Drew Sharp Gets Creative (False) in Recent Article
Yes, I know another Drew Sharp post. I doubt any of you read Sharp's latest garbage following the ND game, titled "U-M out-miracles Notre Dame." Drew Sharp attempts to minimize the accomplishment of the win on Saturday (shocking I know). However, in the article Drew states, "Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist left the game following the Irish's second series, after throwing an interception to weak-side linebacker Jonas Mouton. He told coach Brian Kelly on the sidelines that he suddenly lost sight in his right eye, contributing to the interception."
Problem is that Crist didn't throw that interception. Crist left the game after the first ND offensive series. Tommy Rees threw that interception. Crist could have never had that conversation stated by Sharp.
I emailed both Sharp and Paul Anger to get their explanation about this quote which was completely fabricated. Making up quotes like this is similar to the situation Mitch Albom faced when he fabricated quotes about the fab five.
September 15th, 2010 at 9:55 AM ^
I just saw Drew Sharp, and hoped the body of the post said "Drew Sharp is an idiot, that is all". Since it didn't I declined to read the rest. Good Day.
September 15th, 2010 at 9:55 AM ^
September 15th, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^
Here is the link for the article. This beyond just another Freep thread. I hate Sharp as much as the next guy, but fabricating facts is new tactic for him. He must have picked it up from Mitch Albom.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100911/COL08/100911035/1054/SPORTS06/Michigan-out-miracles-Notre-Dame
September 15th, 2010 at 9:58 AM ^
is not a sports writer, he is a shock writer. Sometimes I listen to 1130, he is quite often very uninformed as to the true details of sporting events that he comments on. He takes a controvesial angle on a topic, albeit uninforned, flames fires and gets out of dodge. If you liked Jerry Springer, read Drew Sharp. (If I can give him credit for one thing, he often freely though indirectly admits that he is uninforned)
September 15th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
I hate Drew Sharp with a passion, but what do you expect? He is a hack that never bothers with facts but just his opinions. I say we make Mgoblog a Drew Sharp free zone and stop all conversation about him. The Freep has time and time again proven that they have no journalistic integrity so it probably is not worth any more time.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^
Seconded. I only clicked on this link in order to ask people to please stop posting messages entitled "Drew Sharp" ... nobody cares, or nobody should care, about what this non-entity says about Michigan football and probably about anything else. And this is coming from a street bum!
September 15th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^
For a street bum, you have surprisingly frequent access to the interwebs. Do you hang out next to a local library? Did you collect enough bottles and change to get an iPhone? If so, how do you afford the monthly bills? Where would AT&T even mail them to? Your situation vexes me. I terribly vexed.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
He has literally thousands of computers at his disposal in the Ann Arbor area.
/emo
September 15th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^
Mis-quoting people and making up facts? This is not the journalism I'm used to in our modern era (**SARCASM**HEAVY**BS). We should start collecting fines for lying in public print institutions. How else will bold face liars be held accountable? Who are the editors that pass this stuff on?
September 15th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^
"I draw well" or "I'm a great artist" or even "I was making a drawing of DRobs Heisman pose and it looks really sharp"
It's just more informative that way.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:04 AM ^
-1744
September 15th, 2010 at 10:05 AM ^
I can imagine a two-bit, lowlife writer doing this, but it's hard to imagine a newspaper with a circulation the size of the The Freep's tolerating this. Making up quotes? That's grounds for dismissal in my book. Although, if you ever saw the movie Broadcast News, William Hurt's character contrives on-camera tears for a story and ends up becoming the lead anchorman in the end. Maybe being a scummy douchebag is a great career strategy after all.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
September 15th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
Is there a place where a formal complaint for this kind of thing can be filed? I doubt if Sharp getting caught lying in print does anything, but maybe we can get him a reprimand from some stuffy journalist's group. It would be better than watching him get promoted to SI.com, which is what happened to the other liar (not Mitch Albom).
