Evan Woodberry, How is he a beat writer for AU.

[auburnbass 0]

Every story he has put out today is the ones where AU missed out on certain players, not one story on who we signed. Are the editors of these papers aware of this. If not they need to be.

[bamerslayer 0]

he's a turd grad.  no surprises there.

[NOLATiger 0]

I know Evan personally and can vouch that he's not a "Bammer" or even an Alabama graduate with preconceived perceptions. He grew up in Ohio. He's an Indians fan as his first sports love. Covers college football as his job. At Alabama, he was the out-of-state indepedent who worked at the Crimson White, the student newspaper. He came up more through the NEWS side than the sports side.

Truthfully, I've got more of a problem with the Alabama papers' beat writers and a few columnists, along with the PLACEMENT of the Auburn coverage. The actual tone of the Auburn coverage by the beat writers is fine. Evan is a pro. I may be in the minority -- I'm a working news reporter myself -- but I don't want to read sunshine pumpers. We've got PMarsh for that. (I like PMarsh; just noting the difference between a guy who writes for an AU-centric site versus the state papers.) If anything, fellas, Evan is more the model that we should want. The shame isn't in what he does. The shame is that there aren't Evan Woodberys covering UA. Instead, we get Don Kausler writing one-source stories about how Trent Richardson would have won the Heisman if only he'd played the first weekend in December. Then, we get Randy Kennedy columns about how great Little Nicky and his program are.

Anyway, as for today, yeah, smart editors would have noted the trend and reversed it, if for nothing else than to innoculate themselves from a thread like this. But I can also tell you that it's  possible Charles and Evan simply split the duties, either by specific names (and Evan just happened to have all the long shots that we lost) or they chose a did sign-didn't sign division of labor. That's all. woodbery isn't out to get us. If you wanna gripe, gripe about the skyboxes always having that little Napoleon. Gripe about UA never getting challenged on its overcommitments, medical scholarships and generally shoddy way that it treats signess in order to put together the kind of run they're having. (It's objective fact that UA has signed more  football players in the last four years than any other program in the country. Yet you've not seen a single hard-hitting story about that in the Press-Register or the News. Complain to Tom Arenberg and Randy Kennedy about that. Don't complain about the way they choose to cover a fast-moving news day like today.

[WarEagle10 77]

I know Evan personally and can vouch that he's not a "Bammer" or even an Alabama graduate with preconceived perceptions. He grew up in Ohio. He's an Indians fan as his first sports love. Covers college football as his job. At Alabama, he was the out-of-state indepedent who worked at the Crimson White, the student newspaper. He came up more through the NEWS side than the sports side.

Truthfully, I've got more of a problem with the Alabama papers' beat writers and a few columnists, along with the PLACEMENT of the Auburn coverage. The actual tone of the Auburn coverage by the beat writers is fine. Evan is a pro. I may be in the minority -- I'm a working news reporter myself -- but I don't want to read sunshine pumpers. We've got PMarsh for that. (I like PMarsh; just noting the difference between a guy who writes for an AU-centric site versus the state papers.) If anything, fellas, Evan is more the model that we should want. The shame isn't in what he does. The shame is that there aren't Evan Woodberys covering UA. Instead, we get Don Kausler writing one-source stories about how Trent Richardson would have won the Heisman if only he'd played the first weekend in December. Then, we get Randy Kennedy columns about how great Little Nicky and his program are.

Anyway, as for today, yeah, smart editors would have noted the trend and reversed it, if for nothing else than to innoculate themselves from a thread like this. But I can also tell you that it's  possible Charles and Evan simply split the duties, either by specific names (and Evan just happened to have all the long shots that we lost) or they chose a did sign-didn't sign division of labor. That's all. woodbery isn't out to get us. If you wanna gripe, gripe about the skyboxes always having that little Napoleon. Gripe about UA never getting challenged on its overcommitments, medical scholarships and generally shoddy way that it treats signess in order to put together the kind of run they're having. (It's objective fact that UA has signed more  football players in the last four years than any other program in the country. Yet you've not seen a single hard-hitting story about that in the Press-Register or the News. Complain to Tom Arenberg and Randy Kennedy about that. Don't complain about the way they choose to cover a fast-moving news day like today.

