Beat Writers... Why are the MSU ones the only loose cannons??

[RougeDawg]

After Bonner's unnecessary shit tonight, along with our history, why is it that MSU seems to have the most negative press Beat Writers of the SEC? Would Bama, LSU, USC or even little boy OM put up with the shit we allow our beat writers to publish? They have access to some private stuff, yet will throw us under the bus at the first chance they get. I do not think Les, Nick, Steve, or The Beav would conitnue to allow such shit people around their programs after throwing their players or program under the bus, unnecessarily.

Morale of Story: This shit ****ing pisses me off beyond any means. Reminds me of the saying "don't say anything if you cant say anything nice" if you are in the position of our beat writers. Dont continually put down a program who's finally starting to separate itself and make a brand for itself.

I know they are journalists, but they need to be reminded who pays their salary sometimes.

[Drugdog]

There are NO consequences from our Administration. Until that happens expect more of the same. HEY Scott we are watching.

[bulldawg28]

They must learn

[JDog13]

I have generally been pleased with Boner's work, but this has pretty much erased everything he has done imo.

[msstate7]

What did bonner do tonight?

[EAVdog]

Bonner has been pretty good and although he doesn't see anything wrong with his actions tonight I think they were out of line. Warren (or whoever) is not a known entity in the SEC and his comments on twitter should not be interjected into the national debate over Gay Players in the NFL. His position as beat writers gives him full knowledge of our roster and the ability/position to be a 24-7 monitor of all things said on Social Media. There should be some professional discretion used when there is the potential to throw a huge 10,000 megawatt spotlight on some kid's tweet he probably spent 5 seconds writing without thinking of the consequences.

ETA: Since he's not from here he may not be aware of how the media loves to illustrate their displeasure with all things Mississippi.

[JDog13]

What did bonner do tonight?

He put Rufus Warren on front street about his tweets on Michael Sam.

[ScottH]

There are NO consequences from our Administration. Until that happens expect more of the same.

Does anyone in the administration have the sack to make an example of one of the beat writers?

[Quaoarsking]

What did bonner do tonight?

One of our players apparently Tweeted his opinion on Michael Sam coming out. He deleted pretty quickly, but Bonner screenshoted it and Tweeted it.

ETA: Just to clarify, Warren say something like "I don't support gays because of my religion" or anything like that. He said something along of "I have no problems with gays, but this sport is too violent for them. It's a man's game." (not a direct quote, paraphrasing). Which regardless of what you believe about gays in general, is a really dumb thing to say. He may have never knowingly interacted with a gay person and probably just doesn't know any better.

[Quaoarsking]

Ole Miss did a pretty good job of hushing up the Matthew Shephard play incident, which was about 1000 times worse than one of our players making a stupid comment on Twitter and then deleting it. We need to get better at that kind of thing.

[smootness]

I know they are journalists, but they need to be reminded who pays their salary sometimes.

That ain't Mississippi State.

[LeakyD]

Has Pitts been heard from since having his job threatened by OM. An actual crime occurred in that case.

[EAVdog]

That ain't Mississippi State.

No but they get paid to write stories that come from having access to Mississippi State.

[MSUDawg4Life]

I wouldn't stop with the beat writers. There other parasites making money off of the back of MSU who have proven that they will put their own interest above the interest of the university. Gene Swindoll, Rosebowl, DS and HD6 come to mind.

[EAVdog]

One of our players apparently Tweeted his opinion on Michael Sam coming out. He deleted pretty quickly, but Bonner screenshoted it and Tweeted it.

ETA: Just to clarify, Warren say something like "I don't support gays because of my religion" or anything like that. He said something along of "I have no problems with gays, but this sport is too violent for them. It's a man's game." (not a direct quote, paraphrasing). Which regardless of what you believe about gays in general, is a really dumb thing to say. He may have never knowingly interacted with a gay person and probably just doesn't know any better.

Which is exactly why some kid who probably doesn't know 1 gay person should not be interjected into this topic.

[SDDawg]

I think Bonner could have used better judgment on this one. I honestly don't think there's a story there based on the tweets immediately following the announcement. He could have easily ignored it and should have. If anything, he should have called the coaching staff or the AD and asked them if they want to be on the record.

BTW, the real story is what is the SEC going to do to educate players and train them on how to respond to this topic. The issue isn't going away, chances are there are other gay players out there in other SEC locker rooms and we need to give the athletes some support as they go through the cultural changes that are happening in sports. I am supportive of gay players but I also understand that we all weren't raised the same way and that this topic may be one that requires further discussion for a lot of the players.

