Loading ...Football signing day event Wednesday
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by Doug Wilson | Monday, February 5, 2007 - 3:27 pm UTC
Indiana football season ticket holders and Varsity Club members are invited to hear Terry Hoeppner discuss the Hoosiers’ 2007 recruiting class at IU’s third annual signing day reception Wednesday.
The 5 p.m. event will be held in the lobby of the Indiana Football Complex at Memorial Stadium with doors opening at 4:30.
I just want to offer my 2 cents on a letter in the Herald this morning. I agree that grading the team and coaches is not in the best interest of the athletic programs. I think we need to be more supportive of our teams. My suggestion would be to leave this type of thing to the Indy Star. They are not as close to the situation as we are. This is not a pro franchise and I think grading the players and coaches is counter productive.
I don’t know exactly how Doug feels about this, but I can certainly offer my thoughts.
Based on purely anecdotal evidence, I believe more readers enjoy the report card than don’t. I get a lot of good feedback.
Also, there seems to be a misconception out there that The Hereald-Times — or any newspaper, for that matter — should act “in the best interest of the athletic programs,” as you put it. That simply is not true.
We write about the teams, not for the teams, and try to do it honestly. “Supporting” the team is the last thing on our minds. Indiana University has an entire public and media relations department that does a fine job of doing that.
While the Hoosiers are not a pro franchise, they are pretty close. The coaches get paid huge salaries and the players receive numerous benefits not available to the typical Indiana student. They choose to become public figures and know that added attention comes with that.
And besides, the report card is simply for fun. What do sports fans do at the bar after the game? They talk about the players — who was good and who wasn’t — and second-guess the coaches. Sports fans are a critical group, and we’d just like to reflect that in our paper.
Well put Chris.
I agree wholeheartedly.
How long before “Mark” gets on and wows us with his comments?
I totally agree with Chris. Coaches and players are not Gods although they are often treated that way. They often get more praise than they deserve.
An honest reporter is not afraid to state the obvious and that is what I like most about the new H-T reporters. I like the report card and usually agree with those opinions.
A great reporter will find out information IU or other organizations don’t want us to know. Sometimes a player does not play for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with basketball or football. A great reporter will find these little tidbits of information and pass it along.