Rob Bromley's Thursday News and Views

It must strike long-time readers of the blog as odd that our morning post is highlighted by a tribute this Thursday to Rob Bromley. For as many of you know, Rob is most often mentioned on this site as the guy who gives the least informative "inside the huddle" reports that are imaginable by a person with actual access to a huddle. Thus the notion of honoring Rob as our morning lead-in would strike many of you who know our vision here as a bit off-kilter. But after the events of Tuesday, how could we do anything else. For on Tuesday, Rob took journalism to a new high. Basing a report solely on internet speculation that existed by message board posters and a website that no one had heard of, Bromley reported via the WKYT website, that a UK player had been admitted to the hospital with the potential for a serious heart condition. Rob was the first major news reporter to get the scoop and gave out the information quickly and impressively. And you know what was the best about the report? Not one lick of it was true. As it turns out, contrary to the internet speculation and the Bromley report, Patterson simply had an upper respiratory virus, never had any heart tests done on him and will be back practicing with the team tomorrow. UK confirmed all of the above information soon after the Bromley report and the other major news sites (aka every news organization, television station and major website) was shown to be correct in reporting nothing on the "story" that turned out not to exist. Thus we commend Rob on beating the entire Kentucky news media on the story that did not exist. And the lessons of Tuesday are some that we should all look into a bit. While internet reports are often criticized as being not "official" enough or not having to "follow the rules of journalism," the major internet sites (Wildcat Nation, Cats Pause, Kentucky Sports Report and this site) deleted all references to the Patterson rumor and made no comment or report until the story could be followed up upon by the school. The reason why was more than clear. When dealing with a UK player's personal health, it made sense to wait and get something official.....especially when the rumors being circulated dealt with a health condition that could be serious. Because of privacy concerns, getting out an 18 year old's health status to the masses takes a back seat to the information being correct....and thus TCP, KSR and Kentucky Sports Radio did nothing. But Bromley, a major news anchor and a member of the "mainstream media" went with the rumor....citing an internet report.....and it turned out to be completely false. Hey we all make mistakes. Another news station reported as a "done deal" an agreement between Billy Donovan and UK....a reality that didnt obviously come to fruition. Internet sites, including this one, make mistakes all the time in trying to get the newest recruiting information. But to make a mistake such as this....when dealing with a kid's health....well, I think it deserves a special mention. It is one thing for a newspaper reporter to say a certain kid is visiting a school, only to have him not or for any number of reporters to guess as to where a player will go to school, only to be wrong.....but to wrongly report a kid is having heart troubles based on internet speculation.....well thats a special level of incorrectness and deserves a special Thursday morning shout-out. As a matter of fact, it was so blatantly wrong, you would have thought Bromley found it out "inside the huddle." To the news...... (1) Tonight on Kentucky Sports Radio, we had interviews with Kentucky football recruits Aaron Boyd and Winston Guy, two friends both considering joining the Big Blue. Both interviews will be up this afternoon sometime, and they both contained positive information for Kentucky fans. Boyd talked about the comfort level he has felt with the Kentucky team and told us that he has attended almost every home game this season for the Big Blue. He mentioned that his biggest concern is finding a school that is set with a strong quarterback, and that this is one of the things he is watching for UK. Winston Guy told us that at this point he is down to Kentucky and Arkansas, but admitted he was having "second thoughts" about his original commitment to the Hogs. Both guys sounded MUCH more enthusiastic about the Cats than at earlier times when Rob and I have talked to them in the past and you should check out both interviews. (2) SEC Media Days got going today with the focus on Bruce Pearl and Tennessee. The Vols are the favorites in the conference this year and Pearl relished the stage as the talking head for the conference. He spoke on a number of subjects, including how good Patrick Patterson will be, how he perceives a lack of respect for the Tennessee program and how he thinks UT should be on television nationally much more than they are. I continue to get the opinion that Bruce Pearl sees his method for elevating Tennessee basketball to begin by elevating himself as the major personality of the program and the SEC. Pearl continues to sell himself as a media star, including the use of the famous orange coat and the shirtless trip to the women's game last year. I dont think this is a bad method at all and is likely the best chance for UT basketball to be placed on the map nationally. However in so doing, Pearl alienates a lot of other basketball types who whisper about him behind his back. Ultimately, Pearl has done a great deal in making UT a formidable program and a team that can recruit and play at a high national level. He is however one big game or performance away from truly hitting the relevance he seeks. This is the year for it to happen.....it is an open question whether it will. (3) Antoine Walker was traded today to Minnesota in a deal that can only be seen by him as a complete dumping of his contract, weight and attitude by a contender to a team that will simply keep him in order to have his contract end sometime in the future and get off the cap. In the NBA, Walker has been both a success and a huge disappointment. He at times has been a great player, especially early on in Boston.....and at times he has been a good role contributor....such as on the Heat championship team. But he has had attitude issues, has allowed his weight to balloon often and has become fat and slow....not a good combo for an NBA player. Walker is an oddity to me.....I love every Kentucky player in the NBA, including guys whose attitude I didnt like such as Rondo, but I have no love for Walker. There is something about him that simply irks me. I do love his little shoulder shimmy, but he is a hard guy to root for....hopefully he turns it around in Minnesota, but I dont expect it. (4) Kentucky Media Day at the SEC event is today. We obviously arent there live in large part because I am getting sworn in as a member of the Kentucky Bar today. Thus we will give the reports released from the SEC as they come in. Any news that breaks, we will let you know, but we will not be doing a live blog as I will be in Frankfort taking the lawyer's oath. Finally, go read the Joe Crawford Player preview....its money....Until later today.......