Did all this Harkless AAU stuff come out in the papers this week AFTER Fordham wrote the post on JJ the other day asking about Harkless/Hicks after the whole MOMO thing. Maybe it was on the MOMO thread I think.
If so I guess these writers are reading this site now for info. Also then I blame Fordham for stirring all this up. Just kidding
A good writer keeps track of the message boards. That's where loose lips spill rumors. So of course they're reading. Just as the players/ players' families read. This has come up on the sites a few times...
And don't blame Fordham. As I mentioned, someone directly tweeted the question about Harkless/ Hicks to Zags.
Also, nice to see you back, Choz.
If you recall on Redmen.com a few years ago Lawmanfan posted something that claimed to be from BE Commish Mike Tranghese and Dick Weiss ever so on top of the times wrote about it as if it really happened.
I have to try and find the original Hoops piece but here is the article he wrote the next day after he screwed up with Lawman's classic
BY DICK WEISS
We know there are some strong feelings about the state of St. John's basketball out there, but one post on Redmen.com has gone too far, falsely attributing the following quotes to Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese:
"I think that our conference is the strongest in the country, bar none. Now, I watched St. John's at Duke a couple of days ago, and our league did not put its best foot forward in that game. As I've said before, you cannot hire a career assistant in our league and hope to survive. I have had that conversation with officials at several of our league members, and they understand that there are certain requirements to participate in Big East basketball.
"Our BCS football members are fully familiar with the requirements that they must meet in order to continue to participate in the league. We have facilities requirements, attendance requirements, and competition requirements for football participation, and there is precedent for removing teams that do not meet our requirements.
"There is no reason why a similar standard cannot or should not be applied from a basketball perspective. Certainly we honor and respect those programs that have been with us since the time the league started. However, as a league we have to maintain certain standards and we expect our member institutions to conform their behavior to those standards. If a particular institution is out of compliance with all applicable league standards, longevity of membership does not trump lack of compliance."
The post was thankfully, eventually pulled, but this was way over the line. Tranghese is the best, most caring, principled commissioner of any conference in the country and has always made it a point to never publicly get involved in league politics.
No wonder so many programs are reluctant to give credentials to Web sites. Redmen.com has always been better than that, serving as an effective vehicle for passionate fans to share their ideas about St. John's basketball. But they have to do a better job monitoring irresponsible posts like this one in the future.