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Bernie's At It Again...


Schasz

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With his latest Pressbox comment..."The MVC is too good for SLU." Someone or something regarding SLU has really crawled up and irratated BM's arse, as he really has it in for us. Since the decision was made what over a year ago to go to the A10...why all the stupid commentary. It's a done deal and all the debate in the world does not change the decision made by the SLU hierarchy.

http://forums.stltoday.com/viewtopic.php?t...der=asc&start=0

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it is my guess that the slueth manner the department is run is what irks bernie. he isnt on the inside on coaching changes, recruiting, etc. i have long said, that we should be working the media like any business works their clients and referal sources. wine, dine, cajole the likes of bernie and the post staff to make them feel special.

think about it, just what has our sid done recently to counter this season? while that is a tough task, everything is still super secret. we know nothing about anything from recruiting to the arena. slu is stupid to ignore him. the number of hits that pressbox gets a day is borderline spectacular.

now is that a legit excuse for the way that bernie has treated us? no. and before anyone jumps up to defend bernie, i am not looking for bernie to say we can win the national title this year or next. but i do expect him to be accurate in his statements. the gordon thing was just wrong and this "not good enough" statement is just childish. he obviously has ulterior motives. unfortunately, i think they are working. it doesnt take much of a nudge to push the casual st louis fans (to borrow from "blazing saddles") you know, morons. and bernie seems to have the casual st louis fan captivated.

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"he obviously has ulterior motives. unfortunately, i think they are working. it doesnt take much of a nudge to push the casual st louis fans (to borrow from "blazing saddles") you know, morons. and bernie seems to have the casual st louis fan captivated."

That pretty much sums up why i think the P-D is major for st. louis.

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Actually I now expect Bernie to do a column during the MVC tournament on the MVC where he will take a few shots at SLU. I have no inside knowledge, just a guess. SLU's bad season coupled with the A-10's bad season colletively and the MVC having a good season has given him this opening. I expect it now so when I read it later it won't surprise me.

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Broy,

In the spirit of full disclosure, I know Doug Mac and worked in the office when I was at SLU. But I think I can provide an objective opinion.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the SID on this. It's clear that SLU plays second fiddle in this town to the pro sports teams, which are Bernie's primary writing subjects. It's hard enough to get coverage when those teams take precedence, the season Illinois is having, and with Mizzou always being No. 1 because it's the state school. Then factor in our season. The SID's job is to provide the media with the necessary information for stories, not to give recruiting updates or arena updates. He can talk to Stu and Bernie and Larry Starks all he wants, but in the end, it's up to the media to decide what to cover. Doug talks to those guys all the time and remains in contact.

For the record, SLU's media relations is much better than Mizzou's. Media guys often complain that they drive up to Columbia and Jimmy McKinney isn't available for comment. At SLU, practice is open and the media can speak with anyone they want at almost any time.

Bernie's taking his shots while we're down. Unfair, if you ask me. He's just trying to stir the pot. He apparently has a very short memory. SJU and Xu were in the elite eight last year. I don't recall a MVC team making it that far in 25 years. Thrown in Temple's EE several years ago, Rhody's in 98 and UMass's FF in 1996. Much better conference overall.

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i normally am out and about around noon each day and i get to hear the r and r show. the last few days has been a commercial for the mvc between these two guys. today they are discussing that it appears rpiwise that the mvc will likely only get two bids and they are just up in arms about it. actually had it not been for bracket buster weekend, they probably would only be getting one. so they ought to be happy with what they are getting.

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i understand what you are saying about the sid's responsibilities. my only point is that there are levels of performance. and while just providing information might be the definition of that job, a truly sparkling job imo would be to lobby successfully for additional coverage and plant seeds to storylines etc. sure the ultimate decision is one that lies with starks and his writers/reporters/columnists, however, in todays world, schmoozing rules. get out there and play it up for all you can get. it is obvious to me that slu is no friend to the people at any of the media outlets save maybe frank cusamono. and likely that relationship is more because of frank's love of the college basketball and the billikens than any efforts on the part of slu. and while stories shouldnt be necessarily based on "friendly" relationships, you cant tell me that the media didnt suck up to spoon to a degree simply because they liked the guy. spoon was his own public relations machine. he was one of the best i ever saw as far as playing those guys for what he could get. and since our coaches arent spoon personalitywise, what is wrong with getting some help inside to cultivate those relationships?

