TruePoint wrote:
If he was talking about me, I did think it was unfair to suggest that clearing this guy in particular was an issue when there was nothing specific with respect to this particular guy to indicate it might be an issue. Obviously clearing foreign players is a little more difficult that kids that have been in U.S. schools their whole lives, I was just saying nothing about this particular kid raised any red flags that I know of.
It was you. I think what I wrote was entirely fair given past history. My comment was general in nature and did not cite any specific red flag regarding Akele other than him being a foreigner (which he is).
All I did (see 055-10-15 post below) was write that getting foreign players eligible was sometimes a problem.
RF1 wrote:
Hopefully there will be no clearinghouse issues and he is eligible to play this season. That is sometimes a problem with foreign players.
TP,
I have to side with RF1 here.
You called his comment "baseless speculation". To me this was an "ouch" moment for RF1 to read your remark.
RF1 did not quote anyone, he was simply basing his comment on his basketball knowledge.
It's funny that if Chris Disano or Bill Koch or any of the other tweeters/bloggers had said what RF1 had said months ago, most here would take if for gospel, but when one of our own says it we make him look bad.
Turns out Akele did have to be cleared and now is cleared. Good news for URI. RF1's original hope that there be no Clearinghouse Issues is now answered and personally I think it was a pretty good comment from RF1 that this was something we as fans might want to be concerned with. It wasn't baseless and it wasn't speculation.
Tom98 Post subject: Re: '15 Italian SF - Nicola Akele (URI Commit)PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2015 10:18 pm
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:12 pm
So now it's possible he will have issues getting cleared??
TruePoint Post subject: Re: '15 Italian SF - Nicola Akele (URI Commit)PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2015 10:45 pm
No. RF1 brought it up, but as baseless speculation. There has been nothing reported to indicate he'd have any trouble.
Well, technically ramster everyone has to be cleared. Its just that the clearinghouse can make it difficult for international players sometimes. But point taken. If that is all RF1 was saying then I overreacted and I apologize. But you can see what I was responding to - maybe RF1 was just making a general comment about foreign players and the clearinghouse, but our fans (here Tom98) tend to react to everything like there is a disaster on the horizon and I was trying to avoid that runaway train. So while what RF1 said was not factually inaccurate, it wasn't "news" and at least one poster took it as such. My preference would be for a disclaimer such as "not that there has been anything to suggest Akele will have clearing house trouble, but you never know with foreign players..." to avoid the "oh no, now our new recruit is in trouble!" death spiral that is not actually based on anything, at bottom.
0 x
"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
My reporting on this program is based on things that will happen or have happened. There is no speculating. There is no guessing. There's no room for it. There are only facts. Credibility is all that we have, and it can be undone very, very quickly. It's a different standard for a journalist than there is for posters on a message board. There has to be.
When URI accepts a verbal from and signs a player -- foreign or otherwise -- it's reported that they've accepted a verbal from and signed said player. There are no additional statements on the player's potential eligibility because they're not needed at that time. There is no caveat -- 'hopefully there will be no issues' -- because, at that time, no caveat exists. The immediate conclusion is the staff recruited the player knowing that the player would be accepted to the school and eligible to play. There's only an additional report if/when that becomes uncertain at any point or if the Clearinghouse becomes involved.
From a pure journalistic standpoint, RF1 jumped the gun a bit with his concern. From a message board standpoint, RF1's concern was the sort of thing that fans routinely discuss and think about. It wasn't in any way out of bounds. But sometimes, as TP notes above, just a few dangling words can turn into a bit of a overreaction when none is needed.
Bill Koch wrote:Since my name was brought into this.....
My reporting on this program is based on things that will happen or have happened. There is no speculating. There is no guessing. There's no room for it. There are only facts. Credibility is all that we have, and it can be undone very, very quickly. It's a different standard for a journalist than there is for posters on a message board. There has to be.
When URI accepts a verbal from and signs a player -- foreign or otherwise -- it's reported that they've accepted a verbal from and signed said player. There are no additional statements on the player's potential eligibility because they're not needed at that time. There is no caveat -- 'hopefully there will be no issues' -- because, at that time, no caveat exists. The immediate conclusion is the staff recruited the player knowing that the player would be accepted to the school and eligible to play. There's only an additional report if/when that becomes uncertain at any point or if the Clearinghouse becomes involved.
