[El Scorcho]

ESPN's Seth Curry vs. ODU game recap:

[bozlady]

I agree, the Ted is an AMAzing complex, although it's too tight (seats are too close) it's still an amazing place for basketball. ODU knows how to play up basketball and they also know how to play basketball. The check-in manager at the hotel that we stayed at asked my husband, "How many points did Curry score?" . . . that was pretty cool. Words gettin' around.

[JMUDukes]

you mean Tony Mercutio?

as for the game, I tried to tell you, Lee is a BEAST. If you're shorthanded down low, you're screwed

Ughhh Mercurio is a joke, I'd love document how much of his time on his radio show goes to talking about sports versus how time goes to the infomercial guests ("we've got Pizza Hut pizza here at Dominion Floor Covering, and we're about to talk with Suzie Butler about the great deals you can get at Grafton Chevrolet in Newport News..."

I listen to him for comedy, but it really ticks me off when I wanna hear some sports commentary and he's on, cause I know I won't get anything.

[Realist]

ODU is a tough team. I'm glad WU took 2 out of the 3 game series against them.

[ODUfanRazor]

Glad to have the Liberty fans at the Ted. Strong showing by you guys, most of the people I talk with were very impressed by your away support.

The game was quite competitive in the first half, but your lack of size really reared its ugly head late in the second. I expected Lee to have a big game, but the added 3 pointers from Finney and Company were a good bonus that ended up giving us a flattering scoreline. You guys were competitive for 30+ minutes with a very young team.

I also think missing Sanders hurt you alot as you were forced to settle for a lot of long shots, many of which you hit, but I can't help but think a penetrating guard would have helped you in the end when we went to a zone that was tough for you guys to handle.

When we play the lineup of 6"5 Bazemore at the point, 6"3 Illiadis at the SG, 6"5 Finney at the SG, 6"8 Carter at the PF and either 6"10 Lee or 6"8 Hassell at the C, we have a VERY tough zone to crack. If you notice, when we went on that solid run at the end of the game, that was the first time we had played zone all game as well. I have a feeling with Sanders, you would have had a better chance to penetrate, collapsing the zone a bit and freeing up guys like Curry and Ohman for more open 3's.

I don't think it would have changed the outcome, but we certainly wouldn't have won by 20+.

Regardless, it was a fun game for us, good atmosphere for 11 am, and I am sure the rematch next year at the Vines Center will be a great contest, considering both teams bring pretty much everyone back.

Look forward to the rematch and if you guys want to continue talking hoops, feel free to visit my site, www.tourneybubble.com and let us know what you think. I will have a full wrap-up written on all the TV bracketbusters up in a couple days. Hope to read some of your comments.

[coastalfan1]

haha yall suck

[flameshaw]

haha yall suck

You're most lucid post to date, well thought out too.

[BJWilliams]

Yes indeed...we suck so bad we beat you...the last 4 times we've met

[HenryGale]

Has anybody seen the N&A article online? I can not find it. Did Lang make the trip?

[LUMU11]

It's under the college sports link. Don't look for much info from us though. Apparently we have some spat going on with the N&A so our administration handcuffed Ritchie and he's not allowed to answer any questions from the N&A, I dunno, it was in the article. Personally, it sounded pretty kindergarten to me on our part, but I don't know the whole story.

[HenryGale]

Thanks...I looked under the Liberty Section in the sports and did not see it.

Here is the link...

http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/sports/c ... ers/13707/

[LUconn]

It's under the college sports link. Don't look for much info from us though. Apparently we have some spat going on with the N&A so our administration handcuffed Ritchie and he's not allowed to answer any questions from the N&A, I dunno, it was in the article. Personally, it sounded pretty kindergarten to me on our part, but I don't know the whole story.

Ha. I'd like to hear Lang's side on that. Is it a broad University vs N&A or sports vs N&A? Seems like the lack of information hurts us and our exposure to the community more than the Newspaper.

[thepostman]

this is what was said in the article about it:

After the game, Liberty’s coaches and athletes declined to answer questions from The News & Advance on instruction from the school’s administration because officials were upset with reader comments on a story unrelated to sports on The News & Advance’s Web site. (A story on Liberty’s new police chief, published Feb. 18 on newsadvance.com, has reader comments that are critical of Liberty, as well as comments from readers supporting Liberty.)

When asked about Lee’s performance Saturday, Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said: “I know this is an awkward situation, but I’ve got to pass on that one.”

if you ask me that is completely stupid on Liberty's part..

