I wasn't going to write about the NCAA sanctions at all. As a matter of fact, this post isn't really even about the sanctions. It is about how one local Florida newspaper decided to cover the NCAA's decision against Florida State in a very biased manner.
This past weekend I was out of town visiting family in Melbourne, Florida. Admittedly, Melbourne is more than slightly pro-Gator and quite a bit anti-Seminole. Always has been, probably always will be.
(Useless fact: Eau Gallie, a community now part of Melbourne, was an original proposed location for UF.)
Usually leading the charge in Melbourne for all things UF and against all things Florida State is the Florida Today, the local newspaper, and more specifically columnist Peter Kerasotis, an unapologetic Gator alumnus.
(Background on Kerasotis: Will Leitch of Deadspin.com once wrote Kerasotis has an "obvious, pronounced man-crush on Steve Spurrier" and "a love for deconstructing college football offenses, which he does so poorly that even Pop Warner youth football players write in to tell him where he went wrong". Other bloggers have called him a "liar" and "the worst columnist in America" (by a Gator fan no less!). )
So of course, when I opened the paper Sunday morning, who had the only write-up on the NCAA sanctions? You guessed it, Kerasotis. And of course it wasn't an actual article, it was his column.
The print version of the Florida Today sports section contained no actual article on the sanctions (there is an article by Steve Ellis online). In print, there were no quotes from the FSU athletic department, no informing the reading public about the sanctions, and no attempt at an un-biased approach at one of the worst NCAA decisions Florida State has ever faced. Just a small blurb on the details of the punishment and good ol' Pete Kerasotis and his typical sarcastic Nole bashing.
I thought the fourth estate was supposed to be unbiased in its coverage of the news.
No wonder the newspaper industry is dying. In the case of the Florida Today and Peter Kerasotis, the end can't come soon enough.
(Disclaimer: I have had my complaints with the Florida Today sports section before. It seems every time I visit Melbourne I find something else in that paper that tweaks my melon.)
This past weekend I was out of town visiting family in Melbourne, Florida. Admittedly, Melbourne is more than slightly pro-Gator and quite a bit anti-Seminole. Always has been, probably always will be.
(Useless fact: Eau Gallie, a community now part of Melbourne, was an original proposed location for UF.)
Usually leading the charge in Melbourne for all things UF and against all things Florida State is the Florida Today, the local newspaper, and more specifically columnist Peter Kerasotis, an unapologetic Gator alumnus.
(Background on Kerasotis: Will Leitch of Deadspin.com once wrote Kerasotis has an "obvious, pronounced man-crush on Steve Spurrier" and "a love for deconstructing college football offenses, which he does so poorly that even Pop Warner youth football players write in to tell him where he went wrong". Other bloggers have called him a "liar" and "the worst columnist in America" (by a Gator fan no less!). )
So of course, when I opened the paper Sunday morning, who had the only write-up on the NCAA sanctions? You guessed it, Kerasotis. And of course it wasn't an actual article, it was his column.
The print version of the Florida Today sports section contained no actual article on the sanctions (there is an article by Steve Ellis online). In print, there were no quotes from the FSU athletic department, no informing the reading public about the sanctions, and no attempt at an un-biased approach at one of the worst NCAA decisions Florida State has ever faced. Just a small blurb on the details of the punishment and good ol' Pete Kerasotis and his typical sarcastic Nole bashing.
I thought the fourth estate was supposed to be unbiased in its coverage of the news.
No wonder the newspaper industry is dying. In the case of the Florida Today and Peter Kerasotis, the end can't come soon enough.
(Disclaimer: I have had my complaints with the Florida Today sports section before. It seems every time I visit Melbourne I find something else in that paper that tweaks my melon.)