September 15th, 2010 at 10:42 AM ^
However, the post title is very uninformative.
I think "Drew Sharp" pretty much tells you everything you need to know.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
You're surprised that the Freep would do such a thing, after they already have? Yes, you caught him in "a lie". He doesn't care. It can't hurt him.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^
If he doesn't care, then that is very saddening to me.
I once interned at a think tank and was given the task to confirm a claim by David Broder of the Washington Post. After some digging, I found the claim was not correct, I sent him a note via e-mail and actually spoke with him on the phone. He told me he referenced an article in the Orlando Sentinel (IIRC). He was happy that I pointed out the invalidity.
I'd be interested to see if Sharp replies.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^
Drew Sharp sucks, but he didn't misquote anyone here, there aren't any quotes in the entire article. He just make something up and reported it (not saying that's any better).
September 15th, 2010 at 10:28 AM ^
He didn't post a link. He told the story, straight. How can this not be a valid topic for MGoBlog? Sitting back and seething at the Free Press but saying nothing, because you already hate the paper soooo much, seems pointless. Clamly writing about a clear error, and publicizing the remarkable incompetence of Sharp, is a strategy that meets the Freep on its own turf.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
Let it go. Plz.
September 15th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^
And after that, we can turn the clams into chowder!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
While I find this intriguing, nothing will come of it and we are simply empowering Drew Sharp by talking about it. There are few ethics left in "journalism", if that's what you feel you should call this. It is all entertainment and who can sell the most papers/ads/etc. Terry Foster makes stuff up, Mitch Albom falsifies things, it happens. They are lazy sensationalists just trying to "spruce up" their stories. I remember when I was four years old and felt the same compulsions...
I think that I find it more shocking that any of you are surprised that this happened. It is Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press people!!! Move along...
September 15th, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^
I know, a lot of good it will do. After today, I promise to ignore these hacks for another year.
Mr. Sharp,
From your latest incitement piece (9/11):
"Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist left the game following the Irish’s second series, after throwing an interception to weak-side linebacker Jonas Mouton. He told Kelly on the sidelines that he suddenly lost sight in his right eye, contributing to the interception.
"Kelly went with a freshman and the son of a Notre Dame and NFL legend who had yet to complete his first pass at Notre Dame when he entered the game."
C'mon, man. Seriously? At least get the facts straight. Did you even watch the game? If you had, or if you'd read the box score -- you know, verified your facts as real journalists are compelled to do -- you'd know that Crist was out of the game at this point. He was likely concussed, but that's another story for another day. The 2nd string QB threw the INT to Mouton.
Even if you meant to say that Crist (in the 2nd half) threw a ball that was batted by Mouton and picked by Kovacs, you still have your facts wrong, because Crist stayed in the game after that INT. The whole "can't see, can't remember that play" story is from the 1st half.
Fabricating content is just another reason why your credibility circled the drain long ago. It's a shame, because there was a time when I looked forward to reading the Freep. Unfortunately, I was forced to kick the habit on 9/1/09.
Disappointed,
[BlueFish]
Chicago, IL
P.S. Mr. Anger -- don't worry, I don't expect any sort of appropriate action from you, either. You've already shown that you don't have the backbone for it.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
+ 2 for the awesome response, but -1 because it won't do any good whatsoever, and Sharp will use it to show how he's being attacked for "telling it like it is" or some crap like that.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^
If you think most of us don't read Drew Sharp, wouldn't you assume it's because we don't care about what he's writing about? This isn't a "DO NOT POST FREEP STUFF" rant. Do whatever you want. But to explicitly acknowledge that most on this board don't give a snuff about Sharp, and then to start a thread about a minor detail he got wrong in a recent article. I don't know. It's a Wednesday, I guess!