[HenryGale]

this is what was said in the article about it:

After the game, Liberty’s coaches and athletes declined to answer questions from The News & Advance on instruction from the school’s administration because officials were upset with reader comments on a story unrelated to sports on The News & Advance’s Web site. (A story on Liberty’s new police chief, published Feb. 18 on newsadvance.com, has reader comments that are critical of Liberty, as well as comments from readers supporting Liberty.)

When asked about Lee’s performance Saturday, Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said: “I know this is an awkward situation, but I’ve got to pass on that one.”

if you ask me that is completely stupid on Liberty's part..

Yup...LU needs the N&A much more than the N&A needs LU...especially athletics!

[LUMU11]

It's not an athletic issue, it's an administration issue, so the ppl at North. This is good, just gives me more reasons to believe our executives don't know shat about athletics nor do they care. I understand them being upset, but we get good exposure from the N&A so I think this is a problem.

[LUconn]

what do they want the paper to do? edit out all negative reader comments?

[ODULU]

Could he not have said at the top of the media conference:

I am here to talk about the bracketbuster game. I will do my best to answer all basketball related questions. Anything else related to liberty University as an institution will be handled by Mr. X who can be reached at this website and ph number.

1st basketball question? (doesn't seem like rocket science to me?!)

[TIMSCAR20]

The point was not to talk to the N&A. Ritchie could have answered the same question if it came from any other reporter.

[TIMSCAR20]

IMHO I think this hurts Liberty athletics far more than it does the N&A. It unfortunately has nothing to do with how Lang covers Liberty athletics or how athletics treats Lang. The 2 entities are simply caught in the middle. I really hope this gets resolved before Tuesday because it would be a shame to have 8000 folks in the Vines and not have any print coverage. Plus I would imagine Lang will be a little gun shy about making the trip down to Radford on Saturday as well. With tight budgets and the economy, it would be a waste of milage, food etc. if he can't even talk with Liberty players or coaches. Lang, on Tuesday you can talk to me buddy I'll answer all of your questions for Ritchie! Truth is I probably can't talk on the record either.

[ODULU]

gotcha. I did see a quote from him in our paper actually.. something about Lee having a layup drill kind of game.
I would guess freezing out your (probably) only newspaper outlet isn't effective though.

Since you seem to be the media dude, I have a question. What percentage of people come to the Vines for basketball that are just Lynchburg citizens with no affiliation with LU or the high school?

[JDUB]

it was awfully convenient that the N&A deleted the bad comments before they referenced the article in the bball one. LU is one of the N&A's biggest customers if not the biggest. They write tons of stories on us, many of which are the most popular stories on their site. We also provide them with a ton of dollars in advertising. The least they can do is keep completely inappropriate and unrelated comments off their site. After all, it is probably Mel White and his gang behind most of these comments anyway.

My favorite comment they decided to delete after they realized we were boycotting them. It said something along the lines of LU girls cutting holes in the crotches of their panty hoes before church so they can go be whores after church. Oh, and that was in the article about us having a new police chief? There is no reason for them to allow crap like that, and I'm pretty sure you have to agree not to say certain things before you post on there, and I would assume that would be included.

Bottom line: the N&A is already struggling, and they DO need LU more than we need them. Trust me, they will be begging for us to resume business with them because it will hurt them bad. Real bad.

[SuperJon]

but I don't know the whole story.

Exactly.


You guys know that anytime Liberty has an article in the N&A, there are anonymous comments from people saying negative things about Liberty, spreading false information, etc. For the past few months, Liberty has been trying to get the N&A to require those posters to take responsibility for their comments. In an editorial or letter to the editor, the only way the N&A will post/publish them is if they have a name signed to them. They will not post anonymous letters. After the comments posted this week in the article on the new LUPD Chief, the administration decided to force the N&A's hand. There was an e-mail sent out to the top people at Liberty saying that they weren't to speak to the N&A. The school stopped sending press releases to the newspaper as well. Until things change, there's basically a boycott from Liberty against the N&A.

There are meetings this week between Liberty and the N&A. If the N&A starts requiring people to take responsibility for their comments, the school will play ball again. Until then, it's gonna stay like this.

The situation sucks. I can see why the school would be mad and I can see why the N&A doesn't want to play ball.