[SDDawg]

Which is exactly why some kid who probably doesn't know 1 gay person should not be interjected into this topic.

Exactly right, this is not surprising at all. Many of these kids have just not been exposed to this and they don't know how to react. They need our support and the guidance of coaches and the university with the SEC's help, not to be put in the newspaper for comments that are made out of ignorance or in the heat of the moment. It wasn't like this was "hate speech", it's him trying to process what this means for the players. HINT: it's a BIG deal for the locker rooms and this change will take years to absorb at the pro, college and HS levels.

[ckDOG]

Exactly right, this is not surprising at all. Many of these kids have just not been exposed to this and they don't know how to react. They need our support and the guidance of coaches and the university with the SEC's help, not to be put in the newspaper for comments that are made out of ignorance or in the heat of the moment. It wasn't like this was "hate speech", it's him trying to process what this means for the players. HINT: it's a BIG deal for the locker rooms and this change will take years to absorb at the pro, college and HS levels.

Not suggesting it will be a non-issue for all locker rooms, but Sam claims to have come out to his teammates in August. Their performance this year indicates that adjusted pretty well.

[msstate7]

Not suggesting it will be a non-issue for all locker rooms, but Sam claims to have come out to his teammates in August. Their performance this year indicates that adjusted pretty well.

Think this would be the case if the player coming out was 3rd string tight end and not the star defensive player? I have no idea, but I have doubts

[Coach34]

How old are ya'll? And I thought I was old

Probably damn near every 20 yr old knows someone that is gay...Us older guys know some too, we just dont know it

[SDDawg]

How old are ya'll? And I thought I was old

Probably damn near every 20 yr old knows someone that is gay...Us older guys know some too, we just dont know it

I'm in my 30's, I agree that everyone knows someone who is gay but not necessarily in the context of team sports. I think guys that play sports are less likely to be "out", especially with their teammates, and because of that it's an adjustment. I agree with the previous poster on Mizzou's performance this year, clearly it wasn't a distraction for them and they knew all eyar. Not saying it's going to be a big deal to every locker room or every kid, but it's definitely going to be an adjustment period. Most of this is the fault of the media who will make this out to be a much bigger story than it is, there have been plenty of gay athletes in sports where teammates and coaches probably knew but they chose not to focus on it. Rufus shouldn't have said what he did but Bonner could have cut him a break given the situation.

[esplanade91]

I'm in my 30's, I agree that everyone knows someone who is gay but not necessarily in the context of team sports. I think guys that play sports are less likely to be "out", especially with their teammates, and because of that it's an adjustment. I agree with the previous poster on Mizzou's performance this year, clearly it wasn't a distraction for them and they knew all eyar. Not saying it's going to be a big deal to every locker room or every kid, but it's definitely going to be an adjustment period. Most of this is the fault of the media who will make this out to be a much bigger story than it is, there have been plenty of gay athletes in sports where teammates and coaches probably knew but they chose not to focus on it. Rufus shouldn't have said what he did but Bonner could have cut him a break given the situation.

The first thing I thought of when the story broke was "great, SEC DPOY is drafted in the 4th round because he's gay"... when he was a 4th round pick regardless. SOMEONE at ESPN or a different platform is going to use the SEC's strength and his post-season awards to argue he would have gone 1st round had he not been gay. Nevermind the fact that he's a 260lbs DE. If a team thinks he'll help them go to the playoffs they'll draft him. Simple.

I'm not anti-gay or homophobic and I don't think my religion makes me against same sex marriage, but I understand what Rufus was getting at. It would weigh on my mind too. I wouldn't have tweeted about it or put it in those words, but Bonner should have understood where the guy was coming from and waited the inevitable 20 seconds for Rufus to delete it but then call him tomorrow for comment. That's if he was dead set on exposing him for his comments. Still think he was going too far.

[RougeDawg]

It doesn't matter how old any of us are, our GD beat writers should start ****ing thinking before they start biting the hand that feeds them. They're just like a dog. They will continue to disobey and do things that disappoint you until you correct them. That's where our Admin comes in, but they've shown in their past how inept they are in this category.

[Political Hack]

It doesn't matter how old any of us are, our GD beat writers should start ****ing thinking before they start biting the hand that feeds them. They're just like a dog. They will continue to disobey and do things that disappoint you until you correct them. That's where our Admin comes in, but they've shown in their past how inept they are in this category.

agreed. especially when they go after a player who took the tweet down quickly after putting it up.

BREAKING NEWS: 20 year old male athlete says something that's not politically correct via social media.

Bonner can be found pushing down 3 year olds at the local day care when he's not busy making fun of babies for pooping in their pants.

