This from Deadspin: Dave Reynolds, a Journal Star beat writer who’s been covering Bradley for 29 years, was approached by assistant director of athletic communications Jason Veniskey while covering a team media information event on Friday. Veniskey told Reynolds that he was essentially not allowed to be there because of a policy in place that prevented him from receiving “extra coverage opportunity,” according to a commentary article on the Journal Star. Here’s how Reynolds says the conversation went down:
“One of the players I wanted to talk with was Nate Kennell, and I motioned to Jason, ‘I’d like to talk to Nate.’ [Veniskey] said, ‘I want to talk to you for a minute.’Well, OK. So he should know that.
“He pulled me aside and said their policy of me not given extra coverage opportunity was still in place, and I was not allowed to do any interviews. I told him, ‘The newspaper received the invitation.’ He said, ‘That was directed to (the sports editor), not to you.’ I said, ‘He doesn’t cover the team. I have for 29 years.’
“He responded by saying, ‘You don’t promote the Bradley brand, and basically we don’t want you here.’ I said, ‘Jason, that’s not my job to promote the Bradley brand. You know that.’
And yet ...
And yet, in an era when actual media competes in an increasingly dense wilderness of fanboy amateurs, I suppose Veniskey gets something of a pass here. It is easy to get confused these days. So perhaps Veniskey really does believe there's no discernible difference between the fanboys and, you know, actual working journalists.
And it's not like the general public hasn't for years been a tad murky about the job of team beat writers. They are, after all, fans, and see everything through that prism. And so if you're compelled to write, after Notre Dame gets floor-waxed 38-0 by Michigan, that the Fighting Irish are a pretty cruddy football team, you hear about it.
And I did, on that particular occasion and others. In fact if I had a nickel for every time I heard "You hate Notre Dame/IU/Purdue" after Notre Dame/IU/Purdue stunk up the joint ... well, I'd have a whole pile of nickels I'd have to take to the bank's change-counting machine.
People with an investment in a certain school don't cotton to being told their school's team isn't very good when it isn't very good. But when you're not just a fan but a representative of that school, and charged with the specific task of facilitating media coverage, you don't have the option of having skin so thin you can see through it. Most sports information directors -- the good ones, anyway, and I've known plenty -- understand this, even in today's murky landscape. The bad ones ...
Well, the bad ones say stuff they should know isn't true, like Veniskey telling a veteran beat writer he's being punished for not promoting the brand. In so doing, the bad ones forget a few things, like how difficult it is to cover a team that isn't very good. Every sportswriter who ever fought a deadline will tell you it's way more fun to cover a winning team than a losing one. For that reason, no one roots for the team he or she covers to be bad, or for the chance to be negative. It just doesn't work that way.
Again, Veniskey should know this -- especially in this circumstance. For most of the last decade, after all, Bradley hadn't exactly been Duke. From 2009 until last season, the Braves were 92-161. Their only two winning seasons in that span were 18-17 and 16-15; in that same span, they threw in a 9-24 season, a 7-25 season and, three seasons ago, a 5-27 gem.
Not a lot of positives there for a beat writer to sink his teeth into, if he's doing his job right. Yet the Bradley folks had the temerity to whine about Reynolds' negative coverage; after the 5-27 season, the Braves' head coach, Brian Wardle, actually had the gall to issue a veiled threat, telling Reynolds that when Bradley turned it around he would "remember who (his) friends were."
Which only put Wardle in the swelling rank of folks at Bradley who don't get it.
Because you see, Coach, it's not Reynolds' job to be your friend. It's his job to cover your team.
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