September 15th, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^
Drew Sharp is an idiot. This has already been established many times. I think a good article from him is much more shocking than this.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^
My goof was the timeline and not checking the play-by-play because I thought Crist threw the pick on the series. Both ND radio and the media relations department said Crist told Kelly on the sidelines that he was having trouble seeing out of his right eye and Kelly confirmed afterward that he suffered from blurred vision, but I thought that came after the second series.
Nothing was "fabricated" out of thin air. But it was a dumb mistake getting the time line wrong. That's on me.
But it didn't change the tone or the enduring point of the column. If anything, the fact Rees not Crist threw that first pick only further solidifies the argument made in the column that Michigan has benefited greatly in the first two games from atrocious opposing quarterbacking and that might have as much to do with them being 2-0 as Robinson.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^
Wow. If that was really his response then I want to hit him in the head with a bat.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
So, let's see. Do I have this right?
1. Your WHOLE JOB is to write about Michigan football.
2. You demonstrate you can't even get basic game details right, details that any interested watcher would know without straining too many synapses or, you know, BEING PAID to know.
3.And you still expect your audience to respect your "enduring points" despite establishing without question you are a failure at your ACTUAL I-GET-A-PAYCHECK-FOR-THIS JOB.
4. ???
5. PROFIT!!!
September 15th, 2010 at 11:22 AM ^
As with the story in which Sharpton used nonexistent quotes to make a case that Rush Limbaugh was a closet racist (surrounding the rumored Limbaugh interest in being a partner for a purchase of the Rams), and then proceeded to dig the hole deeper with unapologetic and provocative national comments, Drew Sharpton now appears to be doing the same.
So just to really shove this point down Drew Sharpton's toxic throat, let's review the text of what he had written:
He told coach Brian Kelly on the sidelines that he suddenly lost sight in his right eye, contributing to the interception.
Yes, Crist said on the sidelines that he had suddenly lost sight in his right eye. Losing that sight had nothing to do with the interception. There's no other way to interpret this. Sharp was making it up. Crist could have lost sight in his right eye and it might not have affected a throw. Drew Sharp created a story in which the freak occurrence in his right eye led to the interception. Falsely, fraudulently.
But here's the real point as far as I am concerened. This is the kind of thing where, if one of Sharpton's interview subjects had made an equivalent misstatement in an interview, Sharpton would now be calling the guy out as a "liar." And the way we know this, with absolute certainty, is that that is precisely what Sharpton did in his press conference tussle with Rich Rodriguez over Demar Dorsey, and in the aftermath. Sharpton when on his radio program after that press conference, while the Dorsey story was raging, and called Rich Rodriguez a liar.
So yeah, there cannot be too much of this kind of writing about Mr. Drew Sharpton. MGoBlog is the perfect place to exercise it as far as I am concerned, but of course it is not my blog.
September 15th, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
...can atrocious opposing quarterbacking account for 502 yards of shoelacefree offense v. ND?
I'm glad I don't even know who this Drew Sharp character is.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:51 AM ^
Problem is that Crist didn't throw that interception.
To Drew Sharp all white people look the same.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^
I've been ignoring Sharp for about 10 years now. And I don't regret one minute of it.
He lives off getting reactions from people. There's no need to give him what he wants.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^
"Drew Sharp"
"Who is a fucktard, Alex"
September 15th, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^
Drew Sharp is an idiot. But, I dont think he fabricated a quote here at all.
He just has his timeline all mixed up, which, in and of itself, is borderline ridiculous and proof of incompetence on his and his editors part
He took some license with the 'contributed to the INT' part, but he never was using direct quotes and the part about Crist on the sideline has been reported as such by many.
It's just plain dumb and shows a lack of fact checking. It's lazy. And it does make you wonder if he really watched the game. I mean, come on a backup QB throwing a flea flicker, how many times do you see that on the backup's first series?