[Pollodawg]

Our beat writers seem to relish in bad press. Warren should have sad nothing at all about this sensitive and volatile issue, but that doesn't give a beat writer who is supposed to be covering our team the right to nail him over it. If it had been a coach or some higher up for the university, that would be different. But it was just a kid on social media probably being a little more lose with his opinions than he should have.

[MainEventDawg]

Bonner is a straight-up tool. Most of tweets sound extremely condescending.....like he is just trying to get in as many jabs towards MSU as possible. And if he hadn't posted a damn screenshot of the tweets, there would have been no discussion about it PERIOD. Yet, he felt the need to bring this "news" to light and throw one of our players under the bus. Stricklin needs to grow a pair and put a stop to this shit.

[NewTweederEndzoneDance]

Ya'll do realize that a beat writer works for a newspaper, not MSU, and his entire job is to write on the team he is assigned to, both positively and negatively, to drum up subscriptions, page clicks, etc so that the newspaper can generate revenue, right?

Gay men playing college/professional sports is a HUGE story throughout the country. It's not like the guy irresponsibly made up something in order to create a stir. We may not like what he did or said, but the man is doing his job. It has always amazed me that we (and most fan bases I'd assume) castrate the beat writers because in the opinion of the average fan, we think he/she should be nothing but a mouthpiece for our school. We've had this argument about beat writer after beat writer for years now.

/queue the "but Ole Miss/Bama/etc" doesn't put up with this BS, retorts

[bluelightstar]

I guess I don't see the problem with it. SEC player comes out; another SEC player offers opinion on homosexual football players. I may not have done it, but I would not be surprised to see someone do so. ALL schools' beat writers RT players when it's relevant to something in the news. I see it fairly often actually.

I guess for whatever reason, I just don't expect the beat writer to act like a fan.

[Political Hack]

Ya'll do realize that a beat writer works for a newspaper, not MSU, and his entire job is to write on the team he is assigned to, both positively and negatively, to drum up subscriptions, page clicks, etc so that the newspaper can generate revenue, right?

Gay men playing college/professional sports is a HUGE story throughout the country. It's not like the guy irresponsibly made up something in order to create a stir. We may not like what he did or said, but the man is doing his job. It has always amazed me that we (and most fan bases I'd assume) castrate the beat writers because in the opinion of the average fan, we think he/she should be nothing but a mouthpiece for our school. We've had this argument about beat writer after beat writer for years now.

/queue the "but Ole Miss/Bama/etc" doesn't put up with this BS, retorts

There's a balance. Our beat writers haven't done a very good job of striking that balance. this issue in particular is a non-story. You think the national media is going to pull away from a story about a gay NFL draft eligible player to discuss Rufus Warren's tweet? No one cares... it's mud slinging at best.

[MainEventDawg]

I guess I don't see the problem with it. SEC player comes out; another SEC player offers opinion on homosexual football players. I may not have done it, but I would not be surprised to see someone do so. ALL schools' beat writers RT players when it's relevant to something in the news. I see it fairly often actually.

I guess for whatever reason, I just don't expect the beat writer to act like a fan.

I don't have a problem with RT'ing a player's tweets. But the tweets were deleted. Bonner posted a screenshot of the deleted tweets and added his own caption.

Also, I get that he isn't employed by MSU. But what damn revenue is he generating for the CL by posting a screenshot of deleted tweets on Twitter? The personal views of the young men on our football team do not qualify as news. He just saw on opportunity to create some drama.

[Pollodawg]

I don't have a problem with RT'ing a player's tweets. But the tweets were deleted. Bonner posted a screenshot of the deleted tweets and added his own caption.

Also, I get that he isn't employed by MSU. But what damn revenue is he generating for the CL by posting a screenshot of deleted tweets on Twitter? The personal views of the young men on our football team do not qualify as news. He just saw on opportunity to create some drama.

Exactly. What's news about this? If it had been a coach or Strickland himself, that's news. One player putting rash tweets up and then taking them down is not news. It's the dead period, and I get that, but come on.

[MainEventDawg]

Annnnndddddd it is no longer just a tweet. Bonner just posted a blog about it. Other than the screenshots of tweets, here is the full text:

"Michael Sam told ESPN and the New York Times he is gay. The Missouri defensive end and Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year then took to Twitter.

Reaction began to pour in from around the country, including Mississippi State. Sophomore Rufus Warren expressed his views on Twitter.

The tweets didn’t last long. Warren soon deleted them. He then apologized for the tweet before making his account private."

