BleacherCoaches.com

Eaglealum mentioned this forum might turn into a Rudel bashing. I hope we can do better than that. Still... since the guy's such a magnet for controversy, let's keep track of what he has to say and how he says it.

Well, NR picked up where he left off last year. In his coverage of the Blue/White game Paterno comes off as a doddering old man who can't remember players' names.

Here's the online snippit of Rudel's column for today. I'll reserve my comments later:


Garver exits C-K with sad legacy

By Neil Rudel


Tony Garver coached the Claysburg-Kimmel High School boys' basketball team for 13 seasons, compiling a record of 55-254.
He's been known as a professional, likable sort, which presumably helped outweigh the importance of winning consistently and presumably would have kept him in his position as the lead Bulldog for as long as he wanted to be.

But if it was OK to lose almost five of every six games he coached, Garver found out there are other ways to lose your job not only as a coach, but worse as a teacher.

For more details, see Page C1 of the May 23 Altoona Mirror.

For the most, I usually enjoy Neil's commentaries even though they tend to be written using 20-20 hindsight, but this one was just a bad call. This was a topic that was better left alone. It was a no win article. The article made everyone associated for one reason or another look bad, but the worst part was the paragraph that implied the girl may have created the situation by flirting with the teacher. That part was totally inappropriate.

Could someone post the whole text of the article?

The online version of the Mirror only has the lead and a few other graphs.

I agree with voncap. A sport columnist's job (usually) is to provide further insight concerning a mainstream story. Rudel didn't add anything except drop a few more t**ds into the already crappy water.

Rudel's column today raked the Pirate fans for not showing up this season. Then he made the acute observation that Pittsburgh isn't a baseball town, unlike Altoona, with their strong support of the Curve.

Hey, Neil, you're comparing apples and oranges. Name 10 other things to do in Altoona, that cultural metropolis, besides going to a Curve game, walking around the freaking mall, and tossing a few down at Hooters.

Sure the Pirate fans aren't as enthusiastic as they might be, but a dozen or so years of losing records will do that to people. If the Pirate organization actually showed a shred of insight and creativity in the way it conducts its business, people would come.

That and a few more nights of free bobblehead dolls.

Hey, man, always trust a sports reporter who was cut from his 6th grdae CYO team in Altoona!!!

Rudel is a JOKE, but he sells papers. How else would he have survived for so long?

WT