O'Leary's Side

[USF_Grouper]

OS posted an essay written by GOL explaining his side of the argument.  Sounds like he is getting pressured to make nice.  I was kind of hoping the OS just decided to drop coverage of these clowns for a while.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-oleary2708jul27,0,6277753.story

That is incredibly weak.  He seems to explain only two things he is upset about.  The first is that the paper refused to delay publishing complaints from Ereck's father that UCF was not covering the funeral costs.  From what little I recall from that article, GOL is missing the point.  Ereck's father's point wasn't so much that UCF wouldn't pay the costs or eventually cover them, it was that they were very stand-offish - kind of send me the receipts and we will see what we can do.  I think the fact that the father of the player who died on your team is upset with the school is news with or without UCF producing receipts.  The second complaint is that they quoted experts who indicated this could be a heart condition and questioned UCF's medical physicals.  I would have to see the context, but it sounds like one of those experts who is discussing all probable issues.  I don't really see this as a big deal.

As a Sentinel op-ed stated a while back, these errors or misstatements by the Sentinel seem to pale in comparison to the outright lies told by UCF Athletics staff and GOL.  Perhaps the coach should have addressed some of that in his letter.  His life work and his handling of this situation show nothing but a lack of integrity and is an embarrassment to a fine school and to the Plancher family.  UCF fans shouldn't be boycotting the Sentinel; they should be thanking them and calling for this guy to be fired the day before yesterday.

[nukebull]

The way I remember the funeral payment was that UCiF came out and said that they had paid for the funeral already and it was reported on all media outlets. The father was asked and said that they had not received payment yet.

It is funny that when the media reports good news for UCif they love them but when it is bad than there must be another agenda.

I will beat any amount of money GOL did not write the letter and was forced to submit it so that the only media source that actually cares about the mid major program will cover it again.

[Who'sYourData?]

Ok, so I can see that he believes the Sentinel has sensationalized the story.  I can see that he likely believes that himself.  I can see that the Sentinel may have gotten carried away with a couple of minor issues that really aren't important in the grand scheme of things.

What I don't get is the legion of UCF fans are happy. There is no doubt that I believe what Coach O Leary is saying. For the Sentinel to even print this piece by him is saying they know he is right.

Huh?  O'Leary is right about what?  That they published the story about paying for the funeral without UCF having a chance to clarify their position?  The only other thing that O'Leary refuted was that they were not "mat drills".  Ok, so they were another drill that is similarly brutal.  Whoopdee Doo.  He refuted nothing that was any significance.

I still stay there is a big lawsuit on the way.

[USF_Grouper]

I still stay there is a big lawsuit on the way.

I hope not.  It doesn't bring anyone back. 

[twillybull]

Why believe O'Leary when he initially denied being there?  Why did the University / atletic department feel the need to lie about the circumstances of the practice right away?  what about the fact that this practice session supposedly happened before the start of their spring practices (meaning O'leary was infracting the NCAA rules by being there). 

Now they admit they knew about his sickle cell trait and O'leary at least admits to "singling him out"?  That's a pretty clear admission of negligence, if not worse.  There really needs to be an independent inverstigation into this matter.  It doesn't sound like the universtiy or university police will remain impartial.

O'leary still hasn't identified what the paper printed that was "out of line". 

[Bullpride08]

You all hit it on the head.  It was good to see him at least come public with his statement, but in the end he didn't refute anything meaningful, or relavent to the issue.  He mainly spent most of his statement pontificating and making himself sound more important.  After the article the only points that he made which are germaine to the issue is the fact 'they were not mat drills', but oddly someone at UCF did refer to them as such during this issue.  But as others have said, even if technically they were not 'mat drills' that doesn't lessen the issue, nor does it make them less strenuous, or the overall effort exerted by the players less strenuous.  In fact, players have stated to the Sentinel that the drills were significantly more strenuous then O'Liar has made them out to be...so call them what you'd like George but the they were significantly harder then you've portayed them, and significant enough to put EP in danger....

Next, the sematical point about who was paying for the funeral costs.  Ok, so the Sentinel didn't give them time to catch-up on a sensitive issue that perhaps the University had originally dropped the ball.  Fact, the University told the family they were paying the bills, fact, the family after the funeral were still waiting for the bills to be paid and were probably getting hounded by creditors to pay.  So, this is a timing issue.  The fact is the family was put in a slightly compromising situation where "THEY FELT" uncomfortable about the original promise delivered by UCF and their intent to pay for the costs.  Even if they paid it two weeks later, it doesn't mean someone didn't drop the ball and could have processed those costs quicker.  So George is mad because the Sentinel published the family's discontent...well it doesn't change the fact UCF had made the family feel uncomfortable.  I suppose after the Sentinel had called the family, and they told them they were upset over the delay's, they could have given UCF a couple of weeks to make up for their mistake....but that doesn't lessen the fact UCF dropped the ball early on and put the family in a compromising situation.  Maybe a bit of sensationalism, but at that point the Sentinel was still digging for answers, answers UCF was being difficult to provide.  You could understand their desire not to grant UCF's wishes.

That's it, so in a nutshell O'Leary thinks the Sentinel is sensationalizing, and those two trivial issues were wrong.  Big frickin deal George.  What about the not so trivial facts about the workouts, and how they were conducted that you seemingly hid, or conveniently left out in your original versions.  Why didn't I see an apology from George for his misstaken quotes and misleading insinuations?  Why did we not see an apology from UCF or it's SID for releasing erroneous times, and timelines?  Why didn't he dispute the anonymous players coming forward?  Why did he not admit to contradicting his original version of events, and even adding credence to the player's versions?  Why did he not admit that someone at UCF might have missed the ball on evaluating EP's condition, before, during, and immediately after the workouts during a team huddle?

He just wants the Sentinel to be nice, and shut up because "I am George O'Leary dammit."  That's how it sounded to me.  The Sentinel had no problem publishing his comments, because yet again, UCF made another terrible mistake.  Once the Sentinel read them they probably all got a collective chuckle saying "Thanks George for giving more credibility to our version of events."  "We'll be sure to publish your reports that only refute two minor, and extremely trivial points."  Does UCF SID have a degree or is he just stupid, or do they have someone around capable of filtering this stuff.  At this point, given their position, and the imminent lawsuit, to just shut-up and don't give anyone anything they might be able to use against them in the future.  At this point, this 'side' seems to only further complicate things and give more credence to the Sentinel and potential litigants.

[BullyPulpit]

When I saw the title of this topic, I thought for sure I was going to see this:

[BullGate]

Haha, I was raised in the Orlando area and was visiting the past few days. While I was up there I listened to Real Radio's (WTKS) Jim Phllips and he brought up a point I completely agreed with:  "The Sentinel should just say screw UCF and cover USF, that would get O'Leary's attention..."

[Knight_Light]

Why believe O'Leary when he initially denied being there?

Hate to know where you get your info from.

[CyberBull]

Why believe O'Leary when he initially denied being there?

Hate to know where you get your info from.

The same newspapers that you love to reference when they print reports that portray USF in a negative light.