Helluva piece.**

[The Croom Diaries]

Here's my attempt to throw it back in Bonner's face: http://maroonandwhitenation.com/2014/02/10/theres-news-theres-agenda-re-mike-bonner/

Of course, it only matters if Stricklin and our SID's stand up for MSU and make sure this type of stuff does not continue.

[Martianlander]

Part of the problem on these beat writers goes back to who does the hiring. Because of their "journalism" school, many of the editors and department heads are tsun alumni and have no interest in being fair to State. Was very surprised that the Daily Journal hired Logan Lowery.

[M.Fillmore]

Here's my attempt to throw it back in Bonner's face: http://maroonandwhitenation.com/2014/02/10/theres-news-theres-agenda-re-mike-bonner/


This part from your column is gold.
What is the goal here? The ideal of being “tolerant” is built on intolerance of people who oppose the view of the ones preaching tolerance. If you shame enough people for their opposing view they will eventually refrain from commenting. It’s hypocritical at best.

[smootness]

The tweet from Warren is essentially a non-issue. He apologized, so who really cares. That said, if you're the MSU beat writer, it can be relevant; and it doesn't really matter if it was deleted, it was put on a public forum. I have no issue with Bonner re-tweeting it.

I think State fans are making a bigger deal of this than anyone else. If we would just drop it, and not write additional articles about it drawing attention to it, it would go away very quickly.

[The Croom Diaries]

The tweet from Warren is essentially a non-issue. He apologized, so who really cares. That said, if you're the MSU beat writer, it can be relevant; and it doesn't really matter if it was deleted, it was put on a public forum. I have no issue with Bonner re-tweeting it.

I think State fans are making a bigger deal of this than anyone else. If we would just drop it, and not write additional articles about it drawing attention to it, it would go away very quickly.

It's not all about this particular issue. It's about the entire scope of MSU's relationship with the media. And it's about not letting someone's political agenda supersede their ability to accept other people's opinions/beliefs when the basis of their job description is reporting unbiased news. It may not have been biased against MSU in intent, but it was biased against Rufus Warren's belief system/opinion. Both have the right to say what they did. Neither should have - it was personal opinion from people who shouldn't be giving personal opinions on twitter.

[codeDawg]

Ya'll do realize that a beat writer works for a newspaper, not MSU, and his entire job is to write on the team he is assigned to, both positively and negatively, to drum up subscriptions, page clicks, etc so that the newspaper can generate revenue, right?

Gay men playing college/professional sports is a HUGE story throughout the country. It's not like the guy irresponsibly made up something in order to create a stir. We may not like what he did or said, but the man is doing his job. It has always amazed me that we (and most fan bases I'd assume) castrate the beat writers because in the opinion of the average fan, we think he/she should be nothing but a mouthpiece for our school. We've had this argument about beat writer after beat writer for years now.

/queue the "but Ole Miss/Bama/etc" doesn't put up with this BS, retorts

Here's the deal. He may be doing his job, but I'm not going to pay for his job if he is going to throw MSU players under the bus.

The kid made a mistake and tried to back out of it. It wasn't an issue until Bonner made it one. Bonner took a screenshot of deleted tweets and made that public. His audience is supposed to be mostly MSU fans, and as a member of that market segment, I'm not going to put up with his negativity anymore.

I am not defending the player's action or stance in any way, but I'm not going to support a writer that doesn't understand what I want to read.

[MainEventDawg]

Here's the deal. He may be doing his job, but I'm not going to pay for his job if he is going to throw MSU players under the bus.

The kid made a mistake and tried to back out of it. It wasn't an issue until Bonner made it one. Bonner took a screenshot of deleted tweets and made that public. His audience is supposed to be mostly MSU fans, and as a member of that market segment, I'm not going to put up with his negativity anymore.

I am not defending the player's action or stance in any way, but I'm not going to support a writer that doesn't understand what I want to read.

Bingo. Spot on. And I wish people would stop saying that he re-tweeted it. He didn't. Posting a snapshot that someone took and sent to him is very different than seeing Warren's tweet and re-tweeting it. I don't think anyone would have a problem with it if was a RT. But he posted a snapshot of deleted tweets AND added a caption to it. Totally different IMO.

[M.Fillmore]

The kid made a mistake and tried to back out of it.

God forbid that anyone violate the edicts of the Thought Police. There are none so intolerant as the Tolerant.

[Perpetual Underachiever]

There are NO consequences from our Administration. Until that happens expect more of the same. HEY Scott we are watching.

I understand that in theory this all falls on Strick, but who is actually responsible for communicating with these media members on a regular basis? Would this fall under Bill Martin, Assistant A.D./Media Relations (Football)?