Tom Davis Just Doesn't Fucking Get It

Day 3 of the Tom Davis shitshow is upon us.

Since I last posted yesterday, Tom has continued to express his disbelief about how his "simple tweet" could cause such a stir.(Actually, Tom, it's several tweets, and they're just not that simple).

Judging from his timeline, he's "endured" a rather unpleasant experience since he told not 1 but 2 committed/signed high school basketball players where to play on Saturday, people have contacted his boss about having him fired, and he generally just doesn't understand what could be so wrong with sending a "tweet" to high school boys.

Ethics In Journalism and NCAA Violations: What They Don't Teach You At Butler

Most sports editors are well-versed in sports and writing. 

They are also supposed to be skilled in other journalistic matters such as objectivity, ethics, and, perhaps, those pesky little issues surrounding prospective NCAA student-athletes.

Enter Tom Davis, Sports Editor at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

Last night, during the IHSAA 4A title game, our guy Tom (a proud Butler alum) decided to Tweet 2013 commit Colin Hartman about his choice in colleges.

Did I mention Tom is a Butler alum and the sports editor at the News-Sentinel? Because I spent the better part of my drive back home thinking about how someone in his position could be so stupid. It's just crazy stupid, right?

Thus, I woke up this morning fully expecting to see that Tom had either deleted his Tweet or, at the very least, apologized for it.

Well, I guess I just don't know Tom, because this is how he responded.

So, I guess that's one way to respond to sticking your foot in your mouth....by pushing it even deeper til it starts coming out your ass.

The guy had every chance to come up with some excuse, any excuse, to justify his unprofessional (and possibly NCAA infringing) comments: my teen-aged daughter hacked my account, I was drinking on prescription meds, I have mild Tourette Syndrome, anything! 

Nah. Tom decided to discount the impact of his comments and then went on to patronize the offended IU fans.

I probably wouldn't have taken that approach. His timeline today supports this conclusion (and explains his recent silence).

And just when you thought the tomfoolery had reached its peak, I happened to see Colin wasn't the only committed recruit to which Tom offered up his advice to yesterday:

The @Crisman01 would be Joe Crisman, a senior shooting guard from Munster who's currently committed signed to Loyla (IL).  

The @CoachDaneFife, well, you probably know who he is already. That'd be the same Coach Dane Fife of the IPFW Mastodons Men's Basketball team...the hometown college team covered by Tom Davis' Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

So, yeah, there's a pattern emerging about Tom's eagerness to advise high school boys on where to play basketball, preferably at teams in which Tom Davis has a vested interest in.

Something tells me this whole thing doesn't turn out too well for poor Tom.

At best, his comments were highly unprofessional and thoroughly indefensible from a member of the print media, no less an editor. At worst, they constitute NCAA infractions and could cost him his job, possibly editorial career.

As always, I welcome your comments and insights, but I'm going to take a stab and say you'd probably rather direct them towards the people to which Mr. Davis is accountable.

Let me help you out with that:

Kerry Hubartt, Editor, The News-Sentinel, 260-461-8239, khubartt@news-sentinel.com

Michael Christman, Fort Wayne Newspapers CEO & President, 260-461-8324, mchristman@fwn.fortwayne.com

P.S.  I told you, Tom. You were warned about #TheMovement.

Step to the Movement

As I prepare to make my hoops pilgrimage to the IHSAA State Finals, I'm wishing I'd have made a shirt to rep #TheMovement today.

Tom Crean's Pimp Hand Remains Strong

Liger Blood: It Fuels The Movement

Consider Yourself Warned

#TheMovement Is Building...



To all my little Jeremaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong. -Tom Crean



All Aboard!

Well, what do you know? It's March, and Petey's talking some shit with IU left out of the big dance for the 3rd straight year.

But for all the smack coming from W. Laffatthat about Purdue's recent success and IU's "dusty banners," let's take just a brief look at Purdue's NCAA tournament history before the Fail Train leaves the station later tonight:

• Purdue remains tied for the nation's longest NCAA Men's Basketball Championship draught: 71 yrs & counting.
• Purdue is tied for 8th place among teams with the most NCAA appearances without a championship: 24 tournament appearances.
• It's been 42 years since the Boilermakers' only national championship appearance in 1969- a loss, of course.
• Purdue has made it to the Final Four only twice, most recently in 1980. Since that time, IU has made twice as many Final Four appearances and won 2 national championships.
• The black & gold have 20% less Elite 8 appearances (4) than IU has national championships (5); IU has 11 Elite 8 appearances.
• The Boilers have 9 Sweet 16 appearances compared to IU's 19.
• JaJuan Johnson is Purdue's 24th All American. IU has produced 75% more All Americans (42).
• JJ also marks Purdue's 3rd Big 10 POY. IU has produced that many in the last decade (Haston, Jeffries, and White) and 600% more B1G POY's overall (18).
• By the time Purdue made its 1st NCAA tournament appearance (1969), IU had already won 2 championships.
• As tumultuous as the past decade has been for the Hoosiers, IU and Purdue have both been to the big dance 7 times each since 2000.

So, there's a little statistical perspective about Purdue's tournament success (or lacktherof). Nonetheless, there's still plenty of room available on the Fail Train before its traditional March derailment, sign up below.

Boiler Application

We'll see you fuckers next year. #BannersBitches

Chronic's March Sadness Bracket Challenge

Just because the Season on the Drink has come to an end doesn't mean the party is over.

It's March in Bloomington and that can only mean 2 things: watching basketball & drinking. 

I like basketball & drinking. I'm guessing you do, too.

Thus, I've created the IU March Sadness Bracket Challenge to help facilitate a more enjoyable Hoosier-less tournament experience.

The rules are simple:
1)Visit ESPN's Tournament Challenge page: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/frontpage
2) Register & enter group name: "IU March Sadness"
3) Password: "Tijan"
4)Complete & save your bracket
5)Winner receives an autographed bottle of the Nectar of the Gods at the completion of the tournament*.
*Winner must verify legal drinking age to receive the goodness (otherwise minors receive cash equivalent) and live within the continental US (I'm not spending $30 to ship a $20 bottle to Tokyo- as badly as it might be needed now).

Good luck. 

Chronic's Cocktail Hour with Dustin, Hugh, Greg, & Nathan

What happens when you take four respected members of the IU basketball beat, tuck them in a back room at Yogi's Bar & Grill, and allow me to force alcohol and IU hoops conversation upon them?

This edition of Chronic's Cocktail Hour is what happens.

Now, what happens when you entrust me to properly record and preserve said conversation?

Well.....maybe the first 30 minutes of audio disappear when my piece of shit recorder times-out without auto-saving fucking happens. Oh. Shit. (Sorry, guys.)

So, whaddya miss? Some really good stuff, unfortunately. The HT's Dustin Dopirak & Hugh Kellenberger, the IDS' Greg Rosenstein & Nathan Hart, and I discussed what this team is lacking (trust/leadership/toughness/effort/accountability) and whether and how IU gets it back.

The recorded portion of the conversation picks up as Nathan concludes, and Hugh continues, speaking about Crean holding players accountable with playing time.

Voices in order of appearance: N. Hart, H. Kellenberger, C. Hoosier, G Rosenstein, D. Dopirak.

So, yeah. I'm the worst podcast engineer ever. Proven it. Twice now. (I blame none of this on Jameson.)

Everything else I blame on trust and accountability. Cheers, bitches.