If you know Evan personally, ask him why he voted Auburn #4 in his final regular season poll in '04. I would love to hear what he has to say about it. Thanks!

[auburnbass 0]

NOLA, I respect your opinion and in particular your last paragraph. However, what you stated at the end is allowed DIRECTLY because it is allowed by editors in this state( What Evan did today), and not allowed on the other side. What if Don and IZZY split duties, one would be fired tomorrow.

Perception has become reality in todays media, trust me I live in it. If Evan wants to be JS or KS then so be it, but he is no beat writer.    

[NOLATiger 0]

WarEagle10, Evan didn't have a ballot in 2004. I believe the AP voter from Alabama that year was Paul Gattis of the Huntsville Times. The Harris poll didn't exist then. Gattis voted Auburn third, took all kinds of heat, then wrote a rather ridiculous, mean-spirited column in his own defense (mostly lashing out at Auburn fans for cluttering his email account and calling his house).

Anyway, I'm not defending the bottom-line result of whatever led to the apparent division of labor today. I'm certainly not defending the total package of coverage presented over time by the News and the Press-Register. Far from it. But I stand by my assessment that Evan Woodbery is a good, professional reporter. I'd rather have him any day writing about my team than have the Don Kauslers of the world.

[NOLATiger 0]

I should clarify in my original post that I have a problem with the Alabama papers' ALABAMA beat writers. I think the context is obvious, but I left out the specific UA reference.

[WarEagle10 77]

WarEagle10, Evan didn't have a ballot in 2004. I believe the AP voter from Alabama that year was Paul Gattis of the Huntsville Times. The Harris poll didn't exist then. Gattis voted Auburn third, took all kinds of heat, then wrote a rather ridiculous, mean-spirited column in his own defense (mostly lashing out at Auburn fans for cluttering his email account and calling his house).

Anyway, I'm not defending the bottom-line result of whatever led to the apparent division of labor today. I'm certainly not defending the total package of coverage presented over time by the News and the Press-Register. Far from it. But I stand by my assessment that Evan Woodbery is a good, professional reporter. I'd rather have him any day writing about my team than have the Don Kauslers of the world.

You are dead wrong about that. When I was al.com people called Evan out about that constantly. He was an AP voter that year. He told the people calling him out to e-mail him and he would tell them why. I never took the time to do this. To quote a famous gump "he just has to much bammer in him".

[keesler 5,928]

Every story he has put out today is the ones where AU missed out on certain players, not one story on who we signed. Are the editors of these papers aware of this. If not they need to be.

We did miss out on top rated players, that's not "news" to anyone, is it?

I got no problem with them reporting what actually happened.

Now, tomorrow we should see a piece written about the end result of our class.  We brought in a solid class to compliment what we already have on our roster.  

Hopefully he will be even-handed and report on the guys that we were able to bring to the Plains.

I guess we'll have to wait & see.

[kevon67 2,368]

I like Kim Shuggart

[auburnbass 0]

Then I would like to see another beat writer from another school, list ALL they missed out on today.

[WarEagle10 77]

Then I would like to see another beat writer from another school, list ALL they missed out on today.

^^^THIS^^^^

[dpwspringer 0]

I cut him some slack about being a bama grad when he first started as Auburn's beat writer, but after year after year of sticking it to Auburn at critical times... not so much.

[NOLATiger 0]

So I asked Evan last night: He has never been an AP poll voter and, in fact, the Press-Register/News/H'vill Times (all owned by same company) no longer allow their writers to be AP voters. I do believe they allow Harris voters, though it's not the beat writers. I think Tommy Hicks has been a recent Harris voter. Personally, I think the news media ought to walk away from polling altogether. The wire service polls were the brain child of editors trying to make more people buy the Monday papers. It worked. But that has long since passed as a reasonable consequence of the poll. The media will always have strong influence in framing the narrative and shaping opinion. That's true in my job as a political/government/public policy reporter. But I don't ALSO get to turn around and actually have a DIRECT say in what happens to the policies and politicians I cover. It's ludicrous on its face.

