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Brian Haenchen calls out Biondi


Duff Man

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http://hankssportsblog.com/crews-introductory-news-conference-overshadowed-by-biondis-antics/

Here is the money quote:

Unbeknownst to SLU’s insufferably arrogant leader (and something even I only realized in hindsight), he had just shown his hand. Despite Crews’ best efforts to shift attention, it became apparent who was to blame—the man who insists upon having a say in each and every decision: Lawrence Biondi.

Yet, rather than take to the podium and address his critics, he did what he always does—shift the blame to someone else.

Whether it’s forcing a defiant administrator out of a job or trotting out one of his employees to take the heat, he makes his decisions, but deftly avoids facing the consequences, lurking defiantly in the shadows.

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Somewhat unfortunate that only a student would see this as it was. Great article Brian. How's your breathe-holding ability? Given the attack on DonBiondi, that might be a requisite skill when "sleeping with the fishes."

As a former UNews writer and editor, still proud of the article.

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I think ARon is right. The same guy that had all the anonymous sources and sources connected to a BCS conference? Earth-shattering, hard-hitting, ground-breaking and many other hyphenated words don't come to mind when I think about this guy.

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Well, I use to tell my employees just because a person has issues does not mean they are wrong on everything. If Biondi told Crews what is quoted in the article then all the people who surmised it was Biondi dragging his feet were right. Bernie M took a bit more of a high road but my guess is he did it for Crew's sake - he will however be watching the program and Biondi closely.

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Just making sure....this is the same student writer who at the beginning of the 2012 season proclaimed that he was a Mizzou fan and didn't even know who Dwayne Evans was.

Yeah, what an expert.

What does being an expert have to do with this article? He's not out to criticize Crews, the players, or the basketball program, he's just rightly pointing out that the entire process was hijacked by one man. It's an opinion piece; is he not allowed to have one because you don't like his qualifications regarding Billiken basketball? What's your point? The fact that Larry Biondi views himself as the Pope of Midtown has been pretty well established for a long time, and he has thrown his subordinates under the bus on more than one occasion. I think people are impressed by the fact that the columnist is still a student at SLU and has the temerity to call out Biondi when its possible there could be recriminations against him. Who he has rooted for or how long he's been following the Billikens is immaterial.
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If you read Bernie's column today and then Brian's it is clear that one was written by someone who has sources and one by a guy who did most of his research by reading this board.

I'd rather listen to the veteran with actual knowledge contacts in the sports world. Not the guy auditioning to be a "everything is an outrage", Deadspin blogger / sports-radio hack.

Brian may turn out to be a hell of a sports journalist someday. Right now he is a blogger who needs people to click on his Mccallister's Deli ad.

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I was getting pretty frustrated with the delay in the process, but I got thinking last night that maybe it's not that big of a deal. It took three weeks. It probably shouldn't have taken this long, but it did. He's hired now. What are the negatives of it taking this long? Well, I don't think we will ever know. We can only speculate. If the Spring signing period goes well, then it worked out fine. If Crews got some things accomplished to aid him in his job, then it worked. Crews says he's a simple guy and doesn't need much, but it will be interesting to see what shakes out from these negotiations.

My point with this is that Crews is hired and it's a done deal. It took longer than it expected, but it may not mean anything. Biondi is who he is, but the deal got done.

I also believe that one group will say one thing happened and another group will say another thing happened and we all know that the truth lies in the middle.

I though this was a well written piece, but not sure why some don't understand if people criticize it or the author. If the author has shown credibility issues in the past, naturally people will question him and what he writes in the future. Just the way it works.

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If you read Bernie's column today and then Brian's it is clear that one was written by someone who has sources and one by a guy who did most of his research by reading this board.

I'd rather listen to the veteran with actual knowledge contacts in the sports world. Not the guy auditioning to be a "everything is an outrage", Deadspin blogger / sports-radio hack.

Brian may turn out to be a hell of a sports journalist someday. Right now he is a blogger who needs people to click on his Mccallister's Deli ad.

True dat.

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If you read Bernie's column today and then Brian's it is clear that one was written by someone who has sources and one by a guy who did most of his research by reading this board.

I'd rather listen to the veteran with actual knowledge contacts in the sports world. Not the guy auditioning to be a "everything is an outrage", Deadspin blogger / sports-radio hack.

Brian may turn out to be a hell of a sports journalist someday. Right now he is a blogger who needs people to click on his Mccallister's Deli ad.

Bernie Miklasz is a great writer, but he was at best "behind the curve" and at worst "asleep at the wheel" during the height of the MLB steroid era.

Deadspin does plenty of sleazy tabloid-ish things...but they also break big stories

Bernie gives Biondi the benefit of the doubt. That's fine. His sources are probably Jim Crews and Chris May who are toeing the company line. Crews, May, and Miklasz all enjoy cushy gigs and have nothing to gain from a public pissing match with Biondi (indeed May and Crews have everything to lose).

