Whats up with Brett McMurphy ?

[CyberBull]

If B rett wants to return to covering the team like he did 2 years ago, I'll start looking forward to what he has to say again. Until then the Times does a fantastic job and when combined with the three online USF sites there is plenty of news to go around.

[mpepper]

It is a vacation...and I believe there is a significant date around this time with a family member... Brett has a job to do and sometimes the coach/school does not make life easy for him... not in a bad way, just in a way that is probably frustrating... and you can believe that there are some of the more tradition rich schools that take a severe beating by the beat writers as opposed to what the Trib or Times does here... And while I think we would all just like to hear positives, positives, positives, I think it speaks volumes as to the rise of the athletic department that there are more controversial things to write about...

I also find it ironic that so many complaints about slant/bias/lack of coverage with Brett and yet , on the radio side, 1010 has four people close to the USF program, Krasniqi w/ WBB, Lighthall w/ FB and MBB, Al Keck with the Coach Leavitt show, and myself w/FB, on the air throughout the day and yet the station still receives 3-4 times the amount of calls about the Gators than USF... there is a forum to talk USF on the radio (and the station streams now) and yet more people want to complain about the lack of coverage/ignorance of 620's hosts towards the USF program than to take advantage of the opportunity the USF fan has with 1010 Sports... just an observation :-/  

[nukebull]

Why all the hate for the trib?  I am new to the board, so I might have missed something big, but I have always checked both papers for news on the Bulls.  Yeah the trib reports less, but not that much less.  I have always thought that if there was a beef it was that the Bulls always seem to be pushed into the middle of the college sports section.  I don't expect to get better coverage than the bucs, but better than UF, FSU, and Miami

Since many fans like the fact that the St Pete Times PAYS USF $$$$$ every year for the honor to be the "official" newspaper of USF Athletics...and generally only write POSITIVE articles about USF....some fans don't like it when an independent source (not a title sponsor) writes fair, objective articles...which are both positive and negative.

I think some folks don't like "objective" reporting.

Like that great ex reporter in Orlando now with ESPN what was her name she was very objective and made good points and I am sure you have no problems with her.

[Brad]

Brett hasn't been on vacation since Spring Practice started.  He ran a number of blog entries on USF being snubbed by everyone and their grandma, even those people USF didn't even offer to or speak with in their basketball HC search.  Like it was a contest to find how many would decline interest.  Why?  The only football related blog post is on the arrests of the two players-not spring football.  Outside of that nothing.  The Trib bloggers for the other state schools covered the spring practices in their blogs.  That's what started this thread - a simple question as to why the USF beat writer for the Trib is not including football in his blog.  Not a strange question considering Brett's history with the program.  Instead he spent a lot of time reporting useless rumor about the coaching search, why not sit in the stands at football practice and report on what he sees with his own two eyes?   That is what people wanted to know instead of reports of non-candidates declining interest in the basketball job that was not even offered to them.  But apparently he can cover what he wants, but by the same token fans can read what they want too.

[windbane]

Brett hasn't been on vacation since Spring Practice started.  He ran a number of blog entries on USF being snubbed by everyone and their grandma, even those people USF didn't even offer to or speak with in their basketball HC search.  Like it was a contest to find how many would decline interest.  Why?  The only football related blog post is on the arrests of the two players-not spring football.  Outside of that nothing.  The Trib bloggers for the other state schools covered the spring practices in their blogs.  That's what started this thread - a simple question as to why the USF beat writer for the Trib is not including football in his blog.  Not a strange question considering Brett's history with the program.  Instead he spent a lot of time reporting useless rumor about the coaching search, why not sit in the stands at football practice and report on what he sees with his own two eyes?   That is what people wanted to know instead of reports of non-candidates declining interest in the basketball job that was not even offered to them.  But apparently he can cover what he wants, but by the same token fans can read what they want too.

Hard to dispute these facts.  I've noticed this for weeks.  Months, really.  At least he pumped up Jessica Dickson...just before the non-story with those "allegations."

