I think it's fun to occasionally rage at the national sportswriters when they write offensive comments about Kentucky or the Wildcats' players. I even sometimes enjoy playing the paranoia game that the Big Blue Nation is famous for. I think it's fun, it keeps the fans stirred up (as if they really need stirring up right now), it holds the big media types to account for some of their more stream-of-consciousness pap that so often plops out of their keyboard, and it memorializes these comments for future mocking when they turn out to be wrong, or when we feel like using them to illustrate poor judgment.
So today's outrage is the series of tweets from Jeff Goodman following Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's comment that he planned to graduate from Kentucky. We'll have fun with them after the jump.
Consider the following:
Heard Michael Kidd-Gilchrist said he's coming back for another year. Who knows. He'll likely do whatever Worldwide Wes tells him to do.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) February 25, 2012
@wildcatnews C'mon. We all know it's accurate. World Wide Wes will be calling the shot on this one as much as anyone. That's a fact.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) February 25, 2012
I guess Goodman reckoned without MKG's mother, who responded to him:
@GoodmanCBS The fact is Michael has parents that make decisions for him. I know because I'm his mother.
— cynthia (@vincin1) February 26, 2012
Michael's mom then responded to Oscar Combs:
(Click on the screenshot to embiggen.)
Ouch. Can you say, "smack down," boys and girls? I knew you could.
I don't doubt for a moment that William Wesley may be consulted at some level about when MKG moves on to the next level. It is well-known that he has been involved to some degree in Michael's life since he was young (although perhaps not as much as many think, given Cynthia's response), and with his knowledge of the NBA and experience mentoring young players, it is both logical and reasonable that his input would be taken, along with that of Coach Calipari and others.
But Goodman's naked assertion that Wesley will be the one making the decision is not likely to be true, and the way he offered it was clearly intended as a rebuke both of Kidd-Gilchrist for the apparent crime of associating with Wesley, and of Wesley himself. At least, that's how it reads to me. Your mileage may vary, of course, and I'll admit that my judgment of anything Goodman says is prejudiced -- I don't like the guy as a sportswriter and never have. I don't know him personally, but this sort of comment was both uncalled-for and unnecessary from a professional journalist.
I think Goodman is one of those guys that just can't get past the idea that Wesley is a bad guy, and for all I know, he may be. Unlike Goodman, however, I require more than ambiguous, anonymously-sourced hearsay about people to form judgments about them.
Wesley has never even been accused of anything remotely approaching an NCAA violation. If Goodman has information to the contrary, it would be a national scoop, and he should write it, not make nasty little tweets that stir up unfair dislike for both MKG and Kentucky and force his mother to Michael's defense.
One word works here for me -- unethical. Hat tip: Nation of Blue.