In response to The New York Times story involving Eric Bledsoe…
Often high profile student-athletes are selected for an extensive prospective student-athlete (PSA) review.
Eric Bledsoe participated in the normal academic review process and also an extensive PSA review by the NCAA Eligibility Center and was cleared academically.
DeWayne Peevy
UK Media Relations
21 Responses to Statement from UK on Bledsoe/NCAA
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And THAT, as they say, is THAT!!
If Sandy and DeWayne say it is nothing…then it is NOTHING!!
Apparently the New York Times is STILL not a bastion of truth and integrity. WHAT A SHOCKER!!
Apparently this has been OVER for some time and is a NON-ISSUE.
Apparently the NYT has printed this story, NOW, for some reason OTHER than its’ relevance to the current state of things.
Apparently the NYT just let Jayson Blair change his name to Pete Thamel and keep on writing. For those of you who don’t know who Jayson Blair is…Google him. Times’ reporters have a history of this.
RIDICULOUS!!
GO BIG BLUE!!!!
As I mentioned in the previous topic with 6-7 different posts, remember the name Pete Thamel, he is not done yet, he made it his life mission and I don’t care if he or any others are going to go after Cal b/c he is going to give them a good fight. What I’m concerned about the most is how easily writers like him can expose a youngster’s personal life on a national level. He could just have wrote the same story w/o mentioning any names if he had any integrity.if you read all my posts on this topic, it’s obvious that i’m very upset about the entire story. It’s sports afterall, and I usually post my opinion and let it go. but this is different, this kid doesn’t deserve this abuse and embarrassment. In my second life I’d be a journalist and my mission would be to write only about writers like pete thamel that speculate by any means necessary regardless who gets harmed in the process. And i’m spent for today.
That’s the statement from UKY? WOW…amazing!!!
larry,
like most things these days, people are lazy, and do not want
to do the best job at which they are paid to do. the new york times
could have had all the information, had they asked or checked it out. i deplore those that insinuate or accuse innocent victums just
for their on pleasure. what should happen is the reporter should be
fired, or kicked out of the office for such a lousy job. someone in
management should be punished for letting such accusations be printed without the correct information. just another case of poor
i don’t care management. we see the stuff to often these days, no
one cares anymore, its all about me…me…me and money. never mind if its right or wrong… the times need to go in a new direction under better leadership….maybe have some chowder with
with the legend jim calhoun, who knowes maybe his chowder is turning sour… about time..
I know i said i was done for today. but reading the NYT article again i wanted to ask if someone with NCAA practices knowledge can clarify something for me. Does NCAA re-investigate not once but three times for the same athlete who went through a normal and a PSA review?
The article said NCAA went down to AL on three different occasions to investigate and get the transcripts in FEB. Didn’t NCAA had the transcripts already. I’m not very clear on the timetable of all of this but in FEB you would think NCAA would have been very close to a decision of eligibility or have already decided. They had the transcripts already, why would they go down AL on three different occasions. Don’t they have better things to do and thousands of players to evaluate. There are more holes in the NYT article that resembles a sponge. Maybe wasn’t NCAA that went down AL on three different occasions. Which would support Larry’s statement that NYT is a very well known investigating paper.
NCAA can do about whatever it wants, and so can the Times. Times could have been looking for something else and went on to this. It’s hard to know how this all started  but no matter how it ends it is not good for Eric and his family to have all this out there. But several NBA draft-related calls to me asked a lot of things about his background, etc., that now makes me wonder if they had been hearing about this story coming out
Larry, i want to apologize to you for being a bit harsh with my comments earlier on. I still believe every single word I’ve written but maybe my delivery was a bit aggressive. It’s just that writers like pete thamel aggravate the crap out of me. It’s not the article but the way they used Bledsoe’s name and his personal life that irritates me. I would feel the same way if the story was for another kid, these kids are pulled in so many different ways is a miracle they can even function on their own.
I do have a question though for you. How do you think NYT got the transcripts? From reading the article for the third time, it leaves me with only one option, NYT could have gotten hold of the transcripts only through the schools that were recruiting EB.
I hope some of you guys in this profession put some investigating into this and I count on you Larry since you always write with the humility point of view about these kids, will be an interesting story if FL or Duke or any other schools provided the transcripts of EB to the NYT.
UK and the compliance office don’t have to do anything.It’s a non-issue.He was cleared to play and he passed his classes while here.Let them investigate all they want.All this does is give the haters more fuel.I feel sad for Eric.It’s a shame his personal life had to be devulged like this.It’s such a shame.This is why the media sucks.Always the bad,never the good.
