Media bias, continued – plus pick

I probably overreacted yesterday, but when you remove yourself personally and just look at it, it’s natural to see coverage slanted towards the cash cow on Montlake. I mean you think about it, who is their audience? It’s only natural to think that, even subconsciously, they are going to slant their coverage towards their subscription base, and that is Seattle/UW all the way.

But, I guess my point should have been this – to go out of their way to pick and choose parts of an article that omits something positive towards WSU? When it’s becoming a known fact that UW top-tier donors and alums are quite uncomfortable with the idea of WSU creating an intimate, 44,000 seat football experience vs. their stadium issue that is going to be a long, tough sell to renovate or rebuild, and not until 2010, at best, if not later? They are worried, there is no doubt, and like I was told the other day, the last thing they need or WANT in their rebuilding efforts is to see us rise up with a first-class facility in a great college town, and get it done before they ever start. Positive pub on our stadium plans is bad news for them, and they know it.

I know we get the Go2Guy as the mouthpiece, but he’s not taken seriously. 99% of all UW fans skip his column, and even 50% of all Cougs probably don’t even read him. It’s the notebooks, the feature columns leading up to the rivalry game, that’s when most fans will read what’s going on. And to purposely omit that stuff, THIS WEEK, is a HUGE, biased move!

I’ll never forget Thiel and Lizard Face after the ’94 game. But, that was 10+ years ago. Lizard Face did color commentary on our broadcasts back then, but now? UW is the flagship of KJR and has been the last 4+ years. Meanwhile, Thiel loves to kick sick puppies when they are down. Pointing out who sucks and why, and bursting balloons and boosting the negative feeling in dreary Seattle is his favorite past-time.

And I’ll tell you, KJR is all but unlistenable at this point. It’s HORRIBLE. I listen maybe 5-10 minutes a week, at most, at very random times when I just want an update, but the whole thing is pure garbage/UW propaganda. It’s amazing what happens when you become a flagship station and how slanted coverage can get. Back in the days of the sportsbabe and all that, before they were the flagship, they used to take shots at UW all the time. Now it’s like 90% of their content is huge advertising for all things UW. I’m not joking, but to listen during football season is a complete joke.

Typical week.
Monday: Talk about how the game went wrong and if UW would have made a couple more plays, they would have “been in it.” I listened on my lunch break after they were embarrassed 56-17 against Cal, and to hear them try and spin it that they were in that game, and if they could have tackled better, played more sound football, etc, they could have won. What a JOKE!

Tuesday: Lament how Neuheisel destroyed the program with poor recruiting, lack of quality lineman, how things would have been had Don James stayed and there wouldn’t have been probation, and how they need to get “tougher” kids.

Wednesday: Start to generally focus on the next opponent and talk of where the season is headed, and how they are still bowl-eligible.

Thursday: Point out the weaknesses of the next opponent and what they need to do to get a victory. At this time, there is a momentum building, and you start to hear a few quotes like “I think they have a real chance to surprise some people” .

Friday: 75% of the hosts are CONVINCED UW will pull the upset, and 3 out of 4 will flat-out pick them in a close, shocking upset.Saturday post-game: After getting drilled, again, down-in-the-dumps hosts and callers lament the state of the program and “how the hell has this program fallen so far, so fast?” and “this NEVER would have happened under Don James”.

Vicious cycle starts all over again the following Monday. It’s a joke.

Cougs will win this game, 37-31. While we’ll miss Bumpus and Bienemann, they still won’t be able to stop Jerome, hell, nobody has, why will they? Brink will become the first WSU QB – EVER – to beat UW in back-to-back seasons. That mark won’t mean anything, though, I mean UW hasn’t been this bad back-to-back in, well, maybe ever. Hill will have a big game in what could be the last game of his WSU career. The D isn’t stellar, but there are actually some positive signs of late. In fact, the last two games, actually the 2nd half vs. ASU and the Oregon game, they started to get takeaways. That’s something they have lacked all year, but they’ve had some timely picks and fumble recoveries the last two weeks, and that’s a good sign.