I don't remember Olin ever being critical of BK - not even once. Whether it is articles, radio or interviews he is always positive regarding Kennedy. He basically writes puff pieces. I guess I don't get it. Olin is with TexAgs, but he is still a journalist. What credibility does Olin have covering Aggie basketball if he is never critical of Kennedy? BK has had 5 bad seasons out of 8.

The next time will be the first.



...but Turge now...

Old Main said:

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I don't remember Olin ever being critical of BK - not even once. Whether it is articles, radio or interviews he is always positive regarding Kennedy. He basically writes puff pieces. I guess I don't get it. Olin is with TexAgs, but he is still a journalist. What credibility does Olin have covering Aggie basketball if he is never critical of Kennedy? BK has had 5 bad seasons out of 8.

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When did the strict role of a writer become being a critic or opinion page writer? There is a difference between the news and opinion pages. Today's mainstream media has significantly tainted those lines.

He's not a journalist, if that helps.
Its pretty clear the TexAgs writers are instructed to paint the university and it's AD in a good light.

I think the issue is that he has done some opinion pieces that are pro-Kennedy.

If he never did any columns, then it wouldn't matter, but he has. Famously this one.

I actually don't think this is true. I just think their pieces tend to reflect the current opinions of the fan base. Usually when the fans start to turn on a coach, the tone of the TexAgs content changes also.

Olin doesn't care about results. Only about defending Texas A&M from effectively two percenters. The circle the wagons approach to protecting Texas A&M from the reality the rest the world lives in has never helped the school and still doesn't.

The effort to antagonize TexAgs participants with the puff piece that got recirculated demonstrates how woefully limited his life experiences likely are. I understand he works in a company that has to maintain a careful relationship with the athletic department to successfully provide their most valuable product: recruiting news. I don't mind carefulness.

But own when you're wrong. Just own it. I'm sure we will get a huge excuse piece should BK be retained for another year and it will be aimed at naysayers. Olin would be wise to source it and let someone else own the byline...

PatAg said:

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He's not a journalist, if that helps.
Its pretty clear the TexAgs writers are instructed to paint the university and it's AD in a good light.

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I don't believe that. I do believe they feel that writing more positives articles are what the subscribers would prefer to read.

Olin bashed Sumlin hard which seemed appropriate but his pieces on BK have been pure, unadulterated homerism.

In his South Carolina game he used the term "it was a pathetic showing". That's the closest thing I've ever seen him criticizing Bk.

I'll never be able to understand him writing the art of proving the doubters wrong article. That was onion material.

Olin covered high school football beat at the Austin American-Statesman for a long time. So I do consider him a real journalist (for whatever its worth).
I dont think his current role at texags is to provide game coverage or critical commentary. I personally dont mind that the general tone of his stuff is going to be of an overall positive nature. It's fun to read if you like that and easy to ignore if you dont.
My only real beef with Olin was the "Billy Kennedy silences the doubters" article in 2016 where instead of being positive and touting BKs success, Olin instead chose to taunt and finger wag to the texags subscriber base. He has recently had that story pop back up and his refusal to back down (and actually double down on his position) has been pretty frustrating.

PS - this thread will be zapped soon.

I don't really read any staff articles that aren't about recruiting. So I had never read that OB piece on Kennedy. Holy cow....just....holy cow.

nm

PatAg said:

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He's not a journalist, if that helps.
Its pretty clear the TexAgs writers are instructed to paint the university and it's AD in a good light.

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This. He's going to try his hardest to stay close to the middle but always on the side of positivity, hope etc. until something is too far gone or a change is made... At which point he'll be free to look back and be critical.

I like Olin so I'm not bashing him or the TA setup, but I'm also not expecting him to be around the halls of the program or AD sniffing for rumors or covering A&M Athletics as a non partial journalist. That just isn't his role.

He's not a journalist, he's a blogger for a small-town sports blog. TexAgs is just a small town sports blog, and most of their base wants to be told how wonderful A&M sports is to confirm their bias. Don't take it seriously

Olin is an old homer Aggie writing what the old homer Aggie crowd like to hear. Right or wrong.

Kevin Sumlin wasn't legitimate because he played music and didn't have a tight end, Texas A&M is treated unfairly, Michael Bennett sucks, and, for our purposes...

...they don't care to put too much of a microscope on the basketball program. #beatuncincharlotte

Just to be clear, I wasn't bashing them for this. As others said, that's what their audience (for the most part) wants.

Tango_Mike said:

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He's not a journalist, he's a blogger for a small-town sports blog. TexAgs is just a small town sports blog, and most of their base wants to be told how wonderful A&M sports is to confirm their bias. Don't take it seriously

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He covered high school and other sports for decades for newspapers. Are you saying he wasn't a real journalist then? And that's changed?

aginlakeway said:

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He covered high school and other sports for decades for newspapers. Are you saying he wasn't a real journalist then? And that's changed?

