Northwestern University Must Be Pretty Lame
domer.mq - 1:22 pm
This morning, TheBigLead.com published undated photos of Notre Dame football players Jimmy Clausen, James Aldridge, and Brian Smith at what is apparently a party. And the website notes that said party may have been called “The Beer Olympics.” We noticed the post and thought little of it, figuring that TBL originally posted the photos because the players are wearing some really unusual “team uniforms.” In other words, they look like stupid college kids being stupid college kids.
But then Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune picked up on the story, as he often does after surfing the internet looking for stories to serve as “inspiration,” and turned it into a post headlined: Could ND players be in hot water over pics?
Brian, a graduate of Northwestern University, apparently thought it was news-worthy to mention that these football players in these undated photos may have been drinking beer! Yes, beer! In college! At a party! At Notre Dame! My God!
This, of course, leads us to a question we keep asking ourselves about Brian: Has Brian Hamilton, the Notre Dame beat writer for the Chicago Tribune, ever actually stepped foot on ND’s campus? The place reeks of beer. That smell in the air every 3rd day? That’s not an “ethanol plant.” What a ridiculous notion. If there were really a plant producing that much ethanol, oil would be about 3 bucks a barrel. That smell is just vapors from all the spilled beer in the dorm carpeting.
We haven’t gotten any comments from Brian on why he chose to attend Northwestern over, say, Bob Jones or Wheaton. And, frankly, we feel about as motivated to actually reach him as Brian feels compelled to cover his beat with any semblance of competence.
Elkona
Hamilton is a good game-day writer & this is a lame story but what do you expect in the age of the Internet? This stuff zings around the internet at light speed. Newspapers think they have to deal with it or else they’ll be scooped by some smartypants Web site. At least Trib didn’t write a story about it. Chi Trib still produces the best coverage of ND football among newspapers. Fans should be thankful the Trib (which Sam Zell is cutting down to the bare bone) still sends one of its writers to ND games, and one as good as Hamilton at that.
August 4, 2008 at 10:27 pmdomer.mq
Oh yeah, Elkona. Brian is this generation’s Grantland Rice.
And the trib didn’t write a story about it?
Yes they did.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-05-notre-dame-claussenaug05,0,2234263.story
They just didn’t have the story in time for yesterday’s press.
Hamilton and the Trib are jokes. Thankfully, the entire operation is dying.
August 5, 2008 at 7:51 amThe Biscuit
The difference is that we expect little things like this to be picked up by blogs. Newspapers should be reporting news, not internet rumors or posting pics of undergrads. But, they’re afraid of how much blogs are taking away from them online, so they jump right in. Problem is, they just can’t compete. It’s like ESPN.com doing ‘blog’s. It’s not a blog if you’re a paid writer for a multinational corporation. By defn.
August 5, 2008 at 9:04 amDeepTeaKup
I would be more worried about the frills on their shirts in those photos.
August 5, 2008 at 2:16 pmElkona
domer: The reason they wrote the story is that ND said it would “investigate possible school code violations” based on what they saw on the photos. If Clausen really got in trouble over this, it would be a 2nd alcohol violation for him … kind of a big deal at ND. Ergo: this is news.
August 5, 2008 at 11:16 pmAlso, no need to exaggerate what I wrote about Hamilton. He’s a good game writer, is all I’m saying. You can hate, hate, hate, and the kid is still going to have a job writing about our beloved football team FOR A LIVING and you’re still going to be punching away on your laptop late at night bitching about him.
domer.mq
Elkona,
I think you’re vastly underestimating the amount of, let’s say, “shenanigans,” that the average ND football player, or ND student, for that matter, manages to get into during his time at ND.
Ergo: this isn’t even close to news. It’s 2 photos of kids partying. He didn’t even “get in trouble.” And ND never said they will investigate JC or any other player. Go read Hamilton’s quote again. It’s pretty carefully constructed.
Further, it’s not the Chicago Tribune’s job to keep from getting “scooped” by blogs. Just because they’re confused about the difference between a news outlet and a “gotcha”-blog, doesn’t mean we are.
August 6, 2008 at 8:07 amThe Biscuit
And Elkona, just so you know, MQ is very likely getting paid a shite-ton more than Hamilton, and afforded a lifestyle where he can spend time (and not ‘late at night’) typing away about ND football and those that suck at reporting about it, for FREE, on his OWN TIME, and just because he LOVES THE SPORT AND THE SCHOOL AND THE TEAM, which means he’s NOT beholden to lame attempts to get traffic to his site to generate revenue. But rather, he just calls it like it is. Cuz there’s no repercussions for him or us from a financial standpoint. And yes, that first sentence is a run-on sentence – another beautiful thing about being 1000% independent.
August 6, 2008 at 10:38 amElkona
You guys are foaming at the mouth over this.
Hamilton wrote the story because the university said it would investigate “possible violations.” Yes, it came from another blog. Who cares? What if the pictures had come to him through the mail? Would it make any difference?
This reaction is one of the worst things about being an ND fan. Fellow fans who are fanatics and think it’s ND versus the World. Mark May has warped your damn minds. You guys sound like Bush circa 2003.
Go ahead … bombs away.
P.S. Biscuit — slightly confused by the mixed signals you send re: value of money. MQ is getting paid a “shite-ton more” than Hamilton… But he’s not “beholden to lame attempts” to “generate revenue.” I guess MQ’s money just growns on trees?
August 6, 2008 at 11:02 pmAnd really, do you think there is a profit motive for Tribune journalists — like Sam Zell is handing out dead presidents to guys like Hamilton who write stories about Clausen that probably run deep inside the Sports section? Or give out bonuses for generating hits for the lame Web site? This is the American newspaper, man. If it was that savvy about making money, it would not be DYING.
domer.mq
Elkona,
You have the chronology of this wrong. You’re also misreading the quote about investigating. ND said they will investigate such cases. When did they say this? When Hamilton called them to let them know that these photos existed. Thus Hamilton actually made himself part of the story that he then reported.
August 7, 2008 at 8:12 amThat’s fine if he wants to tell ND about the photos. It’s not fine that he then wants to be the reporter “breaking the story.”
Had the photos surfaces, and ND discovered them, and announced they were going to investigate, and through Hamilton’s access to the program, he broke the story, that would be fine. But it didn’t happen that way.
The Biscuit
My point isn’t that money is bad (I love money). My point is that Domer’s motivation to write on this site has zero to do with money. In fact, he loses money every month doing this. It’s not a judgement one way or another – just a fact. Hamilton’s job is to get revenue for his company so he can keep getting paid. MQ’s job is to say what he thinks. There is a difference.
August 7, 2008 at 10:46 am