[CyberBull]

Peppers  ---

You are wrong about USF fans being upset about negative news being reported. Most of us....with a strong emphasis on most....prefer when all the news is reported, good or bad. However, there is a fine line between reporting bad news and taking the opportunity to pile on. At first some of his 'quips' were funny such as handcounting USF basketball attendance. However when the handcounting became the story instead of the action on the floor things started to deteriorate. Again, all of Tampa Bay knew out our attendance sucked under Coach Robert so why continue to take cheap shots?

The final straw for me at least was with the daily "who doesn't want the USF basketball job report".   Instead of hustling like his SPT counterpart to cover the story he decided it was more informative to print poorly sourced information and report that Mike Montgomery.....MIKE FREAKIN MONTGOMERY....was not interested in the USF job. WTF....why not ask Greg Anthony if he wasn't interested?

Again, for me it's not personal. I just think he is not covering the team with the same professionalism and objectiveness of years past. I was one of the few who didn't crucify him for being flat out wrong about his embarrassing gaffe during the basketball coach. Mistakes happen and he owned up to the situation. That incident was probably the only sign of the "old Brett" we have seen in a long time.

BTW....the only reason I am taking time to write this is b/c I miss the old Brett McMurphy. He provided Bulls fans with **** good coverage for years. Maybe it will change with Leavitt being more accomodating to the media and the opportunity to cover an exciting, potentially nationally relevant program this year.  Until then BMcM has a lot of old fans to win back.

Last I'm going to comment on this......b/c Bulliever is charging me by the word.

[Bull Matrix]

Things will change when USF starts to win more and become a bigger name nationally. Of course you are going to get a lot of Gator fans calling all these radio shows right now because they have been winning too much. It goes to the fact that everyone loves a winner. Another state school, FSU, has basically dropped off the map as far as sports talk on the radio these days.  You barely hear about fans calling into to talk FSU sports these days in my opinion. Things used to be different for them when they were winning to be honest.

[The Sheriff]

I think in Brett's job description as a Sports Writer, he is paid to write articles for the Trib... I don't think Brett went to school to be a Blog Writer. That's my own personal observation. Blog entries are an added bonus.

Don't let the malcontents  ;D on here get you down Brett. You have half the West Coast supporting you (besides Bulliever and Twilly)... I'll bribe them with some alcohol and young co-eds and maybe we can get them back on your side.

Brett's my homeboy...

[USF1956]

[highlight]Until then the Times does a fantastic job.... [/highlight]

CyberBull, are you kidding? Please tell me you are kidding.

Until the "official paper of USF" starts sending someone to cover basketball games on the road they are a joke.

As long as the USF news happens within a car ride of their offices, the Times will cover it.

[Brad]

Peppers  ---

You are wrong about USF fans being upset about negative news being reported. Most of us....with a strong emphasis on most....prefer when all the news is reported, good or bad. However, there is a fine line between reporting bad news and taking the opportunity to pile on. At first some of his 'quips' were funny such as handcounting USF basketball attendance. However when the handcounting became the story instead of the action on the floor things started to deteriorate. Again, all of Tampa Bay knew out our attendance sucked under Coach Robert so why continue to take cheap shots?

The final straw for me at least was with the daily "who doesn't want the USF basketball job report".   Instead of hustling like his SPT counterpart to cover the story he decided it was more informative to print poorly sourced information and report that Mike Montgomery.....MIKE FREAKIN MONTGOMERY....was not interested in the USF job. WTF....why not ask Greg Anthony if he wasn't interested?

Again, for me it's not personal. I just think he is not covering the team with the same professionalism and objectiveness of years past. I was one of the few who didn't crucify him for being flat out wrong about his embarrassing gaffe during the basketball coach. Mistakes happen and he owned up to the situation. That incident was probably the only sign of the "old Brett" we have seen in a long time.

BTW....the only reason I am taking time to write this is b/c I miss the old Brett McMurphy. He provided Bulls fans with **** good coverage for years. Maybe it will change with Leavitt being more accomodating to the media and the opportunity to cover an exciting, potentially nationally relevant program this year.  Until then BMcM has a lot of old fans to win back.

Last I'm going to comment on this......b/c Bulliever is charging me by the word.

I deleted my specific response to mpepper, but it can be summed up like this:

Reporters should report the negatives, don't create or embellish them.

And when is the Bulls radio show on?  I'd like to listen if it is streaming nationwide.