UPDATE (N): The OC Register has finally removed the link to Maya's bogus post from its UCLA section. However, as of right now they have not posted any kind of update. There has been noting new on either their "UCLA blog" or in Maya's bogus post or in their "UCLA section" indicating how their reporter and editor completely screwed up. If these guys don't come forward and admit they screwed up we can reasonably question whether they had an agenda in advancing the attacks on UCLA's coaching staff. GO BRUINS. - N

The bogus attacks on Rick Neuhiesel, published by OC Register's "UCLA Beat Reporter" - Adam Maya (a Trojan alum) - is now running on USA Today. It was also referenced by Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times without noting that Theriot has come forward claiming his comments were bogus.

The right thing for Adam Maya to do here would have been (at the very least) post an update on the"UCLA blog" and for the OC Register to not highlight the bogus attacks on Rick Neuheisel that are spreading through the traditional media.

Yet to date Adam Maya hasn't issued any correction on the "UCLA blog." Unbelievably, the OC Register is still featuring the bogus attacks on Neuheisel in their "UCLA section":

It appears not only these guys don't have any sense of journalistic responsibility, they also have no shame.

GO BRUINS.

Well here is another reason never to trust a "UCLA beat reporter" who happens to be a Trojan alum. It looks like the story concocted by Trojan alum of a UCLA football parent - Brian Theriot' - attacking Coach Rick Neuheisel were totally bogus. Mr. Therior just posted the following message on Bruingold.com:

I am Brian Theriot and a loyal Bruin. My Facebook was hacked over 13 times in 72 hours with my password being randomly changed then sent to me via email on a reset code.

My facebook is very fun for me and my family but not given to comments or statements that were posted on it over the weekend. I have, as an NCAA Champion and UCLA Captain, a devoted love to UCLA Football And Track. I am a big fan of Coach Rick and the direction of the program.

In no way, shape, or form do I agree or condone what was put on my facebook.

And, for anyone that would like to speak with me personally: [redacted - BN.]. My last post on my facebook prior to this mess was about my favorite.....Brett Favre.

I have spanked the Register and asked for a retraction. Frankly, I am just a dad riding out four more games and enjoying a great UCLA experience. Nothing more and nothing less.

That is simply amazing. Thanks so much to Mr. Theriot for posting those comments.

Now this begs the obvious question: why did Adam Maya just cut and paste those comments without bothering to contact Mr. Theriot? Why didn't he perform his journalistic responsibility to actually make sure the information he was posting was well sourced and based on reality.

It looks like Adam Maya owes an apology to Rick Neuheisel, the Theriots and the Bruin family who follows the UCLA football program. I am not going to hold my breath and expect Adam to show the same class as Brian Theriot. Again, people wonder why the newspaper industry is dying. Adam just served up another prime example. Just shameful.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N):  Looks like Sean has posted an apology:

Well that is a move in the positive direction. However, the more I read the "apology" it seems half-hearted at best. Also, I still don't get exactly what "humorous" perspective he was going for.  It's really sad that he even went there to begin with and had to be pushed to publish this post.  GO BRUINS. - N

My open letter to Messrs Keeley and Rovell regarding their comments about former Bruin and American winner of the NYC Marathon, Meb Keflezighi.

Technically, Mr. Keeley and Mr. Rovell, you are both Americans...Kinda

Mr. Keeley, I see from your SB*NATION bio that you are an American, simply by an accident of birth. Mr. Rovell, I can't tell from your bio if you're truly an American, since you don't cite the location of your birth or the date of your naturalization. I guess you probably think we can tell just by looking at your picture that you're a true-blue flag-waving patriot. I have some questions for the two of you:

What's more fundamentally American than arriving in this country at the age of 12, the child of an immigrant family that was escaping a troubled country? What's more American than bouncing back from from an injury in the 2007 Olympic trials, so painful Keflezighi wondered if he'd walk again? What's more American than running in honor of fellow American marathoner Ryan Shay who died during those same 2007 Olympic trials? What's more American than having your brothers lead their San Diego High School team to a CIF title and yourself being awarded Union-Tirbune All-Academic Athlete Team Captain two years in a row? What's more American than being awarded a full scholarship to UCLA and accepting because of both its academic and athletic balance?

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Earlier today Class of 66 put up a post on Bruins Nation calling out the Los Angeles Times for posting racially charged "line up" photos of four of UCLA's football players who were disciplined by Coach Rick Neuheisel for violation of unspecified team rules. If you hadn't seen the photos that 66 and many other BNers called out in the commend section, you can check them out here.

Well it looks like the message was received by the LA Times loud and clear. Within hours they decided to change the picture and update that story with the following shot (HT Bruins102NCAA):

The caption of the photo now reads:

UCLA tight end Morrell Presley, shown here being tackled during Saturday's win over Tennessee, was one of four Bruins suspended. (Don McPeak / U.S. Presswire / September 12, 2009)

See, that wasn't so hard. The question is why they didn't do this in the first place?