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That's not at all what he's saying.

AgsNguyen said:

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...

I'll never be able to understand him writing the art of proving the doubters wrong article. That was onion material.

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If only...then it would be awesome!!!

bobinator said:

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aginlakeway said:

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He covered high school and other sports for decades for newspapers. Are you saying he wasn't a real journalist then? And that's changed?

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That's not at all what he's saying.

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He said that he was "not a journalist."

That's the statement I was asking about.

Fyi ...

journalist
noun
a person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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PS - this thread will be zapped soon.

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I posted knowing that TexAgs could choose to clean house if they choose to do so. I'm not mad. I'm not upset. But I would appreciate a focus on the facts and the story not picking winners if that is possible given their unique relationship with the athletics department.

He said he's not a journalist now, which I think could be debated, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether or not he used to be one.

Old Main said:

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I don't remember Olin ever being critical of BK - not even once. Whether it is articles, radio or interviews he is always positive regarding Kennedy. He basically writes puff pieces. I guess I don't get it. Olin is with TexAgs, but he is still a journalist. What credibility does Olin have covering Aggie basketball if he is never critical of Kennedy? BK has had 5 bad seasons out of 8.

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has olin ever been critical of anything A&M?

bobinator said:

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He said he's not a journalist now, which I think could be debated, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether or not he used to be one.

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He's a journalist now IMO. Journalism had changed a lot since the internet. Agree to disagree.

I'm not sure about that, but I don't know that this is really the place for a discussion of what is and isn't journalism.

I don't know that I would consider someone who only covers one team for a website dedicated to that team, and doesn't cover recruiting and that doesn't do any investigative reporting to be a journalist.

aginlakeway said:

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bobinator said:

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He said he's not a journalist now, which I think could be debated, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether or not he used to be one.

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He's a journalist now IMO. Journalism had changed a lot since the internet. Agree to disagree.

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Ofcourse lakeway sees it different. He's not a journalist and Nothing is wrong with that considering who he works for and what the business model and mission is.

Discerning "journalism" from other types of writing could make for a long discussion that's probably missing the actual point.

Can we at least all agree that Olin isn't performing analytical, critical (in the broad sense), objective work on TexAgs?

bobinator said:

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I'm not sure about that, but I don't know that this is really the place for a discussion of what is and isn't journalism.

I don't know that I would consider someone who only covers one team for a website dedicated to that team, and doesn't cover recruiting and that doesn't do any investigative reporting to be a journalist.

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I'll go by the definition.

journalist
noun
a person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.

Again, it has changed a lot over the years.

Disclosure: I spent 15 years covering college sports and golf for newspapers and TV. I would never have considered someone "internet only" as a real journalist. But times change!!!

Agree to disagree.

AgsNguyen said:

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aginlakeway said:

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bobinator said:

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He said he's not a journalist now, which I think could be debated, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether or not he used to be one.

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He's a journalist now IMO. Journalism had changed a lot since the internet. Agree to disagree.

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Ofcourse lakeway sees it different. He's not a journalist and Nothing is wrong with that considering who he works for and what the business model and mission is.

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Nothing is wrong with it from a business standpoint. The problem is the many people who come here to receive "the news" and "the facts" but that's also for a different thread.

AgsNguyen said:

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aginlakeway said:

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bobinator said:

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He said he's not a journalist now, which I think could be debated, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether or not he used to be one.

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He's a journalist now IMO. Journalism had changed a lot since the internet. Agree to disagree.

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Ofcourse lakeway sees it different. He's not a journalist and Nothing is wrong with that considering who he works for and what the business model and mission is.

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Yeah. What do I know about sports journalism.

aginlakeway said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm not sure about that, but I don't know that this is really the place for a discussion of what is and isn't journalism.

I don't know that I would consider someone who only covers one team for a website dedicated to that team, and doesn't cover recruiting and that doesn't do any investigative reporting to be a journalist.

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I'll go by the definition.

journalist
noun
a person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.

Again, it has changed a lot over the years.

Disclosure: I spent 15 years covering college sports and golf for newspapers and TV. I would never have considered someone "internet only" as a real journalist. But times change!!!

Agree to disagree.

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Don't forget your provided definition requires "news." To provide the obvious example, his famous prove the doubters wrong article, for example, wasn't providing news. That wasn't journalism by your definition.

he is more a fan boy than a journalist

Evidence piece 1a.....In 8 years 5 of the seasons have sucked yet you have a thread of people not able to come up with one critical article Olin has written.

Somewhere in there among the 4-14 years and the north Texas and Texas southern losses you would think a critical piece would show up.