By LARRY VAUGHT
It seems like there is never a dull today when it comes to Kentucky basketball, but CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman really infuriated many UK fans Thursday during a radio interview in Louisville with Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford when he suggested that UK coach John Calipari tried to get him fired earlier in his career.
This is a big-time accusation, and one Goodman certainly has to totally believe to have discussed with Bozich and Crawford, two respected journalists. Maybe other national media members have felt that way at times, but if one has ever openly said it quite that way I don’t remember it.
Kentucky fans obviously lashed out at Goodman, especially on Twitter.
He tried to post various Tweets to calm the storm:
— I have said it’s more difficult to be objective when someone tries to get you fired, but i have found way to do so regardless
— I am not a huge fan of him on personal level, but think he is one hell of a coach – and has done phenomenal job at UK.
— I never said I was biased against Calipari. Again, we don’t have personal relationship, but i have respect for him as coach.
So what do you think. Can Goodman be unbiased when it comes to Kentucky and Calipari? Should he stop writing UK/Calipari stories? Or is there nothing wrong with his comments about Calipari?
31 Responses to Do you think Jeff Goodman can be unbiased when covering Calipari, Kentucky
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Absolutely NOT! I’ve read his work at CBS. Like everyone at CBS, he hates UK. Just for example this week alone they have published 3 stories aimed at Calipari. They took a poll of the most overrated coaches and just as they knew, Cal came out on top. Remember this is based on the voting of fans 90% of which are not UK fans and haven’t had the string of success UK has had. So naturally it isn’t their coach is bad. Cal is just overrated especially in the minds of recruits.
Next came the World Wide Wes story bashing him in every way that wouldn’t get them sued.
Then the coup de gras. The poll on which coach is the dirtiest in college basketball. Once again they capitalize on the unfair characterization of Cal that so many trumpet. Not only that but they fanned the flames of that characterization.
That’s 3 major stories in a week. Remember this is the same network that hired Billy Packer and then replaced him with Clark Kellogg who immediately became just as virulently anti-UK as Packer.
I’ve read Goodman’s stories many times. He is a hatchet man, ACC butt kissing loser. Maybe someday I’ll get to tell him to his face – with my fist.
King Ghidora – Not to defend CBS but the most overrated coach was Roy Williams (Cal was not in the top 8)
I guess I quit looking after I saw the story at first. At that time Cal was leading so I guessed he would win it too. My bad.
simple way to deal with IDIOTS like him, dont follow him on twitter, dont read his garbage, and dont go to sites that are biased against UK. Lifes too short, dont have time for it…
It would be easy to dismiss Goodman’s comment and claim that he simply is against UK. Calipari has been friends with World Wide Wes for years and it is no secrete that he has delivered players for Calipari. World Wide Wes has never been proven to break NCAA rules, but suspicion follows him wherever he goes, be it at the Olympics wearing garb that is worn by the players, behind the UK bench at last year’s NCAA final or in the UK locker room. As I understand it, World Wide Wes is Calipari’s agent. If that is true then he shares in Calipari’s renogiated contact. Many UK fans dismiss any criticism of the program or it’s coach as just one more of those who is picking on UK. The United States has a history of freedom of the press. Freedom of the press goes a long way toward keep the country honest. We need it. Newspapers and other media should not be simple cheerleaders when it comes to reporting and that includes sports.
The “press” operates on facts, not speculation. What they did was disgraceful and bears no resemblance to journalism in any way. It was pure hatchet job. I went to journalism school. We had to not only get a source but we had to have another source to backup what the first source said. There was none of this, “tell me, did you ever stop beating your wife?” type stuff. I’m all for freedom of the press. But there are LAWS that prohibit CBS from doing exactly what they did. I’m telling you in certain states they could go to prison for what they did. There is such a thing as criminal slander or actually it’s criminal defamation. When you deliberately try to hurt someone and malice is evident and you do real damage to them you can go to jail in some states. Federal law allows for slander lawsuits. Cal could win likely but it’s hard to do if you’re a public persona. In other words if you’re famous it’s harder to prove damages. Still it can be done and in a case like this it should be fairly easy. The thing is you will probably end up looking even worse to the public before it’s over.
Just so people don’t think I’m wrong about criminal defamation I suggest you check out this web site:
http://www.dba-oracle.com/oracle_news/news_states_criminal_libel_web_internet.htm
King i disagree with you,I don’t think goodman is biased to coach Cal he just doing his job of writing what other people opininon is. I like his articles compare to what other writers are saying about KY!!!
