This Tipton Burgoo Needs More Tomatoes

I guess its been a while since the big broo-ha-ha of the Big Blue People vs. Jerry Tipton. Last time, I thought that the sports media should be able to ask whatever questions they want, even if it puts our program in a negative light. I also don't subscribe to the validity of "off-record" sources when you try to call out a journalist.

So let's talk about a few "off-record" things Tipton wrote in his latest notes column. In my opinion, there are two interesting pieces: The quotation of the Ohio State fans, and the publishing of the fax sent by Georgetown Coach Happy Osborne. Read AND DECIDE:

UK fans Joe and Linda Heagen are natives of Morgan County. Although they've lived in Middletown, Ohio, for 40 years, they remain Kentucky basketball fans.

When asked about their favorite football team, Joe paused.

"We like Ohio State football," he said before adding, "You better not put that in the paper."

...

In his pursuit of players, Georgetown Coach Happy Osborne apparently sends faxes to fellow coaches asking for advice or tips.

We know this because he inadvertently sent a fax to the Herald-Leader sports department. He notes Georgetown's loss of a 6-10 post player to injury this pre-season and asks "Dear Coach" to call if he's aware of any available quality players.

In the first piece, we have a man who is quoted "you better not put that in the paper." The Anti-Tiptonites might use this as cannon fodder against the Herald-Leader Journalist. However, I think it was clear that the subject was clearly kidding around, and actually gave Tipton the authorization to use that quote. Standard journalism humor; nothing terrible about it.

The last piece is slightly more perplexing. Let's assume that Tipton contacted Coach Osborne about his fax gaffe, asked if he could write a little something about it, and Coach Osborne approved. Still, why not put some reaction from Coach Osborne about the mistake? As it reads -- I posted the entire text regarding the subject above -- it appears that Tipton has let us on some goofy mistake that is slightly embarrassing to Coach Osborne.

That adds fuel to the fire of the Anti-Tiptonites. They could claim that it was an unprofessional action for a "fair reporter". While I think the LHL doesn't want to be tip-toeing around the Anti-Tiptonites, at the same time, this news item doesn't seem very news-worthy. Honestly, it seems like something that a blog would publish. If I was editing Tipton's copy, I probably would have left this out just to make sure the LHL maintains a good and proper relationship with the Georgetown Sports programs.