That said, if his editors want to intepret this as a fabricated quote and fire his ass, I wont quibble over it at all, yo! I got tired of reading his shiat about 20 years ago
September 15th, 2010 at 11:15 AM ^
Except with the ass fire part, yo. I think it's more than license. He's clearly reporting that Crist said something he did not: "He told Kelly on the sidelines that he suddenly lost sight in his right eye, contributing to the interception." He's reporting what Christ said, completely inaccurately, and really a fabrication. He mixed up the timeline, made a mental assumption, FILLED IN HIS OWN DETAIL, then reported it. He can't explain that away
Thanks to the OP. I wrote to Sharp and Anger as well
September 15th, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
Reporting something innacurately is not the same thing as fabricating something. I have sadly been guilty of the former, it happens. But, never the former. I feel like my years in the biz gives me a little insight here on the difference.
He did fill in his own detail, which I just thnk is dumb and shows a laziness on behalf of reporter and editor that I would not realy tolerate much if I was in charge. But the detail was not part of a direct quote. The reporter didnt even say or allege he spoke to or had an interview with. He took the sideline part, which everyone reported the same, and then got cute and added in a detail that's not accurate.
It's still a major, major, major question of his competency and his reliability/trust worthiness, in my mind either way/
Regardless, we're arguing over the semantics of the word fabricate. We're not going to get anywhere. At the end of the day, he's still a douchebag who has had his job for at least 10 years too long.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
But his story is clearly trying to indicate the M got lucky / benefited from opposing team's mistakes, as he freely admits in an e-mail reply to one of the posters below.
A man who can't see throwing an interception supports that argument. To me that lends more credence to fabrication. And while a mistake of this magnitude (even my fiance', an ND fan - who loves M -, was screaming at the TV for putting the back-up in) is ridiculous, making shit up to help prove your point is simply unforgivable in journalism.
EDIT: not negging you, don't know why you would be. Appreciate the view from being inside the biz
September 15th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
Paul Anger's a hack too, I'm sure they'll claim that the comma in the sentence was switching back to Drew's opinion from what Crist was saying. Of course he's still wrong about who threw the interception but he can say he just confused that fact.
I think he meant it exactly the way it was written, but they won't have trouble whitewashing this.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^
Great job by the OP here. It would be sweet if a honest, competent journalist picked up the ball and ran with this one. Not sure mainstream media has any of those left tho.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^
OK, now seriously. If you watched this game, the announcers made a huge deal out of the fact that Crist was not in during the second series. They were stunned that Kelly would put the 2nd stringer in after ND had such a successful first drive. So what this really demonstrates is something we already knew: shock journalists like Sharp don't even bother to watch the events the write about. They just look for an angle to rile people up and once they get it, they start writing. It's all about hits baby.
Now, did he fabricate anything? I think he did. It's easy to make the "dumb" mistake of not knowing who was the QB at the time of the Mouton interception, but he claims that Crist told Kelly that he threw the pick because he could not see properly. This suggests Sharp heard this somewhere, such as the post-game press conference, because it was certainly not mentioned on NBC. He probably made a logical leap based on what he thought the sequence of events was, but he did not have any source for this information, yet he stated it as fact. This is at the best lazy, sloppy journalism and at the worst fabrication.