Anyway, I know Paul Gattis was a 2004 voter. I think Neal McCready, then of the Press-Register, was the other. McCready voted Auburn No. 1 from the post-Arkansas game forward. I think he did voted USC No. 1 in his post-bowl poll, though he said throughout that he thought Auburn got jobbed in not getting a shot to play them. He was pretty clear that he thought Auburn had the toughest schedule and that the Tigers were demonstrably better than Oklahoma. It was Gattis who kept Auburn No. 3 through the close of the regular season and then snottily reacted when Auburn fans went over the top in their criticism.

[AUGoo 2,664]

NOLA thanks for the insight.

[aubcali 435]

I don't mind Evan Woodberry.  Anytime I read a smug and slanted article against Auburn, it's usually Jon Solomon.  I don't understand the sunshine pumping accusation though.  Auburn receives about the same amount of "sunshine" from the beat writers as Seattle receives from the sun in the middle of winter.

Phillip Marshall writes for an Auburn subscriber-based service.  Of course, he slants toward Auburn. 

[auburnbass 0]

Nola, when you talked to him did you ask him about his choice of reporting on signing day.

[kingofhill1 2]

I have a lot more trouble with some of these insane posts against him than I do with Evan Woodbury.

[Blue_Sky 0]

What???? A bAMMER biased sports reporter in Alabama??? No, I don't believe it.

   

[bird36 5]

Newspapers are hurting as a business and have been hurting for years.  Most people who buy them are older and fewer and fewer newspaper customers are alive each year.  With this in mind, most print reporters are trying to hold onto their jobs a few more years.  Put this pressure with the knowledge that 75% of the people in the state of Alabama want to read positive stories about uat and negative stories about Auburn and this is what you get. 

The positive of this trend is uat fans think Auburn is always on the brink of total collapse and uat is on the brink of complete domination in the rivalry.  This leads to A LOT of frustration among the great unwashed. 

[Blue_Sky 0]

Newspapers are hurting as a business and have been hurting for years.  Most people who buy them are older and fewer and fewer newspaper customers are alive each year.  With this in mind, most print reporters are trying to hold onto their jobs a few more years.  Put this pressure with the knowledge that 75% of the people in the state of Alabama want to read positive stories about uat and negative stories about Auburn and this is what you get.   

The positive of this trend is uat fans think Auburn is always on the brink of total collapse and uat is on the brink of complete domination in the rivalry.   This leads to A LOT of frustration among the great unwashed. 

Agree but that says a lot about the valitily of the news. People who work in that line tell me that the future for most newspapers is to become a periodic magazine which will be in print and for the "news" to mainly be on line. I quess that journalism is not the field to go in.

[bird36 5]

Agree but that says a lot about the valitily of the news. People who work in that line tell me that the future for most newspapers is to become a periodic magazine which will be in print and for the "news" to mainly be on line. I quess that journalism is not the field to go in.

I agree and the role of periodic magazines will to offer commentary  and opinion on events the reader has known about for days.

[AuburnGrad78 0]

And let us not forget that a lot of the most popular news sites, particularly sports sites, are modeled after newspaper-style information reporting and staffed by writers who got their start in newspaper writing.

If you tell me that the future of sports news is SportsbyBrooks and Clay Travis instead of YahooSports and al.com, I will find a gun and shoot you and then go home and shoot myself.

[bwillaub 0]

I have a lot more trouble with some of these insane posts against him than I do with Evan Woodbury.

Could you expound on the "insane" part, please?

[bird36 5]

And let us not forget that a lot of the most popular news sites, particularly sports sites, are modeled after newspaper-style information reporting and staffed by writers who got their start in newspaper writing.

If you tell me that the future of sports news is SportsbyBrooks and Clay Travis instead of YahooSports and al.com, I will find a gun and shoot you and then go home and shoot myself.

Opinion or it will go deeper.  I am thinking Sports Illustrated vs. Al.com