Watkins article in DMN

[Hoop Fan]

Since SMU won, its not as whiny i hope, but has anybody else gone from really liking Calvin Watkins coverage of SMU to thinking the guy is just looking to pile on? The tone of the article today was just really unusual. The headline of the article was something about how impossible winning the WAC and going to the NCAA was. No crap? I didn't see any articles about TCUs tourney chances set up in that negative tone. The article also had a quote from Isham about just turning around all the close games, but then Watkins shoots him down by responding that the reality is the record is 11-17 or somesuch. The icing was at the end when Watkins stated how easy beating Tulsa should be and how unlikely beating Nevada was since they have swept the series. Wrong, how bout a fact check Calvin? SMU beat Nevada at Moody, he was probably there. Anyway, the whole tone of the article seemed unnecessarily critical. SMU just fired its coach for godsake and this guy is acting like we are all expecting an NCAA tournament run now.

[angryfan04]

Watkins doesn't know the first thing about college basketball; it has been obvious all season long.

[Vitale]

Watkins is the paper's boxing writer, and if the Ponies ever get in a fistfight, I'm sure he'll give a great account of it. But his hoops coverage is thin. And he doesn't seem to know the school has any other sports outside of basketball and football. Did he ever attend a soccer game? A swimming and diving meet? A tennis match? Doubt it.

I don't think he does much as far as coming up with stories. But as a writer, I think he's pretty good.

[The Falcon]

He doesn't know a basketball from a watermelon.

His article about the UTEP game at Moody a week ago said we were
in a man to man defense much of the game. I posted earlier that
I am well versed in zone defenses and we were in one or the other
of them for 95% of the game. We never went straight man to man
as he reported.

He is a disgrace.

Almost all artricles in the DMN take a slap at SMU and are framed in
a negative stance. It has been that way for a couple of years.
I am hoping that someday we can get someone who is truly interested
in SMU to write about us - Come on some of you journalism majors
get down to the News and apply.

Nice job last night Mustangs. You can beat Nevada - you've already
done it once and the game at Reno was close most of the way. So
go after the Pack.

[DickerJames]

That was definetly Calvins worst article of the year and I sent him an e-mail correcting his Nevada mistake, but personally I have enjoyed his coverage. I'm sure being assigned the SMU beat is akin to drawing the short straw at the DMN, and I think Calvin is by far the best we have had since our homeboy Keith had the assignment. I don't think he has ever used "death penalty" in his writing, and I liked the way he told the truth about the some of the problems on the court with Dement this year.

[Dooby]

Go easy on Watkins. I don't really understand the complaints. He does his job. Covering SMU is not an easy beat these days. If you want positive press, read smumustangs.com.

BTW, I know for a fact that he reads this site from time to time.

Hi, Calvin!

[The Falcon]

I was probably too harsh on Calvin in my post above. We have had more coverage since he has been on the beat. He may not even write some of the negative headlines.

I'm not going back to research the kind of thing that I'm talking about but the gist of the matter is sometimes an article will be slanted to the team
we beat in a positive manner and be negative on us by emphsizing what
we did wrong instead of what we did right to win. Some of the headlines
read (a ficticious example) "UTEP Blasts Mustangs" when in fact within
the last 2 minutes of the game - we had a chance to pull within 3 when our shot rimmed out. or "SMU Slips by Texas Tech" instead of saying something more positive like - "SMU Beats Top 25 Tech"

Anyway, Calvin - we Mustangs do appreciate the increased coverage
that you have given us - One thing I would like to see you do more of
is to publish human interest stories about our players more frequently.
Many of them have great stories with personal interest for the readers,
and I don't see much of that.

I still don't think Calvin can differentiate between a 2-1-2 or a 2-3 or a
1-3-1 or a matchup zone or a 1-3-1 zone trap or man to man or pressing man to man or switching man to man. The radio people don't do much better in that regard.

Forget all of my [deleted] above. We won last night and that erases some
of the negatives. Thanks Mustangs for a very enjoyable radio night - wish I could have been there.

[The PonyGrad]

Actually I find the coverage to be much more frequent and much more positive over the last year than the prior decade or more. It seems to me that there has been a lot of attitude adjustments going on. FWIW

[Hoop Fan]

its not something I want to harp on, but I just dont see it Ponygrad. I like Watkins for the most part and don't expect any news source to be a cheerleader. Even so, I see a negative slant to all of our headlines like somebody else said above. Its subtle, but noticeable especially when you compare with how the other schools slant. For instance, the UNT bureau writer Macmahon I think puts a generally positive slant on UNT basketball and they have been terrible for years.

[The PonyGrad]

Perhaps it is because I recall how bad it was and because I do not read the other articles about other schools typically.

[PonyPride]

I know Calvin, since we cover a lot of the same games/events. I think some people aren't giving him a fair shake here. Calvin is a very good writer, and a very good reporter. Since I've been around SMU, the DMN has not had a better reporter covering the Ponies. He doesn't get to write as many stories as PonyFans might like, but rest assured that's not because of any dislike for the school on his part. His editors determine how much space he gets, and within reason, they decide what he's going to write. There might be an athlete in an Olympic sport who merits a story because of stellar performance, but given the amount of space available, the editors almost invariably will want a football or basketball story first, since those are the two sports that are attended the most. Trust me, Calvin has done tons of legwork behind the scenes on the coaching search, and has built good relationships with the athletic staff at SMU. Sometimes he has to write what might appear to be a harsh story, but generally, it's harsh because it's true. He doesn't want to bash SMU and he doesn't want to appear to be a cheerleader (check out his articles on the Mustangs against the Aggie articles in the Bryan Eagle or the Longhorn articles in the Austin American-Statesman -- his objectivity blows them away.) I've always found him to be very professional and thorough. I, for one, like his coverage. I'll always want to see more, but that decision is out of his hands.

[Dooby]

Watkins is the paper's boxing writer, and if the Ponies ever get in a fistfight, I'm sure he'll give a great account of it. But his hoops coverage is thin. And he doesn't seem to know the school has any other sports outside of basketball and football. Did he ever attend a soccer game? A swimming and diving meet? A tennis match? Doubt it.

I don't think he does much as far as coming up with stories. But as a writer, I think he's pretty good.

Watkins did a nice fluff piece on Georgina Lee in today's paper. Are you happy?

I keep telling you that Watkins is all right. If SMU would give him something good to write about (i.e. wins), he do a story.