Angry Mustang

[PonyGirl]

How long is the Dallas Morning News going to allow its columnists to take potshots at the allegations against SMU 20 years ago? Two weeks ago, when the DMN could have written any of a number of nice pieces on various members of the 1982 team that was honored at halftime of the Navy game, they chose instead to run a column by Tim Cowlishaw in which he said something about "paying tribute to a team that once was just paid" (or something along those lines.) Then, in today's paper, Kevin Blackistone wrote about David Page being a responsible father and bypassing his final year of eligibility to pursue a graduate degree and a very promising career so he can support his wife and child - and all Blackistone could think of to say was that years ago, the Mustangs "could have made a better offer."

The DMN columnists are terrible. Far be it from us to ask these wanna-be journalists to put in more than a one-hour work day and actually cover a team they want to write about. Why should they know anything about the Mustangs just because they're going to write about them? That would take actual work, which these hacks haven't done in years. What they're doing is nothing more than a cop-out. Apparently their editors asked for an SMU column, and this is the throw-away effort they turned in to meet some sort of a quota.

If Cowlishaw and Blackistone feel the urge -- or get assigned -- to write about SMU again, at least have the decency to talk to Rick Alonzo to find out something that's happening with the current team, since they clearly don't want to expend the effort to find out for themselves. Rick is at practice every day, and has done a great job covering this team. If anyone should be given the space to share his opinions about SMU, it should be Rick, not those other two who clearly have no interest or knowledge about our university.

[50's PONY]

Tell the Dallas Morning News -- not us -- we already know it.

[MrMustang1965]

Lump Dale Hansen (WFAA-TV) in there, too. And cancel your subscription to the DMN. You can get it 'online' for free if you want to read it that badly...or maybe you just need something to line the birdcage with or wrap fish with....

[Hoofprint]

Good plan. I like Rick Alonzo, but the paper, overall, is terrible.
Cancelling this morning.

[BornRed&Blue]

AND you might contact SMU, you would think an organization that accepts money from them, DMN all over the scoreboard, would ask for some 'good' press , but maybe for the bucks that DMN forked over, they got the right to say what they want to, kind of still gettig paid, SMU should return their money and stand up to the disrespect they dish out.

[ClassOf81]

I called yesterday afternoon and cancelled my subscription. The lady asked why, and I told them because their sports section seems more interested in mocking SMU than simply covering the school. She asked "what does SMU stand for?"

I thought she was kidding. I decided to forgive her, because she said she'd moved to Dallas only a couple of months ago. But that, to me, was a telling indication of the lack of exposure SMU has in this town.

The lady I talked to, trying to do her job, asked what she could do to try to convince me to retain my subscription. I told her that when the sports staff started covering SMU athletics objectively, I would re-up my subscription. She then tried to sell me on a Sunday-only deal, and I turned that down, too.

I also asked her to pass along my objections to the sports editors, or maybe the top editors of the paper. I told her that there's frequent discussion on this board and the other one about how SMU gets a raw deal from everything Belo-owned -- the Morning News and Channel 8. She didn't know who the editors were, so that was a failed effort.

I encourage everyone to do the same - Cancel.

[MrMustang1965]

Damn. I miss the Dallas Times Herald!

Class of 81: Just for fun...call back and ask for that same operator and give her a 'quiz'. See if she knows what TCU and A&M stand for!

Your phone call must have been priceless! I wish I had a recording of it to send to the DMN as well as the SMU A.D.'s office! Not that it would do any good....

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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!"

[Houston Pony]

It's not the media's job to make chicken salad out of chicken ****e. We had great teams in the early 1980's and we got busted for breaking the law. Did everyone else pay their players: yes. Did everyone else get penalized: no.
But don't crack on the DMN because they don't put SMU above the fold every single morning.
The Ponies have been down and out for the last 15 years, so they aren't as newsworthy as the UT's, the A&M's and the OU's.
So go and bury your head in the sand if you want to, but quit whining.
You embarass the rest of us.