Well I learned the standards of journalism way back when and I learned the consequences of ignoring those standards. It’s not a pretty sight. I’ll give a single example here. How much money do you think Cousins lost in endorsements because he was labelled a thug by the press? I think we’ve all seen the so called evidence used by the media to back up that claim which BTW they had in place before the incident ever took place. They had him pegged as a thug from day one and they were going to conjure up “evidence” even when there was none. Cousins reacted to being kicked in the head in that Louisville game. Anyone who saw that game will know just how dirty the Cards played in that game including grabbing the foot of a player who was flying out of bounds so that player would land on his face in camera row. I have video of both of these events. So the Cards play like total thugs and Cousins was actually publicly targeted to get tossed from the game. But it was Cuz who got the label as thug from the national media goof who covered the game. That was a mutli-million dollar character assassination. I don’t think costing someone millions is doing someone’s job. That story about the “dirtiest coach” was clearly aimed at Cal and clearly aimed at costing him recruiting power. So not only did they hurt Cal in the wallet but all the people who make a living working for UK sports of all types. No way that’s the job of a journalist. It’s the job of a hatchet man. Journalists report facts. That’s the definition of what a journalist is. CBS went way outside of that and a whole lot of other media people said the same thing. This isn’t just my opinion. It’s shared by many in the journalism field. So am I I’m just reporting their opinions? Nope. I’m describing the accepted role of a journalist in a civil society. Propaganda has no place in journalism and that is exactly what CBS published.
Just for the record here’s a definition of journalism:
news reports presented factually without analysis
There were no “facts presented” in that piece. Opinions are not facts.
After somewhat 50 years of this Big Blue Hate i could care less what trash flys out of the trash can .One sure fact they can kiss our 8 th NCAA Title ,BBN’s dead center. As for CBS remember when Red Foxx left CBS for ABC ? When ask his reason he said ABC an bigger check .
Bryan mc – if you don’t think Goodman is biased you didn’t hear his own admission. He is biased, but I, too, am biased against him – I will never click on one of his articles. And, I think the poll “anonymously taken” is shameful. If you can’t say to the face of the person you are bashing what you think of him, then you are not much of a man (or woman) for that matter. I am not impressed by any reporter/sports site that relies on anonymous comments. After all, if it is just a coach’s impression, then he surely is proud of it and would want all to know exactly what it is.
It’s funny to me that people want to beat up on Coach Cal and KY because they win, when Ky was a also ran under Tubby you didn’t hear much said. Coach Nose can cheat and the NCAA turns it’s head and when some of the other top head coaches do wrong nothing seems to happen to them either, ” WHY ” Because the NCAA is HEADED by a CROOK and run by CROOKS who are out for one thing, the almighty DOLLAR. It’s time for the NCAA to GO.
You got that exactly right. In fact they bashed UK fans for wanting a coach that wins when Smith was at UK. They kept telling us we had unrealistic expectations and about how parity was the rule now. I wonder if they still think that? Turns out we were right. UK just needed the right coach to make the team the most dominant team in all of sports. And IMO that’s exactly where the team is heading under Cal. Of course things can go wrong but so far it’s been great. To think that a well known sports talking head warned coaches to stay away from UK. I guess that 5 million a year Cal is making is just too much for most people to handle. Not to mention the outrageous success he has had and continues to have at UK. And things are about to get better. Much better. If the Cats get half the talent they are the favorites to get they will have the best college basketball team ever in 2013-14. They will have a fabulous team this coming year but the one after that will be off the charts good unless CBS and their cronies manage to discredit Cal, which is exactly what they’re trying to do.
Bryan you can take one look at the CBS Sports site for college basketball and see an astounding anti-UK bias. Goodman isn’t the worst of the bunch but he sure plays along. It must be a requirement there and I’m not joking. They are horribly anti-UK. And it’s not anyone’s job to make someone look guilty when they aren’t. That’s called slander and even public personas can win lawsuits for it. When you run 3 stories a week designed to make Cal look like a cheater then you obviously have an agenda to make him look bad. That means big bucks in any court. But the main reason they do it is to try to dissuade recruits from going to UK. ESPN and CBS have both been playing that game for decades. It doesn’t work. Look at how well Cal is recruiting. But it’s not for lack of trying. When they accuse you of cheating over and over they want to scare parents especially so that they won’t send their kids to a school that might ruin their reputation.
It’s a clear attempt to do real damage. I keep hoping Cal will go the extra mile and file a lawsuit. I know it’s hard to win a slander case but someone needs to try and I think Cal could be the man. Carol Burnette did it a while back and won big money. It can be done and it’s the only thing that can slow down those hacks. There are actually criminal slander laws on the books in some states. I’d love to see one of those jokers in prison for what they do. It’s wrong and good people are hurt by what they do. And even before there was a US government people were going to prison in this country for slander.