[JDUB]

It's not an athletic issue, it's an administration issue, so the ppl at North. This is good, just gives me more reasons to believe our executives don't know shat about athletics nor do they care. I understand them being upset, but we get good exposure from the N&A so I think this is a problem.

dude, seriously? you do realize that we spend over 13 MILLION DOLLARS a year on athletics, right? You probably aren't close enough to the school to have a clue, but that is a lot of money. Especially in proportion to other things. You may not see the relationship, but I'm pretty sure if the administration didn't care about athletcs they could find a much better way to spend that money.

As far as good exposure, it is being negated by the irrelevant hate post against LU. All LU wants them to do is regulate the comments a little bit. Being negative on the school is one thing, but writing things completely unrelated to the article that are clearly just hatred of Liberty is ridiculous and needs to be edited. You all know what I'm talking about, we have had many discussions about the stupid stuff the locals write against Liberty.

I don't think it shows that the school doesn't care about sports at all, but rather that the school cares about the exposure they are getting and writing things such as our girls cutting holes in their pantyhoes so they can be whores after church is not something our administration likes to see posted on the local newspaper website. If you don't care about that being posted on there, I could make a dumb accusation that you don't know shat about business nor do you care about the school. But I'm not going to do that, because stupid comments like that are irresponsible and do not help your argument any.

[JLFJR]

Here is the rest of the story for anyone interested. I have been receiving complaints from a number of students and faculty over the last few months about the irresponsible comments that the News and Advance allows to be posted anonymously on its website. Many of these comments were forwarded to me and I agree that they are out of line. For example, one reader wrote earlier this month that "It is OK to attack Christians (and other believers) simply because they are a danger to the world. Their beliefs have to be treated as viruses and eradicated." This was one of the kinder comments actually and the comments often have nothing to do with the subject matter of the the pertinent article. A small group of LU political enemies seems to be using this free forum to bash LU students, their religious beliefs and even their character without any factual basis. We complained to the newspaper editors several times. Even after all the complaints, the News Advance allowed a reader to post a comment this past week about LU's women that was very similar to the comment that Don Imus made not so long ago about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Actually, it was worse in some ways. We decided to stop cooperating with the newspaper in its coverage of LU and the newspaper deleted the comment. We appreciate their action and regret that we had to take such drastic measures. We will be discussing the matter with the newspaper this week and hope to resolve it quickly. We do not want the newspaper to delete all posts that are negative to LU but we do think there are some boundaries and, while we have no right to tell the News Advance what to post on their website, we also do not have to assist the News Advance in its coverage of LU. We appreciate the relationship that LU has enjoyed with the LNA, especially over the last four or five years, but there are plenty of other news outlets that LU can use to keep the public informed about LU especially in this age of the internet. Regarding the comment that LU administration doesn't understand or care about athletics, I can only say that the eight figure amount we invested in athletics last year speaks for itself. ODU has a great basketball team. I hope Jesse heals soon.

[Rest of the story]

All -- Here is the rest of the story on this one.

On a daily basis you can read the N&A comment section and find a group of people posting slanderous and nasty things about LU and TRBC. LU has complained on multiple occasions, and asked the N&A to filter the comments (for vulgarity, etc., - not impinging on free speech) and require all posters to post under their real name. The N&A refused.

Sites such as CNN.com, MSNBC.com, etc., review each post before it goes on the message board and this could take up to 30 minutes or more. The N&A allows posts to go up instantly. There is a reason websites filter posts. Remember that one guy that threatened Jerry Jr and the N&A reporter? That is the type of individual we are talking about. It is widely speculated these are political opponents of LU/TRBC conducting a ‘mudslinging’ campaign.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a recent story about Rich Hinkley becoming the chief. Despite LU’s complaints the N&A allowed people to post things like ‘all LU girls are sluts and they cut their crotches out to have fun after church’ among other things. This post was deleted only after LU refused to talk to the N&A. The N&A would have left it up there had nothing been done!

More extreme examples include on 2/10 a poster named “Fred” advocated for the eradication of Christians – that post is still up. On the 19th he stated TRBC members should be obliterated that post remains on the board as well.

Newspapers are failing on a regular basis and the N&A needs LU just as much as LU needs the N&A. LU stories more often than not are the most popular and LU spends a lot of money on advertisements with the N&A.

To allow these types of posts to go on a website without a review is irresponsible journalism, and LU is perfectly within its rights to stand up and say enough.

Why would LU help a newspaper that knowingly allows anonymous unmitigated slanderous attacks on a daily basis?

Yes it is an unfortunate situation but you know the old saying – you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything! Hopefully this will be resolved soon – but now you know the entire situation.

Go Flames!