[Dirty Bird]

Houston Pony, you're a real A-hull. I can't believe you call yourself a Mustang after a post like that.
Why don't you go back to the beaches of Port Aransas and bury YOUR head in the sand!

[Pony4Life]

Houston Pony, do you own stock in the Morning News or something?

You pointed out that SMU got in trouble when everyone was cheating, and that SMU got penalized more harshly than others, if they were punished at all.

As for being not as newsworthy: you're right and wrong. On the national scale, you're right - ESPN and Sports Illustrated shouldn't be doing SMU stories when they could be offering their insight on national power programs like Oklahoma, Texas, etc. (Sidenote: Sports Illustrated's best line of the year was in their football preview issue, when they were handicapping the Heisman race, in which they listed the comments of supporters and detractors for each potential Heisman hopeful. When they listed Chris Simms, the "detractor" comment was something like "All legacy, no substance." The "supporter" comment was "Well, it worked for Dubbya." Brilliant stuff.)

But a quick check of the name of the paper suggests that the thing is supposed to cover Dallas. And last time I checked, Austin, College Station and Oklahoma didn't fall within the Dallas city limits, its suburbs or the DFW Metroplex. If the DMN wants to rename itself to be a national newspaper, then they can go with their coverage as is. But the fact remains that SMU is the only Div. I-A university in Dallas, and should be covered like it.

As for your comment about "The Ponies have been down and out for the last 15 years" .... that didn't stop the DMN from chronicling every move Jerry Jones has made while the Cowboys have been on the skids for the last 8-10 years.

From Friday through Sunday, the DMN can push its coverage of national teams when it covers college football, because college football obviously is a huge part of the athletic scope this time of year. But other than that, SMU should be first and foremost among college coverage. The SMU games should be on the front of the sports section every week. There should be features on SMU players and coachs all the time. Leave the daily coverage of those other NON-Dallas teams to the Austin American-Statesman, the Bryan Eagle and the Daily Oklahoman.

[Houston Pony]

Sounds like a great recipe to run a newspaper into the ground.
"Let's put blinders on, and only cover a mediocre football team, because it's the only thing in our area."

[Pony4Life]

Again, Houston, that's been the basis of their NFL coverage since Jimmy Johnson left town. But did you have to defend them then?

The media can play a huge role in HELPING a team or in mocking it. Their coverage of SMU, while better this year, generally has been shameful.

[MrMustang1965]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Houston Pony:
<B>Sounds like a great recipe to run a newspaper into the ground.
"Let's put blinders on, and only cover a mediocre football team, because it's the only thing in our area."</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Houston Pony in Port Aransas: go take another toke off your joint and get back to us when you can act like a REAL Mustang!

I'd love nothing more than to see the DMN run into the ground! At one time it was a GREAT newspaper when it had competition from another GREAT newspaper, the Dallas Times Herald. (Does anyone else remember laughing at Bill McClannahan's SWC cartoons in the Friday sports section of the DMN? Or reading Paul Crume's "Big D" column in the DMN? Blackie Sherrod was, at one time, with the DTH.) Unfortunately, the days of two newspaper towns are over. Same thing in Houston. The Houston Post is gone while the Houston Chronicle is still here. I won't even begin with how bad the Chronicle is! Except I will mention again that during the Chronicle's annual "College Football Tour" this year, it left out two schools: SMU and TCU! It covered all the other major colleges in Texas and even highlighted some Div.1-AA schools as well as schools in Oklahoma! When I called the sports editor and told him that SMU had more players on its team this year from the Greater Houston area than any other city in the state, his response was: "Really? I didn't know that." Great research. What a bunch of hacks.





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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!"

[Bergermeister]

The Star-Telegram may be the last hope. If they ever started printing just a little SMU sports news, I would save the 50 cents I spend on the DMN by buying the Star-Telegram exclusively. As it is now, I buy the Star Telegram for HIGH SCHOOL sports and stories of local interest. I do not read the TCU stuff, but I respect the fact that they support their hometown team. The Dallas News, over the years, has gotten arrogant and lazy and has substituted newsworthy reporting with negativity and cynicism.