Bahaha, another Stater to cover Pitt at the PG.
- Thread starter TIGER-PAUL
- Start date
Yeah, but it isnt apples to apples. If a Pitt guy criticizes Pitt then it is coming from a real place. When the ups guys write constant cynical articles, reference ups, backhanded compliments, it just takes away from the essence of being a fan of a sports team. We all just want to enjoy the game, hear some good stories and positive articles on why we should look forward to future years, and just build support in the community. Having these writers, and it has always happened in the main stream Pittsburgh media, definitely puts a downer on the program. I am sure this is intentional, and spiteful. Look up communication schools... psu is not in the top echelon. There really is no reason to have so many rivals as our beat writers. Look at centre valley or whatever it is called, they hire state penn grads. It is just common sense. Create a buzz, get the fan base jazzed and they will buy more papers, click more stories. They allow their own cult fandom to not reach this goal
Posted this on the pay board thread but figured I'd share some nice tweets from our "non-biased media" here too:
Wow. I forgot about Rob Biertempfel. I can't even remember why he blocked me.
To be fair though, not even the nitters out there hate Pitt as much as Smizik did. To him he considered it a badge of honor that he could constantly rip on his alma mater, because that proved (to him anyway) that he was an objective journalist.
#unrivalvedPosted this on the pay board thread but figured I'd share some nice tweets from our "non-biased media" here too:
Homerism isn't warranted, if there's bad news, it needs reported as such. But what you describe is absolutely what they do. Anyone in denial must have a PSU wife they're afraid of, or mentally dense.
Every school or entity has its share of jerkasses ... perhaps I'd be labeled one of Pitt's. And there are 'good' PSU people, I've met a couple (but that's all, just a couple). However, the significant majority of them are insufferable scum. Most thought child rape was perfectly fine because a PSU football hero did it. All anyone needed to know.
I don't think realistic criticism bothers most of the fan base. But some of these cretins revel in Pitt's failures. The program deserves someone who is at least able to take an honest approach and not just fill column inches until they get their dream job at the Altoona Mirror.
Why wouldn’t they just put Paul Zeise or Brian Batko on the Pitt beat?
I don't think a lot of guys see the PG or any other print publication as a premium gig anymore.
A hoopie with a PM radio show on ESPN Radio. Doubt it gets much listener-ship. I've really only heard of him because he filled in for Madden a few times... trying not to be biased realizing he's such a WVU fanboy, I thought he was pretty bad.
They have graduated from such duties. College beat writer is basically the lowest job on the sportswriting totem pole - no problem with that.
Hiring a Nitter for the Pitt beat is the issue, the but PG probably just wanted to hire the Nitter for the staff in general and he had to start at the bottom. On the plus side, they will probably move him up to a better gig in a year or two, probably fairly fast since he is a brother Nitter.
Paul: The “controversy” among Pitt fans with regards to the Post-Gazette’s new beat reporter (John McGonigal) and his alma mater (Penn State) is the most Black Helicopter-level Pitt fan conspiracy theory ever. First off, Jerry Micco, the “Penn State fan head of department” hasn’t been the head of our sports department in at least five years, and in fact we’ve already replaced the guy who replaced him. Our new boss is Tyler Batiste, an LSU grad from New Orleans, who I am quite sure has no dog in this fight. He hired John because John does and will do good work. Yes, I get it, the one PSU fan beat reporter a few years back did things to intentionally troll Pitt (like wear his Penn State coat to practice), but I think you all should give John a chance before you start the “go back to crappy valley” chants at him. In short, do better Pitt fans — much better.
This is from Paul Zeise today. Do folks think he has an anti-Pitt agenda?
No, we see this for what he's really being...a ween-slurping toady to his bosses. It's smart to do for him in this town, can't blame him. But it's BS. The dude even admitted the anti-Pitt bias of the last guy with the same credentials. His blather does nothing more than redeem the suspicion. "Yeah, all the previous others openly hated your school and gave you garbage biased coverage, but don't worry, THIS guy will be DIFFERENT."
Why does the customer have to be "better" than the product and producers being sold to them? The opposite is true, actually. Were PSU readers told to "be better", specifically to face the harsh reality that their program was (is) infested with despicable, satanic rapists?
No, they got fluff, they got aholes Cook and Smizik proclaiming PSU did nothing wrong (despite near universal clamoring of the opposite). And despite having a 24x7 beat reporter stationed directly in state- college, he never broke or even adequately covered the scandal. Because PSU readers and the editor demand that obedience. Is that being "better"? No that's merely being "larger".
And they can move Micco around to whatever different office they want, but the stench from his role (and those of his minions) in covering up the Sandusky-Paterno-Bradley child rapes will always follow.
This response is evidence of the conspiracy theory that he refers to.
Zeise is saying "be better" because this guy will be one of a half-dozen other reporters that show up to the Monday press conference with him and has to eat out of the same buffet line on game day. It's a matter of Zeise's convenience. Yeah, the new guy gets a chance to prove us wrong but there's almost no reason to assume he'll be better given the history.
His admission of past guilt of Pitt beat writers with PSU association doomed his feeble argument.
Back away from the keyboard... you've lost this thread.
Smizik was fair... he was a douche to every pittsburgh team period.
There was no bias in his Pitt reporting at all. That cant be said for 80% of the other reporters, and even Pitt beat writers.
Smizik is over in the same category as Madden. Both believe they're just smarter than anyone who consumes their garbage. Just a shtick.
That's all ok ... negativity is fair if the facts warrant ... but it wasn't ok after he got unhinged with the defense of Paterno and Sandusky. Same with Cook. On and on they were allowed to spew: PSU filled its obligations, Paterno did nothing wrong, the Nebraska game "healed everything," on and on. Hey, freedom of the press, huzzah. But in the face of the irrefutable facts of the scandal and the gravity of the crimes (boy rapes, and a totally black and white case), how horrifying.
The PG never got another dime from me or my family after that era (and I exclusively listen to the Fan solely when necessary for Pitt games, never any other time, and never ever when ahole Cook is on).
So hey, let em hire whoever they want to cover Pitt. Hire freaking Sandusky to write Pitt opeds from his country club jail cell, for all I care. Paul Z (who I actually think is a trip normally, though he's an embarrassing sycophant in this case) can proofread it. FrankieB here can up his PG subscription in admiration of the "openmindedness". I'm not a customer so no skin off my tail.
Honestly Smizik just seemed to be a contrarian... he just was a bastard. I actually thought his writing was great, just was a negative dude.
Smizik was one, and perhaps even the first, of the breed of Pittsburgh sports writers/personalities who didn't/doesn't actually like sports all that much. And the fact that they have to write about something that they don't actually like makes them miserable. So they look for every cloud surrounding any silver linings. John Steigerwald didn't start that way, but he "caught the bug" two or three decades ago and filled that space pretty well until he ended up working for outlets that no one reads/hears or cares about.
Rob Rossi (a hoopie, but someone who doesn’t really seem to comment much on college sports) is like this too, believe he’s said as much. And he gets dragged around a lot too for his silly hockey takes.
Yeah, he's another one. There was another guy (whose name escapes me at the moment) who was around a while ago who wrote at different times for both the PG and the Trib who was the same way.