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So let's say Doug schmoozes the hell out of the Post. What positive stories could they write about SLU that would actually interest readers? "SLU is looking for donations." "Lisch and Liddell are coming." "Lisch had a successful surgery." Those stories have already been done. I'm sure we'd all like to see more recruiting news but for a major newspaper, the recruitment of a mid-major power forward is not newsworthy.

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We know that this season is by far not what have grown used to in the past 10-12 years. We know our team is better than this. We are not getting blown out by good teams (excluding @ Louisville).

The A-10 is rebuilding, the A-10 will be better next year. They were great last year, and there are a lot of teams rebuilding in the A-10 this year. It will be okay.

The Missouri Valley is having a good year. So everyone is like, hey why is SLU going to the A-10. All they have against us is Geography. No one gives us ###### for being C-USA. Yeah...That is a dream Geography Conference.

Just have Patience. This year is worse than expected. But we know this won't be the norm.

Patience is key. It is the hardest thing to have, but it is one of the most necessary things in life.

And to help you be patient, just think how nice it will be to shove that quote down Bernie's throat in a couple of Years. :+

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It's too bad we picked this season to be so dismal. With the Blues out of action, am sure had SLU generated any kind of excitement we may have been able to woo some hockey fans who would find that college hoops, given the proper environment, is a better spectacle than hockey. BM's msot likely stirring the pot because he's bored due to no baseball yet and no Rams.

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Roy - I did hear R and R today and I thought their discussion about the MVC was fine. The MVC is having a good overall year and so with Arch Madness coming in this Friday - the stuff talked about today was relevent. I agree with others that this is not SLU's year so lets just lick our wounds and get ready for next year - when things are better we can b##ch all we want.

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Why in the hell would you waste your time arguing with Bernie and Co. on that message board. The posters are morons, with Bernie as the chief know-nothing. I don't have the time to educate the kind of imbecile who'd say something like: The billikens have sucked since spoon left town. If you want a more meaningful debate we could discuss the merits of the penalty kick in ending a tied soccer match.......

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i agree it is relavent discussion. but their slant is extremely pro-mvc. they made it sound like the mvc should get 3-4 teams in, and siu should be a number one seed. the fact is that the rpi dictates what the berths and seeds are and unless northern iowa and wsu play in the championship of the mvc tourney, it is unlikely they will both get a bid. what would be something to see is if siu sweeps through the thing and both northern iowa and wsu get beat in their initial game. that would set the mvc up for some begging then.

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BillikenR,

You must have heard a different show than me. I heard Randolph's uneducated rant about SIUC and their projected seed based on some guy from ESPN and the bracket he put together. Ramsey seemed indiffernt to the whole topic other than to say that the system is corrupt and makes no sense. You and Jay are putting too much stock in the RPI. It is one factor that the committee uses in filling out the bracet and seeding the teams but certainly not the only one.

What I don't understand is the snobby attitude towards the MVC. It's a great league whether they get one team in or have to "beg" for three.

It seems like a bad year for the Bills gets some people all sensitive about anything close to the program(BM, Tigers, Post, MVC). I can't wait til next year when we can talk about the Bills and not snipe at everyone else.

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Roy, they did use the RPI and talked about how WSU is ranked 30 something and NIU is ranked 40 something - I think - anyway, they also said that depending how the MVC tourney plays out and what happens to the lesser ranked conferences that get automatic bids that the MVC could be hurt.

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I think a critic should be able to show to his editor that he is objective, that he has no prior commitment of friendship, or enmity for the subject he is commenting on. In the world of reviewing this is proper, basic, and necessary. With Bernie the objectivity does not appear to be present. The sports editor should meet with Bernie and invigorate the need for objectivity as opposed to using the column to display, in this case, enmity. The SID can meet w/ Bernie, but should not become servile to this type of personality.

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