From a pure journalistic standpoint, RF1 jumped the gun a bit with his concern. From a message board standpoint, RF1's concern was the sort of thing that fans routinely discuss and think about. And sometimes, as TP notes above, that can turn into a bit of a overreaction when none is needed -- which can be a headache for the same fans who are monitoring said discussion.
I am not a journalist nor have I ever represented myself as one.
OK, since you're entered the conversation here,
what's the story about Butts?
Not asking you to betray confidences, but by all accounts,
he's not around Kingston.
Bill Koch wrote:Since my name was brought into this.....
My reporting on this program is based on things that will happen or have happened. There is no speculating. There is no guessing. There's no room for it. There are only facts. Credibility is all that we have, and it can be undone very, very quickly. It's a different standard for a journalist than there is for posters on a message board. There has to be.
When URI accepts a verbal from and signs a player -- foreign or otherwise -- it's reported that they've accepted a verbal from and signed said player. There are no additional statements on the player's potential eligibility because they're not needed at that time. There is no caveat -- 'hopefully there will be no issues' -- because, at that time, no caveat exists. The immediate conclusion is the staff recruited the player knowing that the player would be accepted to the school and eligible to play. There's only an additional report if/when that becomes uncertain at any point or if the Clearinghouse becomes involved.
From a pure journalistic standpoint, RF1 jumped the gun a bit with his concern. From a message board standpoint, RF1's concern was the sort of thing that fans routinely discuss and think about. It wasn't in any way out of bounds. But sometimes, as TP notes above, just a few dangling words can turn into a bit of a overreaction when none is needed.
If only all journalists thought and behaved like this. Thank you for your reporting on the program.
0 x
Take down the Robert Carothers banner and fix the concession stand lines
rodfromcranston wrote:Ah, the question that seems to be ignored by
Chris and Bill.
Rod, are you insinuating that Chris and/or Bill were not working the whole time to get the information on your Butts question, or are you just surprised that to officially report news requires a higher standard of certainty for a respectable media member compared to those of us who comment openly/privately in this forum?
As I wrote in the Butt's thread,
how much speculation about academic standing did we read
by McNamara and others about Rickey Ledo?
Then about Owens this year.
Putting out that a player may not make it for test scores or grades,
whichever the case, is not exactly like state secrets.
If they are reluctant to even speculate in writing, while probably knowing the
real story, that's on them.
If you want to defend this, that's your business.
Alright I've finally reached my limit. I can no longer sit back and bite my tongue, whether people like it or not, I am going to end my self-enforced, shamed sabbatical. That being said, I'd like to apologize for what happened. I trusted a source, that had never done me wrong and even though I am still to this day only 99% sure that I was wrong, I will gladly apologize to everyone for relaying false information about ehem, Mr. Rileys presence on campus last year. I put on my Rhody PJ's, locked myself in my room with a vhs of the 97-98 season highlights and stayed there for 12 months as repentance. That being said, some may like it, most may hate it but periodically I need some Rhody fans to talk to and feed my habit so I will be popping in and out to hopefully relay some good info this time.
That being said I wanted to give everybody an update on my new favorite Ram, because trust me he will soon be yours too.
Nico is going to become a force in this league and everyone is very excited about the athleticism and versatility he brings. We all know that Nico was away for the summer but he played really well at the Euro Under20s. During his first two games he barely played, just 13 minutes combined. However once given real playing time he excelled. He measured out at 6'7.5, with the length of somebody that's 7'1. His length is a massive asset to his game and he will grow into yet another plus defender for Hurley to deploy. In his final 7 games of the tournament, playing against top-flight competition, Akele posted averages of: 24.4MPG 5.7PPG 5.4RPG 1.2BPG 2.4SPG and he was listed as a guard for an Italian team that had lots of height. The kid has springs in his feet and a quick first step for his size, but his length is his biggest asset. He's been playing International ball since 2012 so he brings a lot of experience along with his versatility. I have always thought the best defenders are the ones posting the highest amount of deflections and touches whether the ball is stolen or blocked or not and ya'll should be excited because Akele is one of those guys. He's that dude.
So yea basically I expect him to be along the same lines of Christion, by mid season, I expect them to be pushing the elder statesmen in front of them in the rotation for whatever available minutes are left over from our core 4 plus kuran.