It's a welcome step by the LA Times. However, it would have been better if they offered a credible explanation and apology to those four kids and the UCLA football program. Either way big ups to Class of 66 and rest of the BNers who had chimed in throughout the day for leading the charge.

There should be no doubt left now that the LA Times is paying attention.

GO BRUINS.

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

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I want to flag couple of more points from the Michigan story that are pretty relevant to the discussions we have had on BN for years. Let's do a quick reset with lots of links on how the story unfolded via Maize n Brew Dave:

You've read the article. Chances are, you've read most of the responses, too (Freep Reactions, Practical Matters, Mike Forcier and Mike Schofield, Toney Clemons and countable hours, and Stop bringing up Andrew Maxwell). On the off chance that if you've missed anything, here it is in summary. Mike Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press has alleged, on the basis of several anonymous sources and players, that the University of Michigan under Rich Rodriguez intentionally violated NCAA practice rules, vastly exceeding the allowable mandatory practice time for student athletes. As you can imagine when allegations of this magnitude are leveled against a program with a fanbase the size of Michigan's, reaction was strong (see above). Perhaps the best summation of reactions by the Michigan faithful has been penned by Shawn Windsor of the Free Press, which I highly encourage you to read because of its objectivity. But Here at Maize n Brew, we're not happy. As much as we'd like to, we're not going to descend into name calling or insults. But we are going to make a short statement on this before we move on.

At best, Rosenberg's article is a superficial, one-sided take on how much time players are putting in during off and in season workouts. And even at it's best, the article is openly hostile toward Rodriguez and the Michigan Football team. At its worst, it's as if someone took out a hit on the program and the Free Press answered the call. It contains quotes and nameless allegations that cannot be verified independently. It says it interviewd 10 players, but only sites six of those players that apparently agreed with Rosenberg's thesis. It implies, without support, that Rodriguez and Barwis have been violating NCAA rules since they were at West Virginia. It does not contain a single quote from a current player supporting the program, even though two competing papers had them within 24 hours of the article's publication

This was a piece not designed to inform or persuade. It was a piece designed to take someone out.

First, the issue that immediately sticks out to me was how an opinion columnist (not a reporter) was the source of this story. More from Dave:

There is the potential that we could be shooting the messenger here. I won't deny that. But when the messenger sets your house on fire then pees on your foot, it's hard to take what he says at face value.

Unfortunately what this comes down to is that this story is not a referendum on Rodriguez, it's a referendum on opinion columnists such as Rosenberg. Put bluntly, people do not trust columnists anymore. We're tired of the personal agendas. We're tired of every columnists seeming desire to be the next Woodward or Bernstein. We're tired of the vendettas. But we keep getting more of the same. And that's why we don't trust them anymore.

Had this piece been even keeled, named names, contained even a single quote contrary to Rosenberg's thesis, and examined what the NCAA actually means be "voluntary", perhaps our reaction would not have been so resoundingly negative toward the paper. If you have critical information on potential violations, don't bury it under layers of resentment and innuendo. Give us honesty. Give us analysis. Give us both sides of the argument and think enough of us to allow us to come to the proper conclusion. Pieces like this are why we do not trust sports columnists when they do their investigations.

Soooooo. Does this Rosenberg dude remind you of someone? I don't think it's far fetched to expect similar gasbags like T.J. Simers to come out with same kind of hit job on UCLA and Rick Neuheisel in the coming years. More after the jump.

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More photos » by TONY DING - AP

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I don't have to write out a whole new set of grafs to show how the LA Times and rest of the Southern California's traditional media have pretty much slept on the job while Chetey Petey and Mike Garrett has been running the "most scandalous athletic program" of this era.  It took almost half a decade for jokers like Bill Plaschke to discover Chetey Petey has been running the ultimate out of control program under the guise of "college athletics."

So trouble breaks out at Michigan about practice time and guess how the LA Times responds:

Question of the day: Is Michigan out of control, or just a typical program?

If the allegations against the Michigan football program are true, does that make them an out-of-control renegade program or pretty much like most programs? Reporters from across the Tribune family of newspapers will answer this question throughout the day. And we are interested in your comments too, so when you are done reading, chime in!

It took them less than 48 hours to jump all over an out of state team, while they were sleeping on the wheel for years as one alleged violation after another involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, were breaking out in Petey's ultimate "out of control" program.

Does anyone recall any headline or breathless discussion on LAT's website whether Chetey Petey's program was out of control when stories wrt to Bush, Jarrett broke out? Of course not. Not only the Trojan LA Times was clueless and out to lunch, they had their marquee columnists Bill Plashke penning love letters to Chetey Petey about how he had "worked hard to build that rare dynasty that follows the rules."

