Sex, Lies and VT football video tape!
April 14th, 2009 by bourbonstreetSo…..I turn my back on Techsideline.com for about 30 hours.
I log in this AM and see that everyone is up in arms over a practice video tape?
But where do you come out on this? And perhaps more importantly….
WWFD? (What Will Frank Do)?
In recent years, I have been forced into viewing the relationship that is otherwise know as the Commonwealth sport flagship, one VT football, and the so-called Fourth-Estate (A.K.A. the media)…as one that has experienced some up’s and downs, but has generally experienced a cooling trend in the last few years. There are several reasons for such:
- Expanded coverage means less control. Gone are the hush-hush, nod-nod,
“Don’t print that.” wink-wink days of media relations. When Ike told the media to sit down, no one bothered looking for a chair. Kennedy was the last one to truly have line-item silencing authority, and Reagan was the great communicator. But somewhere in between things changed. Right or wrong, (which is another article entirely), the Fourth-Estate began it’s own version of regulatory and commentary based control. Reporting the news was no longer enough. Competition set in with the advent of Cable TV; and that genie left that 1980’s bottle long ago. The internet electronic media explosion has only ensured that that genie will never go back. - Expanded coverage cuts into beamerball.com’s bottom line. This one makes the most sense, or at least the most cents. Any coverage by any media outlet outside Hokiesports.com or beamerball.com is costing Frank a few coins one way or another. Obviously, I’m biased (as a TSL staffer) and therefore I must D.Q. myself at this time. But Laissez-faire is what it is; and so is the fact that you can’t spend love. Ergo, I respect striking while the O&M iron is hot. Frank should go there, and he does.
- A victim of our own success? I was in Lane Stadium in the 1970’s when you laid down and stretched out on the old-school faded wooden bleachers to catch some rays. Some days you even worked your tan while a VT football game was on-going. But that has all changed since 1999. VT is on the ESPN Bristol Connecticut map. VT made numerous shrewd scheduling accommodations for the Bristol crew in fact. Then somewhere in the last 10+ years or so, VT football took off. We are no now longer flying under the national radar; we are the Commonwealth sports page(s) mainstay, and there are a growing number of websites covering VT sports. Think they are around if we are still yo-yo’ing up and down normatively hovering right at the .500 mark in football for a given calender decade? We wanted success, but be careful what you wish for, you just might…
- Speed kills? Not only has Bud Foster masterminded a speed based stop-unit, the electronic media age has take this to new Carl Lewis 100m heights. Anything that happens at practice or a scrimmage could and sometimes does get out before it can be muffled, managed and massaged into a more delicate and pristine O&M message. Video-phones, cameras, instantaneous fillings and uploads. All now dot the American sport-media landscape. The devices that allow for such not only get smaller, they also get faster. Catch us if you can? Or speed kills? You be the judge.
But what should Frank do about this scrimmage#1 unauthorized video? And more importantly … what will Frank do (WWFD)???
Things got distinctly chillier as VT football vis-à-vis the VT football media went last year. Recall that Frank pretty much closed practices to the VT football media towards the end of last year.
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Has it finally come to that? Are we forfeiting a competitive advantage to our opponents in the electronic media age? Or is this Much Ado About Nothing?
Is it now time to blackout all practices, scrimmages and so-forth? How do you regulate such, especially regarding the VT football fans? Are you willing to at least nibble on the hand that feeds you or is it way too taboo to do anything that might offend the VT football fan-base? You tell me … what would you do if you were Frank regarding the media and regarding VT football fan access?
“LETS GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street.
(Scroll down for comments on this blog entry)
April 14th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Clearly, the answer to this situation has to be: Taser anyone with a video camera. Then dress them up in Hoo clothing and set them free on the drillfield. Pay a couple good ole boys $10 and a case of PBR to chase them around. Problem solved.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Haha. Way to lead off Annette’s mailbag on ESPN, ’street. Nicely done.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Thank you f4h.
Just random luck.
b’street
April 14th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Tasers?
It may come to that.
Frank and company are none too happy.
b’street
April 14th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
To quote Al Davis, “Just win baby.” Video cameras, media access, open and/or closed door policies are all just distractions from the goal.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Indeed e6. The Godfather of silver and black jumpsuits nailed that one right between the eyes.
b’street
April 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I appreciate the need/desire to keep the felines contained in the appropriate cloth sack with regard to the media, but how else am I going to make it to September 5th? Baseball? I think not…
April 16th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
One, no two things now have elbowed me in my mental ribs since this story blew-up:
1. Did Frank and company really not consider that someone might jack their open to the public scrimmage with a video capture device in the electronic era? If “no”, how do you miss that?
2. Most Hokies I know worship Frank. Most Hokies I know would help Frank out if Frank would only ask. Maybe even going to extremes to help. Ergo, why not handle this in back-channels rather that raising a public stink. I get the stink, I would not be in love with such if I were Frank. But how many Hokies would tell Frank to P off??? I’ll take the under on 1% for $1,000 please Alex.
; )
b’street