Former Indiana Hoosier and current radio host Dan Dakich and the Kentucky fan are like oil and water. He just seems to be one of those guys that the Big Blue Nation does not hold too dearly to its heart. He appeared on Kentucky Sports Radio in December 2011 around the time of the IU-UK game in Bloomington, and
what Matt Jones had to say afterward about Dakitch painted a strange picture.
It was his bizarrely defensive stance and ramblings about a possible upset in the game that really threw the show for a loop.
He worsened his terms with Kentucky fans after going on his own show last September, claiming he heard from a “reliable source” that 2014 decomitted Indiana recruit
Trey Lyles took a visit to Lexington before officially re-opening the recruiting process during a dead period — an NCAA violation. Of course nothing came from it, and
Lyles and his father dismissed the claims, calling it “ridiculous” and “dumb.”
Well, it seems Dakich has hit a new low. He has a habit of bashing media members on his show for a variety of reasons, all in a generalized form. But it is seems supremely ironic that
he fails to realize that he too, is a member of the very group he so routinely pokes at, based on the fact he has his own radio program and has experience as a television commentator. The victim in this story was simply bringing that fact to the forefront.
Tony Adragna is a recent graduate of Indiana University’s Sports Communication program. He aspires to be in the sports broadcasting industry. He, like many Indiana Hoosier fans, enjoy Dakich’s commentary on the radio. Listening Wednesday afternoon, Dakich went on a tirade attacking the media, according to Adragna. Puzzled why this continues to happen, he tweeted the following.
A seemingly innocent comment, no? What's more, he did not tweet @ Dakich, which might signal a higher degree of malicious intent, if that were the case. Regardless, Dakich took it the wrong way and he went off the deep end…
Wanting to clarify his original message, Adragna sent Dakich a well-written email that thoroughly expressed his intent.
Hey Dan,
I wasn’t bad-mouthing you on Twitter at all. I was just pointing out that you work for 1070 The Fan as an on-air personality and continue to generalize the word “media members.” There are so many different members of the media, yet it seemed to me that you generalized them all into one category, which I think you fall into.
However, with that said, I enjoy your show, I’m an avid listener, and I’ve recommended your show to multiple people over the course of the last couple of years. I, too, think there are members of the media that are absolute idiots, and I don’t think you fall into that category.
I appreciate you taking time to read my e-mail. I don’t really appreciate you letting all of DD-Nation know I’m just another unemployed college grad, but I set myself up for that one by tweeting it.
Take care.
All of the sudden,
Dakich went full blown child mode.
Oddly enough, at the end of that segment, Dakich said “it’s exhausting, this media stuff…” seemingly admitting he is, in fact, involved in media. The controversy flared up on Twitter, and Dakich had more to say on his show regarding Adranga’s original tweet, including
threatening the college grad’s career before it has even begun. It makes less and less sense the more it goes, and the weirdest thing has yet to come… Dakich has since invited Adranga to co-host his show next week.
So to summarize: Dakich took a minor bit of criticism the wrong way, calls out a kid and threatens his career, sees a blog post and backlash coming his way, and invites him on the show because he has “sack.”
Who knows if the invite is a backtrack move after being called out by fellow media members, or if it is even a move in good faith? To play devil’s advocate, perhaps Dakich is simply setting up a trap. Unfortunately, seeing how this entire situation transpired, you can’t put the latter past him.
Check out
Adragna’s entire blog post to see the full timeline and
hear more audio clips of Dakich embarrassing himself. It’s just beyond strange for Dakich to act so defensive at seemingly nothing.
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