Going Off the Rails on a Crazy Train
by John Expat on Aug 16, 2010 10:36 PM CDT
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PrintBreaking news: the sun rose in the east this morning, the sky remains blue, and the hyper-intense fringe of Razorback fans has embarrassed the rest of us by demonstrating a general lack of perspective on the importance of college football vs real life.
AS360 has a much more complete recap, but here's the short version: a reporter for Hog Sports Radio (with the rather awesome name of Renee Gork) made the idiotic decision to wear a Florida Gators hat to the post-scrimmage press conference on Saturday, was then rather gently rebuked for that poor fashion choice by Bobby Petrino and Ryan Mallett, and by Monday had been fired from her job after an online uprising by the aforementioned fringe (apparently they were bored by the lack of recent Houston Nutt-related news).
Now, if you're employed by an organization called Hog Sports Radio is it a bad idea to wear an opposing team's gear to an official work event? Yes, it absolutely is...that move probably ranks as the dumbest thing I've heard in recent memory. Were Petrino and Mallett within their rights to call her out on that? Again, yes, and I'm glad they did.
But, is that the sort of grievous offense that should inspire multiple adults, who presumably have better things to do with their time, to track down her personal information and post it all over the web so she can be the target of direct attacks? Should it cause someone to lose their job? No and no. For us reality-based Arkansans, it's a pretty embarrassing event all around.
What a ridiculous situation.
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Didn't help herself...
by tweeting live updates from an Arkansas practice, where cell phones were prohibited, on her twitter page used in her professional capacity (that SUPPOSEDLY, has since been closed / made private, included an Auburn coach as a follower as well). Add to that the general nonsense about disliking her job on a public facebook wall as well, and it’s a recipe for a pretty serious reprimand or being let go regardless.
I realize that there’s a pretty ridiculous lunatic fringe of Razorback fans, but this poor girl did very little to help herself in this situation, just a serious of boneheaded moves. If she really didn’t enjoy covering Arkansas sports that much, maybe it’s for the best.
Of course...
you’ll only hear “CRAZY ARKANSAS FANS” on any of the stories in the national media and not any of the other dumb (at best) or malicious in a really really misguided way (HIGHLY unlikely) series of events/actions on her part.
To be clear, I personally don’t think she should have lost her job, but if her superiors felt that way I can certainly see how they got there. You don’t need that kind of publicity.
Gonna take a likely unpopular opinion on this one.
Dug her own grave.
Despite what you may have heard in the media, she was not fired “for wearing a hat”. I’m not sure exactly what she was fired for, but I can assure you it was not for wearing a hat.
There were ways she could have averted this herself, namely by apologizing immediately after, instead of making jokes about it on her work twitter.
The implication that any portion of the fanbase got her fired is puzzling.
While I don’t believe she deserved to be fired (actually, I don’t believe I’m in any position to make even that decision… I’m not her employer, after all), the unprofessionalism she displayed was staggering, both before and after the press conference incidence. Public unprofessionalism is rarely conducive to keeping a job in broadcast media.
The hat provided the spark. In a lot of ways, she provided the gasoline.
I agree that there's probably more to it than we know...
…and it crossed my mind that there were possibly other reasons behind her being canned. But, that doesn’t really excuse a bunch of people interfering with her personally, etc, etc. That’s what gets to me.
I would also argue that...
complaining to a radio station that you don’t appreciate one of its employees badmouthing the team that they cover is “interfering with her personally”. Again, personal (ie, to her home or family) communication and threats or insults are a different story and deserve to be dealt with by the proper authorities. But if she was this dumb, while working in the media, she earned the reaction she got by provoking the very people she expects to follow her. Her employers options are limited given the negative publicity involved here.
What's unexcusable is...
the alleged death threats. If that’s true, they deserve to be investigated by the proper authorities. In no way EVER is that appropriate, acceptable, or condoned by any fanbase. It’s beyond “obsessed” and into dangerous territory.
Her job is a completely different story.
Do they know how to hire and train people?
I agree that what she did was lacking in professional judgement, from wearing the hat to twittering about it, but isn’t she also a reflection of the hiring and training practices of that particular radio station? Do they not check references? Do they not ask relevant questions in the interview? Do they not cover what to wear to a press conference? They knew she was a Florida graduate being hired to cover another SEC team. Are there not any people from Arkansas who can do this job for the ALL HOG channel that they claim to be? In a series of bad judgements, I think the first one rests with this radio station’s management. With so many journalists out of work, it is hard to believe they couldn’t have hired a more professional one.
Her husband is Mike Capshaw...
A fairly prominent figure in the Arkansas high school sports media. Conclusion can be drawn from this. Perhaps unfairly, but conclusions can be drawn.
IF the old sports gal
network (scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours) is what truly got her hired, then score one for actual real employee searches.
Bad Idea
Yes, it was a bad idea to wear the hat but she should never have been fired. The radio station needs to show a little backbone here and withstand some of the fringe critics. We are talking about a person’s career here. Just my take.
Message Boards
I’m always amazed at how hateful some people can get on message boards. People call their fellow countrymen names reserved for only the worst the world has to offer. Give some people a computer and an anonymous way to post and they go nuts.
I like this site because we stay away from that crap. Other than some misdirected articles and comments about Tebow, this site is one of the the most professional out there in the sports world.
Well, I think it is safe to say
that you won’t be encountering any additional anti-Tebow articles here. He is gone from the immediate college football scene. Now, if he comes to a Razorback press conference wearing a gator hat, then I can’t promise I’ll keep quiet! haha. Glad you like the site!
It's unreal how people tend to bend the truth around for their own benefit.
Everything would have been cool, had a few psyco idiots not felt the need to harrass, much less make death threats to this young women. Nobody is perfect, even if they do make dumb or unprofessional decisions.
The national media feels like it has a familiar stomping ground here in the natural state. After the unprofessional and arrogant decision making of our former coach, combined with an unstable administration backing his call, then with the hiring of CBP and all the redicules rhetoric that surrounded him in Atlanta, and now this, the outside view of this state and it’s people/sports fans, is nothing short of absurd.
No wonder the national media jumped all over this one. They already think they have a free pass.
Thank you Nolan, John, Frank, HDN, and Arthur Blank. We really appreciate it.
Christopher Martin Gonzalez
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