When Smarter People Express What's On Your Mind

I am not an eloquent person. But this conversation between Glenn Greenwald and Bill Keller has been the debate I have had internally throughout the course articulated by people who can articulate themselves far better than I ever could.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/opinion/a-conversation-in-lieu-of-a-column.html?pagewanted=1&smid=tw-share

Oh and this should be required reading for posterity, especially for those, like me, who take Indy journalism with a grain of salt.

Bombers Run Over Alfred

Because of some decisions beyond my control, I am deciding to use this space as a means to publish my Ithaca football game stories.

The Ithaca College football team dominated on the ground rushing for 214 yards in a 17-6 victory against Alfred University Saturday afternoon at Butterfield Stadium.

The Bombers (4–1, 2–1) established the run early with 25 attempts in the first half. Senior running back Rakim Jones had 15 carries for 69 yards in the half and finished the game with 173 yards and a touchdown. Jones put in a bruising, solid performance averaging 5.5 yards per carry and requiring several Saxon (3–2, 1–1) defenders to bring him down on every attempt. He said the fact that he did not have a single attempt in the Blue and Gold’s 21-9 loss to Hartwick last week motivated him for this week.

“I didn't play the last game, that woke me up,” Jones said. “I've been through a lot of adversity. I worked hard to get here – really hard...I came out here to run better than I did any other time than I ran so that was my statement.”

Jones was not the only Bomber to have a resurgent performance, as junior quarterback Tom Dempsey became the tenth consecutive Bomber quarterback to win his first start. Dempsey completed 14 of 20 passes for 166 yards with no turnovers. He found junior wide receiver Brendan Wojtowicz open on the right sideline for a 28-yard touchdown that proved to be the game-winning score as it gave the South Hill Squad a 14-0 lead midway in the second quarter. Dempsey said the team was well prepared and credited the offensive line with giving him time to make his throws.

“It was a total team effort from the offense to the defense,” Dempsey said. “It all starts with the O-Line, they played a heck of a game. They got the running game going which opens up the pass and everything compliments each other.”

Bomber Head Coach Mike Welch credited the offensive line’s dominance as a key reason why the Bombers had over 38 minutes of possession and three scoring drives of five minutes or more. Welch said Dempsey would be the team’s starting quarterback for their next game at Utica College. He said he was pleased with Dempsey’s performance throughout the game.

“[Dempsey] made some good decisions,” Waelch said. “For his first start, I think that was a good starting point. I’m sure there were some things that we can work on but hopefully we can get better at.”

The Bombers will play the Pioneers (3–2, 1–1) next Saturday at 1 p.m.

CPJ Blasts Obama

It speaks for itself. The journalists who try to hold the government accountable are fearful they cannot.

Quite frighteningly, those journalists on the federal beat are relied upon to get us information on the government. This is not a problem that Indy or Mainstream media can solve solely by attempting to gas themselves up for their principles. Only collaboration and elbow grease can work so that future administrations will be unable to hush their own employees and by extension, the media.

CPJ Report

Distance: The Pros and Cons

Much has been made about the idea of proximity in media. The two main points in this idea are that mainstream media is too close to its subjects and that independent media is too far. Both are generally correct but both are oversimplifications.

Take for example, Chris Mortensen's report that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman is in Stage One of the NFL's Drug Policy. Freeman is in a messy divorce with the Buccaneers and their acerbic Head Coach Greg Schiano. It is a situation as ugly as any in sports history with both sides having gone public deriding the other. And it all came to a head once this was leaked to Mortensen.

According to ESPN, Mortensen has covered the NFL for ESPN since 1991 and covered every Super Bowl since 1979. Outside of anyone at the NFL's own television network or website, he is as connected as any football journalist. So it is no surprise that Mortensen would be connected enough to get this information.

That being said, it is important to ask: is Mortensen being manipulated by the Bucs?

Awful Announcing asks this better than I can.

This is a touchy subject because the ideal we journalists have is to report the truth. Mortensen did this. But in order to report something, journalists need sources. Sources are human and have their own opinions and agendas. Too often, journalists can become ventriloquist dummies used to voice whatever their source wanted out there.

I don't think that was the case with Mortensen because I think Mortensen is too experienced to let that happen to him. I am fearful of that happening with reporters with resumes far less extensive as his. To them here's a simple word of advice: don't let that happen, then you'll end up doing just fine –like Chris Mortensen.