I'm not even going to say much about his last paragraph. It's the typical ploy of the mud-slinger. "I may have gotten some details wrong but my OPINION is still correct." And what a thinly informed opinion it is if he didn't bother to watch the game. No in-depth analysis like that you see on Mgoblog, just the generic "Michigan lucked out because the backup QB was in" crap. I'm sure we benefited from having Crist out, but to claim the outcome would have been different if he had played the whole game, that's just conjecture because a whole lot of things would have gone differently. Just take pleasure in knowning that people like Sharp can never be happy. Never. The closest feeling Sharp gets to happiness is when he zings someone and gets some satisfaction. That's it. He's a miserable human being who gets paid to try and make his misery YOUR misery. If you want to read his stuff to find factual inaccuracies, good for you. I think it's noble to fight the fight, but I don't think you will ever win. The Freep simply will not punish irresponsible journalism. They encourage it. And I think that attitude is common throughout the MSM nowadays. Sad that journalism has become such a joke.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:31 AM ^
Another point. Did Sharp even bother to look at the box score of the game before writing his hit piece? How hard is it to do a simple fact check before publishing something like this? The game's been over for 4 days so the information is certainly out there. And, to top it off, more than likely Sharp was AT THE GAME, being paid to sit in a press box to watch the game and make comments on it. I dunno if they pipe audio / video of the broadcast in there, so perhaps he could not hear NBC's comments about Crist being out during the interception, but one would think that if you are going to write a piece drawing conculsions about a game where you don't have all the details, you might, I dunno, want to at least check the box score before writing your piece? Or, perhaps watch the game a second time to see if your opinion really holds water? Sounds like he was pretty disctracted while watching the game, assuming he did watch it. To him, this is probably just another boring game he has to go cover, and all he really wants is his "angle" anyway. After all, he just writes "opinions" so he can never really be "incorrect" can he? So he watches a little, gets the angle he needs to rip the local team, and then writes it up. Probably jots down a few notes that support his "opinon", and he's done.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
by the biggest Michigan Hater with a word processor and forum to publish it within. Sometimes I wish,he would leave the planet...ASAP!
September 15th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
ABOUT DREWBelieve it or not, but I grew up a huge Michigan fan. The 1969 upset over Ohio State was the reason why I decided to go to Michigan. Whenever the Wolverines played the Buckeyes after that, my parents were under strict orders "Leave Drew alone for the next three hours" because I would take defeat very, very hard. People ask me all the time that if I grew up such a big Michigan fan, what happened to me in later years and why I turned so cynical. And I tell them "I grew up."
(Emphasis added.) That's it. That's all of it. No other educational background. No work experience, publications, family, interests, etc.; none of that. This is a guy who is so intensely proud that he went to Michigan, but who feels so compelled to say that he has professionally disowned the school, that it is the only thing in his radio home-page bio. (Cf., the bio of Matt Shepard above Sharp's, in which he supplies a mostly normal bio, in a kind of 20 questions format.)
It appears to be Sharp's personal mission, to figuratively stick his finger in the eye of the one institution that provided Sharp with whatever shred of respectability that he has ever enjoyed in his life, and afforded Sharp the only basis he had for the job that he has enjoyed for far too long. This is the mark of somebody who is not merely a "cynic," but somebody with a real personality disorder.
Good form would ordinarily direct me to post the link to Sharp's radio home page from which the quote was drawn. Sorry.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
"And I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids!!!
September 15th, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^
Drew Sharp said something false, really? Is water really wet?
September 15th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
In the same way the Freep took a minor transgression and tried to turn it into Watergate, we should beat this one untel he is dead.
and what kind of BS trouble is he trying to create? trying to make it seem as if Kelly knew Crist had a concussion and put him back in?
so our debate boils down to "sloppy, lazy and inaccurate" versus "fabricating content", but either level is unacceptable for a professional journalist.
we admit we dont like him because he is so negative about Michigan.....butd why should any readers have to put up with a reporter/columnist who is, at best "sloppy, lazy and inaccurate"?
can we get Sharps boss' email address and start a direct "Fire Sharp" campaign? and let's be sure to get that picked up in other media.
September 15th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
is that there have been about a hundred coaches, general managers, professional athletes, etc., for whom Drew Sharp has published demands that they be fired. Has there been a single month in the entire history of Sharp's tenure at the Free Press where he has gone without publicly suggesting that someone be fired?
September 15th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
Newspapers in general and the Freep in particular are dinosaurs that are becomming extinct. To attract attention and prolong their existence, they may resort to increasing amounts of unethical behavior and they may look to fill their employee ranks with lower and lower paid staff. I think it is logical to expect more of this type of jurnalism going forward.