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"OMGZ! Rick Neuheisel (a former Rose Bowl Winning MVP QB) communicates passionately with his QB on the sidelines," reported LA Times "UCLA Beat Reporter" Chris Foster!

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I am sure many of you have already read the latest piece of trashy reporting from Chris Foster today in the LA Times. Chris Foster is the same beat reporter who has been pushing misinformation on Stan Hasiak in recent weeks.

Well today Mr. Foster wrote a huge story on - get this - a college football head coach (who was a former Rose Bowl champion/MVP quarterback) being tough on his QBs! It's an epic piece for the LA Times. They had their UCLA beat reporter (who hasn't provided anything of substance on UCLA's upcoming opponent on what is shaping up to be the biggest regular season game to date) write up 1,109 word novel on how UCLA head football coach communicates with his quarterbacks.

It's huge expose! Foster tried to get something negative out of both Kevins (Craft and Prince) on Neuheisel but neither Prince nor Craft bit on Foster's gotcha game (no link for trashy articles per BN rules so I am just going to bold the parts I would have linked if it were a legitimate news story):

"It took me a little bit of time to understand why Coach Neuheisel does that," says Kevin Craft, who was often the object of red-faced, drill-sergeant-like rants when he was the starter last season. "He's passionate about this and wants to coach us, and he's doing it in a manner that it's on you." [...]

"You just have to play like you know how and accept the criticism when things go wrong," Prince says. "That's the way Coach Neuheisel coaches. He gets riled up and wants to win badly."

So then Chris tried to get something juicy out of former UCLA QBs. Unfortunately for the so called beat reporter, the former Bruin QBs essentially validated what CRN has been doing by comparing him to legendary Homer Smith (the best OC UCLA had in last 20-30 years prior to arrvial of Norm Chow):

"Homer Smith demanded you soak up knowledge," says former Bruins quarterback Tom Ramsey, who entered UCLA with Neuheisel in 1979.

"You not only had to know what 11 guys were doing on the field, you had to know what all 22 guys were doing. If you didn't, you weren't going to be on the roster."

So nothing there either. So Foster then called up CRN's former QB at Colorado to find out whether he would dish out some dirt on CRN:

Hessler remembers that in 1995, after he threw for five touchdowns in his college debut, an upset over 10th-ranked Oklahoma, Neuheisel told him, "You deserve it, kid. You deserve all this."

But then, two years later against Michigan, a national television audience watched the coach rail at his quarterback before Hessler even got to the sideline.

"We had a love-hate relationship for a long time," Hessler says. "He chewed on me harder than any steak I have ever chewed on. It's because he expects a ton."

Well nothing unusual there either. So then Foster tried to dial up another former CRN coached QB and OMG looky here apparently he found some dirt!:

Another former Neuheisel quarterback doesn't seem as forgiving. Toronto Argonauts quarterback Cody Pickett, who played four seasons for Neuheisel at Washington, declined to be interviewed for this story, saying through a team official that he was uncomfortable talking about his former coach.

Oh man.  There it is! Did you catch it?! Neuheisel's former QB is not "forgiving"!!  The LA Trojan Times found the big scoop!.

[Serious news face via MainStreet Photo Galleries]

So Chris Found this huge scoop! Apparently one of Neuheisel's former QB is not so "forgiving" for the interaction he had with CRN during his time at Washington. Except uhm not so much per Ted Miller on ESPN, who covered Neuehisel for years when he was the beat reporter for Washington Huskies (HT to Centric.):

I covered the Huskies when Cody Pickett was the quarterback, and I don't recall Neuheisel being terribly hard on Pickett. What I do remember is Pickett hating interviews, which strikes me as a more likely reason he turned down an LA Times interview request.

So what's next?

Will the Los Angeles Trojan Times sports editor issue another update or correction to fix the latest bit of shoddy reporting hitjob on Rick Neuheisel's football program?

GO BRUINS.

As we are just hours away from today's BN podcast (tune in and come over here around 7pm PST), I am going to set that up with a little meta analysis on power of social media.  During the 2009 UCLA football program has had some interesting experience in dealing with the world of social media in the world of traditional media. We had the LA Times making a big deal out of a frustrated true freshman's twitter post. We then saw a Trojan alum posing as OC Register reporter running wild with unverified face book musings of a frustrated parent's as some kind of legitimate news story. On the flip side we shamed the LA Times for for posting racially charged "line up" photos of four of UCLA's football players.

So with that in background, I thought the latest story by SI.com's Stewart Mandel observing how social media has empowered college football fans like never before was very interesting. There were few observations that stood out to me from that article that I think is relevant to our experience in last few years. Mandel talked about how fans can serve as "influential activists":

"Fans always believed they were part of the process, but now with new media they are part of the process," said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. "They've gone from being engaged by face painting and supporting their team to being influential activists in getting the word out not just about what's going on with their team, but also with rival teams."

Guess the millions of people who have been on BN in recent years know something about and the comment is little more than ironic coming from someone associated with Southern Cal. Stewart then went on to give couple of Pac-10 coaches credit for their effective use of social media:

Schools and conferences have widely embraced social media outlets, using them to spread the word about promotions and achievements. Coaches like USC's Pete Carroll and Stanford's Jim Harbaugh are Twitter regulars. The Mountain West uses the site to tout its teams' latest rankings and accolades. The Chick-fil-A Bowl provides live updates from its scouts attending games.

Again that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here either. We have given the Southern Cal athletic department a huge amount of credit for pushing the envelope when it comes to reaching out to their alums, students and (bandwagoning) fans via the use of new media tools. I think the media relations folks at Morgan Center are making an effort but they are still pretty behind.More after the jump.

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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.

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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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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.