Andy Staples column on Richt

They employ Stewart Mandel, after all. :)

No one ever suggested that your opinion was not widely held, but the popularity of an erroneous opinion does not make it any the less mistaken. At various points in history, many people have believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the world was flat. That many people believed such nonsense did not make it so, and the postings to which I linked in my reply to your previous posting are applicable to rebut Andy Staples’s article, as well.

While Staples deservedly is a respected sportswriter, his column is the lazy repetition of a falsehood being repeated so often that it becomes accepted as conventional wisdom (much like Ole Miss’s lofty preseason ranking in 2009, which everyone accepted yet no one believed). The seminal posting upon this subject, which I have cited previously, is LD’s treatise on The Narrative.

Many people with limited knowledge of the actual culture of University of Georgia athletics believe that Mark Richt is on the hot seat. They are wrong. Well-informed writers like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Tony “Mr. College Football” Barnhart (a native Georgian, a University of Georgia graduate, an Atlanta newspaperman, and a nationally respected commentator) know better; Barnhart has slammed down hard the ridiculous notion that Mark Richt’s job is in any sort of jeopardy. Mark Richt will be the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs in 2011, and beyond. Count on it.

I regret that you appear to have taken personally the response to your posting, and I apologize if any of the replies you received came across as overly harsh. I am, however, grateful that you chose to return and participate in the discussion, even if I would have preferred a somewhat less antagonistic tone. Thanks.

You sir, are ignorant for insisting that because SI writes a similar article to yours (as mistake and riddled with incorrect facts as it was) that you are somehow vindicated. You, and Mr. Staples to an extent, have done nothing but take the same story/meme that’s been circulated by Paul Finebaum, Fox Sports, and other media that care nothing more than to drive up page hits for ad dollars and spit it out as your own and acted as if you’ve come to some brilliant original conclusion. I won’t even bother to throw out the numerous legitimate reasons why Mark Richt is not on the hot seat as they were already provided to you in your last post where you felt the need to shamelessly peddle your own site.

I’ll leave it at that as my momma once told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say to somebody I shouldn’t say anything at all. Mark Richt is too busy preparing his damn fine football team for a game on Saturday. Have nice day!

1. Hot seat speculation fatigue. By the time you posted the link to your article, we’d seen countless instances of hot-seat talk from journalists, bloggers, and random commenters for the better part of a year. Not a single one raised an issue of which we were not aware, and by the third or fourth instance back in November or December of 2009, not a single such writer had raised a point that had not already been raised, including the Tuberville and Fulmer comparisons. The topic became worse than tiresome no later than when the Grantham hire was announced.

2. “A good read”. Really? I’ve been very satisfied on occasion with things I’ve written in my work. Where I come from, presenting it to someone and telling them it’s good would be considered impolite and presumptuous. Just a little familiarity with your audience might have been in order — something like, “I realize this has been talked to death all over the place” (since surely you were aware that it had been), “but here’s another outsider’s view of Miles’s and Richt’s situations.”

3. That you appear surprised by the response here suggests (a) you had no awareness at all of your audience, because the response around here to “hot seat” talk has been nearly unanimous and entirely consistent for well over six months, and/or (b) you have an inaccurate opinion of your ability to change people’s minds (especially considering you brought no new information to the discussion).

Best of luck with your blog. Keep in mind that when you put yourself out there, you’re not always going to like the reaction, and it might be better to avoid fighting negative reactions and, instead, to sort through (privately) which criticisms are fair from those that are unfair and let that process inform future endeavors.

… allow me to pile on.