snub," and "the posters on this board said ND didn't deserve to get in. The UHNDers are much smarter than the aforementioned right? (EXTREME sarcasm)." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Dickie Vitale or ND's credentials. I spoke to a ND alumni who often complains of "anti-ND bias" who said, "they played with no heart, and I gave up on their tournament chances six weeks ago. I'm glad the season is over."
and the ESPN Big East Board:
Irish_Fan_25 wrote, "You have to be kidding me. Have you seen the big east schedule ND has played. And they came out with a 9-7 big east record. I dont think Buffalo or Norther Iowa play Uconn twice,Syracuse twice,Pitt twice,Villanova twice. Everyone knows ND would rip Buffalo or Northern Iowa apart. ND deserves that spot and that is final." This post also received no replies agreeing with the claim.
My point is that I did a lot of research where I specifically looked for examples of Notre Dame fans whining and griping about their snub in places where the hard-core fans would definitely vent if they were complaining, and I only found two pieces of evidence that would back up Mr. Shanoff's claim. That's quite flimsy, considering the type of claim he is making. It's irresponsible and dishonest. Mr. Shanoff has a resonsibility as a columnist to be able to make a claim that can be supported with facts. And trust me, I understand how hard it is to write opinions without making people mad. I make opinionated statements all the time, especially about Peter "Ponytail" Angelos. But I try to make sure that I can base them with some sort of facts that you can draw an opinion from. For example, I wrote in "Funny Links" : "This is a phony display of loyalty, just like when Peter Angelos offered his legal support to Raphel Palmerio when Jose Canseco accused him of using steroids. But when Raffy needed 147 games to kick in that contract extension, what did Angelos do? He ordered O’s manager Lee Mazelli to not allow Palmerio to play past game 146. So Angelos will only support you when he can sue on your behalf. You’re a phony, ponytail! And so is Geraldo." It does seem mean-spirited, and I considered whether I should print it or not. I decided to after I realized that I didn't stretch any truths, and drew an inference from a set of facts. If you don't agree with my feelings on Peter Angelos (and I live near Baltimore, there aren't many of you out there), I hope you can see that I came up with my opinion after looking at facts. If you draw a different conclusion that I do, then we have two separate, but honest, opinions. What bothers me about Mr. Shanoff's comments is that they appear to have been written without any research. Heck, the tournament quickie was published only a couple of hours after the bracket was announced, which was before anybody could possibly gather the true feelings of Notre Dame's fans.
Which brings me back to my original complaint; that these media types often create controversy when it isn't there. Why call out ND fans as whiners when the evidence suggests otherwise in this circumstance? Does any mention of ND fans create page views? Does he not like Notre Dame? Is his dad a ND guy who complains all the time and that's how he made his inference? Either way, I fear that Mr. Shanoff has demonstrated a complete lack of journalistic integrity (and I do not throw that claim around lightly) and he should be far more careful with his column."