Oops

The Texas A&M athletics department has come under fire today. It turns out their football media guide reprinted verbatim some incendiary remarks about Texas Tech and Lubbock that originally appeared in an A&M alumni mag.

It's really a pretty bad gaffe. Official football media guides at most NCAA institutions have become bloated, overblown things, but they are still official university publications, and as such should maintain a certain amount of decorum. A&M blew it.

As I was driving home, I heard Charlie Pallilo and Rich Lord talking about the controversy on the local sportstalk station. Pallilo, who is one of the few good journalists in town, argued it was a mistake, but not the end of the world, which I agree with. And Rich Lord, in true Houston sports journalist fashion, commented that "Nobody reads those things anyway." This coming from a guy in the sportstalk business, and who should read "those things" -- at least for local teams likely to be a topic of conversation. But what should I expect from a guy who went on vacation, and on his first day back got the Astros record wrong and admitted he had no idea what it was? Nothing like a little preparation for the show, eh! Or for the upcoming college football season.

That lack of professionalism tends to afflict many journalists in Houston, actually, not just the sports guys.

[Posted at 21:18 CST on 08/14/02] [Link]