Bias is an interesting concept. We all have it about most subjects, and we bring our biases to the table whenever we sit down.
Some of our biases are favorable to the subject and others negative, e.g. the difference between a friend and an enemy of the subject, I suppose.
Some people deny they have bias, while others readily admit to their bias.
Among those who admit their bias, some act based on their bias, and others strive to not do so, which is the idealized difference between a editorial and a report in journalistic terms, the difference between subjectivity and objectivity, or the difference between statements of opinion and statements of fact.
Among those that deny their bias, deception in some form is at play, whether to deceive others, or merely self deception. Could that be akin to the difference between those that know they don’t know and those that don’t know they don’t know.
Outside perception of other people’s bias has similar ranges, and sometimes an observer’s bias influences the observer’s opinion of another person’s bias.
It is just too much to ponder on a Saturday morning. It is making my head hurt.
I wish I had skipped this exercise completely, and I am sure you do too.
Have a good day.
Great stuff Professor. And did not make my head hurt at all
When Goodman signs Cal’s checks…then, he may give a damn.
Goodman writes about Calipari’s relationship with World Wide Wes. Much of what he says is documented. We may or may not welcome World Wide Wes to UK, but he does hang in our locker room, he did sit behind our bench at the NCAA final game, he has delivered players to Calipari at both Memphis and UK. and he is a proven long time friend to Calipari. World Wide Wes may be a help or a danger to UK. The future will decide that. IMO it is not wrong for Goodman to print this turth. He has asked coaches to rate the coach whom the fear is cheating most. Is that unreasonable just because Calipari received the most votes? I suspect that they named Mike Krzyewski a great many UK fans would view Goodman and the survey in another light. Fans who whine that “the press always picks on UK” should realize that a free press is vital to keeping all college sports program honest. Remember this. Unless Calipari is actually cheating nothing will come of stories like the recent ones of Goodman.
Thanks Kokamo Joe for your perspective. Bit different from most, but some really good points
Is it possible to despise someone and NOT be biased against them?
NO.
Is it possible to despise someone and PRETEND not to be biased against them?
Maybe.
But I don’t think ol’ Jeffy intends to do either. He will throw his bias around like every other national hack and pretend he is reporting the “facts”.
Congratulations on your induction into the Pete Thamel Fan Club, Jeff.
Jim, glad we got you on a roll. Preach it
I read the Danville Advocate. You will not see negative stories about UK in this paper. You will read up to date interviews and news stories galore about UK. The cheerleading approach is directly opposite from what you may read from other newspapers including the two leading newspapers in this state. Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald Leader is despised by many UK fans because he does write stories which could be considered negative. IMO you need both. If I could make a suggestion to Larry it would be this. Even though I am a UK fan I do like to read stories about the second most important sports program in this state, that being Louisville. It is rare that the Advocate prints a story about the Cards and when it does it is usually from the wire. In today’s (Sunday) Advocate local high school and college football schedules were printed. UK, EKU, WKU and Centre college scheduled were there. There was no UL football schedule. I would have liked to have had that.
Kakamo, thanks for reading. Schedules printed in our paper today were an advertising project, not a sports project.
As for Louisville, just don’t have the resources to staff both UK and Louisville and all the high schools plus Centre College that we have to cover. why we rely on AP for Louisville, and don’t always get a lot. Did have Louisville story Friday that I hope you saw by assistant sports editor Hal Morris.
And also don’t consider it cheerleading when you write feature/news stories. Just try to report the facts, not create the stories. And folks seem to like the behind the scenes type interviews with players, parents, coaches and even fans
The thing about Tipton is he will make things up whether he has a real story or not. He’s looking for a national press gig and has been since day one. The LHL is what’s known as a yellow journalism paper. They print innuendo and accusation and either give no source at all or use an anonymous source. That is not journalism. It’s muckraking. It’s trying to advance yourself by tearing down someone else.
I don’t think anyone wants to ignore real scandals. But I’ve seen so many fake scandals about UK in my life it’s literally amazing. I don’t want a whitewashed version of the facts. But I want actual facts and not half baked accusations with no real facts involved. Without proof it isn’t a fact. And unless you have someone willing to go on the record to say something AND you have a second source to substantiate the thing that was said you have no business printing anything negative.
Are you aware this country was pushed into a war by clowns doing the exact sort of thing. They knew they could sell more newspapers by vilifying the Spanish and the way they governed their territories specifically Cuba. The press printed all sorts of accusations that were unfounded including the one big one that started a war. They claimed they had proof that Spain sank a US ship in Havana harbor. Only Spain did not sink that ship. No matter. We sent troops down to kick the Spanish out of Cuba. Lots of people died. Muckraking always leads to things like this. People get hurt. People even die. It’s a disgraceful thing to do.