Haenchen reads between the lines. He may not have sources as high up as Benie, but he surely has better sources than Bernie when it comes to Biondi's management style.

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If you read Bernie's column today and then Brian's it is clear that one was written by someone who has sources and one by a guy who did most of his research by reading this board.

I'd rather listen to the veteran with actual knowledge contacts in the sports world. Not the guy auditioning to be a "everything is an outrage", Deadspin blogger / sports-radio hack.

Brian may turn out to be a hell of a sports journalist someday. Right now he is a blogger who needs people to click on his Mccallister's Deli ad.

+1

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Bernie Miklasz is a great writer, but he was at best "behind the curve" and at worst "asleep at the wheel" during the height of the MLB steroid era.

Deadspin does plenty of sleazy tabloid-ish things...but they also break big stories

Bernie gives Biondi the benefit of the doubt. That's fine. His sources are probably Jim Crews and Chris May who are toeing the company line. Crews, May, and Miklasz all enjoy cushy gigs and have nothing to gain from a public pissing match with Biondi (indeed May and Crews have everything to lose).

Haenchen reads between the lines. He may not have sources as high up as Benie, but he surely has better sources than Bernie when it comes to Biondi's management style.

+1

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How brave of him to take on Biondi, who we know the faculty loathes. Who is grading this guys papers again? That's right the faculty not Biondi. So brave. I don't care if this kid is only 18 that last piece of garbage I read from him showed me he lacked integrity in his "sources". So I'm not even clicking the link.

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Please clarify.

It wasn't objective every source magically validated the premise of the article. Coincidentally every source was anonymous. Also they were if I recall correctly, "someone familiar with the situation" that sounds like posters from this board and "someone connected to a BCS conference program" sounds like my Uncle that donates to Auburn. It was indicative of a future Selena Roberts style sports writer.

I get it, Father Biondi is bad.

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It wasn't objective every source magically validated the premise of the article. Coincidentally every source was anonymous. Also they were if I recall correctly, "someone familiar with the situation" that sounds like posters from this board and "someone connected to a BCS conference program" sounds like my Uncle that donates to Auburn. It was indicative of a future Selena Roberts style sports writer.

I get it, Father Biondi is bad.

Uncle that donates to Auburn?

Is your cousin Cam Newton?

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It wasn't objective every source magically validated the premise of the article. Coincidentally every source was anonymous. Also they were if I recall correctly, "someone familiar with the situation" that sounds like posters from this board and "someone connected to a BCS conference program" sounds like my Uncle that donates to Auburn. It was indicative of a future Selena Roberts style sports writer.

I get it, Father Biondi is bad.

You can't provide a link or recall the specific details? Do you not see the irony in your poorly sourced argument?

All that aside, your refusal to even read the opinion of some young journalist in his early 20s because of some previous indiscretion is quite obtuse.

None of Haenchen's critics have addressed the content of this piece. That's because he's on point like a mother-fuoker.

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You can't provide a link or recall the specific details? Do you not see the irony in your poorly sourced argument?

All that aside, your refusal to even read the opinion of some young journalist in his early 20s because of some previous indiscretion is quite obtuse.

None of Haenchen's critics have addressed the content of this piece. That's because he's on point like a mother-fuoker.

I know I am always really impressed by a young kid with limited life experiences opining on situations where he has no real experience himself. Absolutely riveting.

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I know I am always really impressed by a young kid with limited life experiences opining on situations where he has no real experience himself. Absolutely riveting.

Another completely irrelevant post that dismisses the author on the basis of his age without addressing the content of his article.

Let me put this another way...why does it fall on the shoulders of an obscure student journalist to articulate that the emperor has no clothes? Could it be that he might actually have a better handle on what's going on at the University in 2013 than professional journalists or random billikens.com message board posters?

No one here has disputed Haenchen's analysis. Some have insulted him for being inexperienced or vaguely criticized stuff he wrote when he was even less experienced than he is now, but no one has explained why he's wrong about Biondi.

Biondi has survived this long because he insulates himself like a mob boss. The few individuals with first hand knowledge of his bull**** face a highly asymmetrical proposition when it comes to personal incentive to testify vs blowback. Annette Clark was the exception.

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Another completely irrelevant post that dismisses the author on the basis of his age without addressing the content of his article.

Let me put this another way...why does it fall on the shoulders of an obscure student journalist to articulate that the emperor has no clothes? Could it be that he might actually have a better handle on what's going on at the University in 2013 than professional journalists or random billikens.com message board posters?

No one here has disputed Haenchen's analysis. Some have insulted him for being inexperienced or vaguely criticized stuff he wrote when he was even less experienced than he is now, but no one has explained why he's wrong about Biondi.

Biondi has survived this long because he insulates himself like a mob boss. The few individuals with first hand knowledge of his bull**** face a highly asymmetrical proposition when it comes to personal incentive to testify vs blowback. Annette Clark was the exception.

So his opinion matters, but those who have an opinion of him do not? I think that's the point.

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