No wonder so many people are just counting the days when these clowns join the OC Register and rest of the dying industry. Not only are they clueless and ignorant, they are also shameless hypocrites.

GO BRUINS.

More photos » by Nick Ut - AP

Pete Carroll no longer a clean head coach per LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke

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Let's recap first how Bill Plaschke for years have been living under a rock. Here was Plaschke in spring of 2006 when the Bush story initially broke (sorry the link for article dated April 26, 2006 doesn't work any more but immortalized in a BN roundup post from September of 2006, emphasis ours througout):

And from the same post we excepted Bill gushing about Pom Pom in another column from August of 2006:

Yes that was Bill three years ago. In his eyes there were no questions hovering around Petey's program because Petey in his eyes was always following the rules. For years he decided not to write about what everyone else in the country was talking about. Finally after one blockbuster scandal after another finally made the Trojans a national joke this summer, he decided to break his silence and formally question his Trojan overlords this June.

And today, for the first time Bill is formally saying what everyone else has been saying for years:

"One of our mottos is, a relentless pursuit of competitive advantage in everything we do," Carroll said Thursday.

Um, Pete, that attitude is exactly what has landed USC in trouble.

"We're not in trouble," Carroll said.

Yes, you are. By college sports definition, any time NCAA investigators are hanging around, you are in trouble.

They showed up for the Reggie Bush stuff, and apparently they are going to stay for the Pete Rodriguez stuff, this special teams consultant who admitted he attended USC practices, which is a direct violation of those stupid rules.

LOL. Can't you sense the agony in his column? The "stupid rules" putting his team in under the proverbial microscope. Guess the rules are only "stupid" when discussed in the context of Southern Cal. Bill continues:

On the field, the program is all about testing limits, and it succeeds.

Off the field, if Carroll keeps testing those same limits, it is doomed to fail.

"It's so important for us to do right, this is such a tremendous program, it's worth it, it's worth learning, digging in, figuring things out," Carroll said.

Fine. Check the angles. Work, dig, figure. But in the end, at some point, Carroll has to just throw up his hands and gently comply.

Did you get that? Bill Plaschke, the star columnist (hey don't LYAO ... stay with me here for a second) for the Trojan Times is now officially saying that Pom Pom Petey has to "gently comply" with "stupid rules." In other words, in Bill's eyes Petey Carroll hasn't been following the rules off the field to build up this "dynasty."

Guess, it's all about baby steps. First, a few months ago Bill figured out that something wasn't right in SuCville after years of being in denial about it, and now he has figured out his football coach (Trojans are his team after all) might have not been "following the rules."

Congrats on figuring out the Earth is round Bill.

GO BRUINS.

Leave it to the Trojan LA Times to publish baseless garbage letter smearing one of the greatest Bruins of all time. I was just as appalled as Barnes2JJ when I read the letter in the LA Times yesterday by some guy from New Port Beach attacking Ed O based on lies. Of course what the LA Times completely failed to do was report how Ed O's law suit against the NCAA has captured the attention of country coast to coast in a positive. I will get to some of that coverage below. Before I do that have to share Ed O's own words re. why decided to take action against the NCAA. Ed O blogged on Lost Lettermen on why he decided to fight the NCAA:

It’s been a long time that we have been exploited. Things have got to change, for crying out loud.

Maybe the people who deserve compensation and have been exploited will no longer be exploited. Maybe now the NCAA will hold true to what it says it is: a non-profit organization.

The NCAA has been doing people wrong for a long time. It’s about time something changes. That’s the bottom line.

We haven’t gotten into the odds of winning the case. And I can’t say I followed previous cases about paying college athletes very closely, or at all for that matter. But I will be following this one closely.

If I’m viewed as someone who’s linked to this case ahead of being viewed as a former Player of the Year and UCLA ballplayer, that’s just the way it is. I just feel like it’s my duty to do this. [...]

I have absolutely no idea how long this case could go. I’m in it for the long run.

It’s not often you get to change the game. And it’s not often you get to make an impact on a lot of people’s lives — whether they know it or not. How someone would not want to do that is beyond me.

You must read Ed O's full post to get a sense how passionate he is about this lawsuit and it shouldn't leave any doubt about his convictions and principles behind this fight. In his words you can FEEL the same FIRE we saw from Ed O on the court, when he took the entire Bruin Nation on his back for an unforgettable magic carpet ride. I think those who were fortunate enough to watch him in person for four years will get the same goosebumps when we saw him leading our team. Now he is getting to lead an entire generation of players in what appears to be with same determination and sense of purpose that captivated all of us for 4 unforgettable years.

Fortunately for Ed O the sports world today is not as ignorant as the Trojan lovers editors in the Trojan LA Times who never seem to waste an opportunity to publicize cheap shot smearing Bruins. Number of basketball observers and national sports columnists have praised Ed O's willingness to stand up on behalf of many other athletes. More on their takes after the jump.

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