If CBS had FACTS showing Cal was cheating then fine. But they didn’t. They published accusations and claimed it came from someone else so they could avoid being sued. That’s as low as it gets in the world of “journalism”.
I hate to do this but it needs to be said. There is so much muckraking in the press over politics now that we could easily end up in a civil war. Cheap shots, lies and false accusations have a way of steamrolling into something very, very ugly. That’s why I support journalistic integrity. It’s very important to a democracy and CBS Sports is just following in the footsteps of CBS News. Do I have to remind people that CBS tried to influence a presidential election just before that election by printing what was proven to be outrageous, false allegations about George Bush and his National Guard service? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. And it isn’t just Democrats and it isn’t just Republicans. But whoever does it is a disgrace and can NOT be called a journalist. Without an unbiased press, and I do believe we can have that,, our country will fail. Yes everyone has bias but we have had many good examples of the media being unbiased in their coverage to a great extent. Walter Cronkite was an extreme liberal but no one knew that until he was off the air for over a decade. The New York Times became the beacon of journalism ethics and ended the era of yellow journalism that started that war. Now they are far from unbiased but for decades they served this nation well. Then they got credit for being unbiased when in fact they weren’t. Now everyone knows how biased they are.
These are very serious issues and should not be ignored. Should we ignore that maxim about those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it and go along with the character in Citizen Kane who said, “you provide the pictures, I’ll provide the war”? That movie was based on the life of William Randolph Hearst who was the father of yellow journalism BTW. I think it’s too important to ignore myself. If we let them go they will get stronger and stronger until they crush people until people fight back. Then you have a real war. These are not issues to take lightly.
I know I’ve wrote a lot on this subject but I think it’s a very important subject. UK has suffered from the abuse of the national media for too long. It is possible to fight back and to win. People got CBS to give up their plans for a reality show called “The Real Beverly Hillbillies” where they were going to take people from the mountains of Kentucky and put them in Beverly Hills and give them money to spend then watch as they made fools of themselves. That sort of thing does real damage to my friends and neighbors not to mention family. I think fighting against it is essential. If you’ve ever moved from the mountains of eastern KY to a place where they think everyone is an inbred moron if they come from eastern KY then you’ll know that it can cost you a lot of money. It’s prejudice and that is always a bad thing.
We are what we are. All the Goodmans in the world cannot tarnish our national championship. All the Goodmans in the world cannot destroy Calipari unless he destroys himself. I hate to say this but some of us bellyache too much. Goodman reported on the relationship of Calipari to World Wide Wes. Folks, that is a fact. Why hide from it? World Wide Wes has never been proven to break NCAA rules. He helps Calipari bring in the stars. Why not accept the fact and relish the success that he helps bring? IMO the press should report both the good and bad. For instance to ignore the previous DUI convictions and recent problems of Calipari’s assistant and not print the story would be just as bad as reporting a falsehood. We are the New York Yankees of the basketball world. Of course the rest of the basketball world will distrust Calipari. The survey is nothing new. There will be criticism, some deserved and some not deserved. We make our program look bad when we moan, groan, and complain about the press, referees, and the countless other things that we think are working against our beloved Cats.
I guess you missed the fact that UK nearly got the death penalty in the late 1980′s as a result of one of these wild allegation stories. Yeah we bellyache too much alright. Just like some people just don’t seem to care at all. Or do you believe the one about the $1000 envelope? Just a bunch of your average UCLA fans found it right after UK signed two of the best prospects in the nation out of California and were on the verge of signing another. Why shouldn’t we believe a fish story like that one? After all the only effect would have been to kill the UK basketball program completely. No harm done, right?
BTW what’s with the Kokomo stuff? You wouldn’t happen to be an IU fan would you?
King, man, love that passion you have for this subject that is near and dear to my heart. Without journalistic integrity, we are all in trouble
Thanks Larry. I hang out at your site because it’s obvious integrity does matter to you.
King: No, I am not from Indiana. You honestly don’t believe that Eddie Sutton got us in serious NCAA trouble? You don’t believe the envelope story? You don’t believe the ACT story? Cheating happened. We learned and moved on. Denial is what got Penn State in trouble. If something bad happens at UK I say report it. An honest press helps keep us honest. Perhaps the motive of Goodman can be questioned. Why not take one aspect of his reporting such as the World Wide Wes story and show how this story is biased or false. Or what about his survey? But then what if both stories were false. How can Goodman harm UK or this fan base so long as UK does not violate NCAA rules? Can a case be made that by having the press keep a close eye on any program cheating becomes much more difficult therefore protecting the programs that they report upon?