OT - Jason Whitlock's Firsthand Take on Willie Lyles
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/willie-lyles-texas-orego…
I usually read Whitlock's writing purely for entertainment and not information, but this article may be an exception. Whitlock has had several interactions with Willie Lyles and his people recently and certainly did not appreciate them.
"Sellout. Attention whore. Snitch."
A sellout attention whore snitch that Oregon payed $25,000 dollars to steer players toward them.
The world needs snitches. Does the world of sports journalism need Jason Whitlock?
Okay I can't believe I read that whole steaming pile, but for those that won't make it, there is a money quote at the end:
"You have totally ruined it for these kids and they will now be in a Pete Rose, Reggie Bush, Terrelle Pryor category of negative scandal on their names. Why? Why? Why?” the text concluded."
That wasn't a quote from Whitlock. It was a text that Lyles' former lawyer sent to Lyles and copied him on.
Hilarious that he is now the poster boy for sports scandals.
This article is counterproductive bullshit. Whitlock professes to hate what the NCAA has become and hate the hustlers and leeches like Lyles who helped make it that way. Fine, I don't disagree at all with the sentiment. And Lyles is exactly the kind of person that there are hundreds, if not thousands, more of and that I want to see shipped to Pluto. But the only way the corruption is going to be thrown open to the sunlight is if there are more Willie Lyles's out there. If their motivation is to be an attention whore, fine. Calling him a snitch is the same thing as siding with the corrupt coaches and calling them victims. The last thing I want is for disgruntled or disillusioned or attention whoring former hustlers to be incentivized to keep their mouth shut. The only way for the black market to diminish is for these guys to be taken at their word, not forced underground by butthurt-ass columnists like Whitlock.
So he wanted to be famous and this was his ticket? Who cares? If the information is true, what does it matter what the motivation for bringing it forward is? It reminds me of Cartman busting Ike's teacher (who was having an affair with Ike) for a hallway infraction; whatever the motivation, the job got done.
Sorry, I can't read Whitlock's writing anymore. The turning point for me was when I finally figured out that every article he writes is themed around race. Honestly I wish he would just eat a couple more doughnuts and go away for the good of humanity.
I'm not a big Whitlock fan but I like his evisceration of this Lyles character. Seems pretty appropriate to me.
It's pretty easy to eviscerate Lyles when Lyles doesn't get an opportunity to respond to Whitlock's assertions. He's just Drew Sharp with a somewhat larger stage.
Yeah but if a columnist isn't allowed to attack someone who can't respond then that means he can only write critically about other columnists.
Also, I don't see how Lyles could come up with a response other than accusing Whitlock of lying. I don't believe Whitlock made any of this up.
Yeah, but he basically decides to blame Oregon's troubles on Lyles because he "snitched" on them, which is completely wrong. If he wants to blame someone for Oregon's troubles without actually blaming Oregon, he should be going after Charles Robinson at Yahoo because he found the evidence and put the article together. Basically, Whitlock decided to write a few hundred words on Lyles snitching and rearranged the world to fit his point of view. It's shitty journalism.
There's a worldview out there that telling the truth and talking to authority is something to be frowned upon. Lyles basically acknowledges that talking to Yahoo ruined his business, so he lost big by giving that interview. He might be well known to college football nerds, but in exchange, he's got to find a new line of work--I doubt that fame was his intention.
"He told me that, at 22, he lost a job at a high school because a female student accused him of making inappropriate comments on a ride home from track practice."
Wasn't Whitlock fired from the Ann Arbor News for "making inappropriate comments" to someone there on numerous occasions? I guess he has forgotten all about it, since it has been "erased" from the internet. New rule: if it doesn't show up on a search engine, it never happened.
about why he left the Ann Arbor News, at least. Judging by his exits from Kansas City and an ESPN stint, they seem plausible. Definitely glad he didn't stick around A2 for long!
You know how there's some people you disagree with but at least respect their opinion and see their line of reasoning? Then there are the Jason Whitlocks of the world who almost always argue things without sound reasoning or logic.
He has no consistency in his articles (e.g. how after Game 1 of the NBA Finals the Heat were "toying" with the Mavericks then he's lauding Dirk a game later)
Anyways, at least he has some legitimate experience this time with Lyles. I don't doubt that Willie Lyles is a sellout...but a snitch? That's good old Whitlock saying "If you can find a way to break the rules and not get caught do it because the NCAA isn't how I think it should be anyways."
This stuff needs to be exposed I don't really care who does it. Not like Lyles is gonna be able to keep doing it now that he has gone public. He's damaged his ability to do the things he used to do and might help to clean up the system a bit. I don't see what's wrong with that even if his motives are selfish
Last time I checked, this wasn't the Mafia or an episode of "Oz". The Oregon coaching staff were the guys breaking the rules (assuming they paid for influence over recruits). The kids didn't do anything wrong and face no penalty (so Whitlock's "rage" regarding their reputation/welfare seems completely sensationalist). While Lyle's actions are shady and exploitative, he would have been powerless to profit unless a crooked coaching staff forked over some dough. He could just as easily have pocketed the dough and told the kid to go to Northwestern. Oregon (and Whitlock) have no standing to demand his silence when they are the ones who did something that is against the rules, not him. This situation is in no way analagous to the Reggie Bush case or any other agent/runner/booster situation. In this case 100% of the (alleged) illegal (according to NCAA rules) activity was perpetrated by the Oregon coaching staff and was 100% preventable by them. For anyone to then complain about the wrongdoing coming to light is insane, no matter the messenger.
The recuits still there will likely be playing for a hamstrung program.
I also have questions regarding a chicken and egg argument with this whole thing. I think Oregon was trying to help this guy out with the "name your price" business, which they should not have done, but I think Lyles was kind of volunteering to start.
If/when Oregon actually gets punished it will take a while for the NCAA to act and it will be even longer after that before the effects of any sanctions could really hamstring the program. If the program is hit with sanctions the players will also almost certainly be able to transfer without penalty (as was the case at USC) to another school.
When you factor in that the reason this would be happening is because the head coach they signed up for was blatantly paying for players, I don't really feel like the kids are going to suffer any irreparable harm, much less be lumped in with cheaters like Bush and Pryor in people's minds, as Whitlock suggests.
Back in the SEC cheating runs out of control with no major reporting agency looking to bring it forward....and Gene Chizik promotes a new book on ESPN on how he paid a player and won a National Championship.
What im getting at, im tired of every sleeze ball agent do some soul searching and blowing the lid of on the school they worked for. I serioulsy doubt UO was the only university that paid for his serviecs. The man works out of Texas, they have kids on every team in the nation.
I don't really know what's worse (in the NCAA rulebook) than a coach paying for players. Sure Auburn might be actually paying players instead of intermediaries, but what's the difference? You have cash, recruiting violations and ended careers of coaches. The only difference being that the athletes get to keep playing since they're innocent in this case.
I remember when I followed Whitlock on Twitter. God that sucked.
I just can't read him, even if I do think Lyles is being a dick here. I mean, I'm glad it's coming out because cheaters shouldn't cheat, but Lyles' sense of holier than thou-ness makes me wish awful things upon him.
I think tax evasion is a likely candidate.