I hope this will be a lessen for Arnett. When he reaches the NFL, I whould hope he would not do another end around to the press. He should go to the coach first.

I didn’t say the readers are wrong. I said YOU are wrong. There have already been several thousand people read this story today, but there are only two people who’ve felt the need to shoot the messenger.

But, since you changed the subject, I would ask: “What in the above story is negative?”

John

Like I expected, we the readers are always wrong and you the writer are always right. Got it. Thanks for setting me straight.

Tennessee doesn’t have a policy. It’s Dooley’s policy. His policy called for Aaron Douglas to travel at least 8 hours away. For Arnett it was no Michigan or Michigan State. Dooley made that call, not a UT policy.

The fact that you suggest no one should have quoted a university spokesperson, instead waiting for Derek Dooley to pipe up — today he made his first appearance since November — tells me that you’re the one doing the spinning. And a lot of it.

First you said I was just making assumptions. When I told you I was referring to a PR guy for UT who had explained the situation, you suggested I misquoted him. Now, when I show you his comments, you saw the media shouldn’t have used quotes from the UT sports information department. It seems pretty clear that if there’s any attempt to spin things, it’s coming from your keyboard and not mine.

John

What ax am I grinding? The above story isn’t negative in the least. It states that Dooley is now letting Arnett go and that that will likely help him on the recruiting trail. I don’t see what’s negative about that.

So, have you considered the fact that when you see an article dealing with a negative issue at Tennessee, you — failing to read it from an objective place — VIEW it as negative even though it isn’t?

I can’t help that the Arnett story might be a bad one for UT… or that it’s a topic that made national news just as I said it would last week. So there’s no way it can’t be mentioned on an SEC site. But our coverage of the story isn’t negative at all.

John

Do you have an “ax to grind with Tennessee” or would you simply argue that we are paranoid and that all SEC fans think that about you when you write something negative about their school. I will grant you that there has been plenty of bad news about Tennessee to write about these past few years, but it seems that you take particular interest in pointing out just how bad things are. Have you ever stepped back and evaluated whether you are truly neutral and unbiased in your opinions or not? Just wondering.

I apologize for bashing your “sources”, but It seems that Stanton was just quoting UT’s policy on transfers. Is it Jimmy Stanton’s decision on what limitations will be placed on transferring student athletes? Or is that ultimately the coaches decision? If it is the coaches decision, then I think I would wait until the coach announced his decision before quoting a “PR guy”. That’s the way it goes, I guess. Still seems that the situation should have played out before all the media “spinning” began.

Do you have an “ax to grind with Tennessee” or would you simply say that we are paranoid and that all fans of SEC schools think that about you when you write negative articles about their school? It just seems that you are always taking shots at Tennessee at every opportunity and I will grant you that there have been plenty these past 2 years. Just wonder if you have ever evaluated your neutrality or potential negative bias?

When asked to explain why Michigan and MSU were being off-limits, he listed the reasons. Here, read this:

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/dec/29/ut-says-arnett-can-transfer-but-there-are/

John

So you are telling me that Stanton for sure said that “Michigan and Michigan St. were off limits to Arnett”? Those were his exact words?

Fact: As we said last week, Dooley was taking on a PR battle that he could not win and did not need to fight.

Fact: After several days of being ripped in the national press and having this used against him on the recruiting trail, Dooley has reversed field.

Those are some facts.

Thanks for reading,

John

Uh, no, I get the information from UT PR person Jimmy Stanton who said last week that Michigan and Michigan State were off limits.

And I don’t think I had anything to do with Dooley changing his tune. But if you think the national publicity over this story — and the fact that rival coaches would use that to recruit against Dooley — didn’t play a role in Dooley’s decision, then you must be the one who gets information from messageboards.

John