I have not read the article and don’t think I will, I don’t need my blood pressure to go up. I have very good blood pressure and want it to stay that way. However, I have been to several websites and on my Facebook page have seen lots of post. I think the NY times journalist didn’t have anything to write about and he hates Kentucky with a purple passion and decided to call one of Kentucky’s staunch haters in Alabama and chitty chat for awhile. I think they came up with a story, via rumors and past facts and decided to throw it all out there again. I think the NC2A should make a statement if they are or if they aren’t investigating. But being the back stabbing, two faced, small minded, money hungry, unethical, immoral, unscrupulous, lying, degenerate, deceitful, devious, ruthless and dishonest ingrates that they are, they won’t make a statement. It is not fair to slander Eric in the way that I think the NYT has done. I think Eric should sue them and the journalist. I guess we can add him to the list of those other ‘journalist’, one in Lexington, one at ESPN and what ever other ones bad mouth and make up rumors about UK. We should bombard them with emails, not hate mail, just facts. See how upset I am, I’m not going to read the NYT article. I just can’t do it. GO CATS!
I agree Linda. I wish the NCAA would grow a set and take a strong stance against the NYT. If they did their job and did it comptently, then that should be that. I guess it seems a bit cocky that the “journalist” would thinks he has done a better job that the NCAA and UK. And Bama for that matter. If he did have something, then fine. Report it and we will pay the price. But this seems mostly like crap.
I really wonder about the transcript issue as well. Will try to check on that, but probably will be tough to ever know since I am sure everyone will deny they are the one who leaked the info. Let’s just hope this does go away, but don’t automatically assume the Times’ sources are all wrong. Most newspapers try to document things well and I would think after some past problems the Times had they certainly would have this time. But the real tragedy here is that Eric has to have all this bad pub when there’s no real indication he did anything wrong
Linda, I wish you would tell us how you REALLY feel about the times(small t on purpose)
Doug, I was trying to be politically correct (?) and a lady! LOL I now spell the New York paper with another four letter word with an s on the end. Begins with an s and ends with an s.
I don’t know quite where to start on this topic. I agree with Larry that the NY Times, if doing proper journalism, would have done its job before going to press. However, the NY Times, and other press entities, have a track record of not doing so often enough to support the suspicions of an agenda, and a bias. If it appears from the known facts that there is no indication that Eric Bledsoe did anything wrong, then what could possibly be the basis for this story? I do not believe for one minute that the NY Times has any interest in whether Eric Bledsoe did or did not do anything wrong. I do believe that their interest in this story is driven by their interest in UK Basketball. Put Eric Bledsoe at UAB last season, with everything else being identical, there is no NY Times article replacing UAB for UK and Davis for Calipari. This is all about UK Basketball, and John Calipari. For those interested, I just blogged on this topic at http://bigblueuncensored.com
Slander? Of all the entities of the press in this country, none are better practiced with the actual malice standard than the NY Times [NY Times v Sullivan]. I think with respect to this column, Eric Bledsoe is a public figure and to pursue a defamation action, Eric would have to prove by the evidence that the NY Times slandered him with actual malice, a standard that while achievable, is seldom reached by such a plaintiff. The NY Times knows this, and I doubt that they published without a legal opinion in support of their potential defense. No doubt they did all the necessary research on that question before going to press with this one even if they did not do the necessary research with respect to Eric, UK, and Calipari.
LARRY, wasn’t newsweek magazine a investigative magazine? well, well, they are going bankrupt and are up for sale. maybe the new york times will follow closely.
Right you are Ron.
Good points again Professor. Times crossed a line, but didn’t go so far as to be in trouble
Larry, “Times crossed a line, but didn’t go so far as to be in trouble.” Isn’t that what everyone keeps saying about Cal? So they are after him for doing what they do?( I don’t really mean everyone)RIDICULOUS!!!
I’m just responding here and then likely not saying anything more on this subject unless further statements come out of the UK athletics department. There’s just so much speculation without proof, and it just seems unfair to me.
In particular, I am concerned for Eric Bledsoe. At a time which should be one of the best in his life, he is seeing not only his transcript published, scrutinized, and debated (and publication of that transcript is ridiculous with current privacy laws), but also enduring an invasion into his personal life with the national publication of details about where his mother works and the condition in which the house had SUPPOSEDLY been left. That such has occurred is very upsetting to me.
Further, as others are saying, Sandy Bell is highly respected for her strict adherence to compliance. Likewise, both President Todd and athletics director Mitch Barnhart have reputations for high integrity. Again, I choose not to become involved in any additional discussions, meanwhile hoping that Kentucky is not penalized in any way for anything that may have possibly occurred without its knowledge, along with hoping that Eric Bledose is both absolved of any guilt and experiences happiness on the night of the NBA draft.
Great post Tana.
and Jan, you are right