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Foul ball
Published: 2/1/2007 5:33 PM
Last Modified: 2/1/2007 5:33 PM

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on? A college baseball program has decided to make first-year players off limits to the media.
Word is that OSU has decided to make first-year baseball players -- freshmen and junior college transfers -- forbidden to reporters. I'm sure someone thought this was a good idea. Someone is wrong.
Seen attendance at college baseball games? The crowds, size-wise, are not to be confused with the crowds that show up to watch college football and college basketball games. There are a few moms and dads and baseball diehards in the stands, but college baseball ticket sales aren't going to pay the bills at many places.
College baseball coaches should be finding ways to drum up publicity for their programs rather than placing restrictions on who can and cannot be interviewed.
I am not a college baseball beat writer, so the gag rule does not affect me, but if I did have a college baseball beat, I would want to find the most interesting players on the roster and write about them (my philosophy: players are boring, humans are interesting, so write stories that turn players into humans). If the most interesting players happened to be first-year players and I could not write about them, I would feel like the coach was preventing me doing the best job I could do.
Coaches forget that maybe if they make the job tougher for the media, perhaps the media will return the favor and make the coaches' jobs tougher. Truth be said, the media can nuke a program into oblivion at any time. It's only because we prefer to be civil that nukings do not occur on a regular basis.
The OSU football program adopted a similar gag rule for first-year players. Though our football beat guys disliked the rule, we covered Cowboy football nonetheless because our readers demand coverage of Cowboy football.
How many readers will be mad if we choose to boycott OSU baseball because of the new rule? It's something to think about.









Reader Comments 5 Total
Mike Duncan (6 years ago)
It could be that in this day and age that coaches have lost trust in the press and media as a whole, whom seem to be after the sensational rather than just strong reporting. It also is of little consequence due to the lack of coverage college baseball gets anyway.
Steven Roesler (6 years ago)
I think TRUST is the issue. I would be very cautious about letting the media talk to my players (1st year players or seniors) if a writer mentions that the media can “nuke a program into oblivion at any time. It's only because we prefer to be civil that nukings do not occur on a regular basis.”
Jimmie Tramel (6 years ago)
Trust is a huge issue. I think if a coach trusts the media, the media will most times prove to be trustworthy. Not many "nukings" have occurred in this media market. They occur more regularly in big metropolitan markets. Some columnists in giant markets brag that they got so-and-so fired, which I find to be a sad reflection on said columnists. I mentioned the nuking thing in the blog because coaches everywhere -- not just at OSU -- seem to think all of a sudden that they can dictate terms to the media and, if necessary, win a war with the media. I can count the number of coaches who have won a media war on Homer Simpson's hand (keep in mind he has four fingers). Honestly, we would rather play nice.
Dennis (6 years ago)
'Truth be said, the media can nuke a program into oblivion at any time. It's only because we prefer to be civil that nukings do not occur on a regular basis." Foul ball - 2/1/2007 5:33:40 PM
Jimmie Tramel

Well, suppose that you are in a state that doesn't have three D-1 college baseball programs, say Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, Would you then be so high and mighty about "nuking" a baseball program?

Think about what you write. The Cowboy baseball program has been a huge success for many more years than you have been a writer.

I think you are being over critical on an issue that you have no control. If you have an issue with Coach Anderson or any other Oklahoma State University official, concerning the way that they are operating their programs, I propose that you take it up with them.

However, if you are aiming at a target deeper than appears, write it. Don't leave the local baseball public in the lurch with the vieled threat to expose, "nuke", something.

That is a threat. Follow it up or drop it.
Jimmie Tramel (6 years ago)
A clarification: Never once did I threaten to nuke the OSU baseball program into oblivion. (Go back and read that part again in the blog.) I merely said that the media can nuke a program into oblivion at any time. I think media-savvy coaches recognize this and put a premium on diplomacy. I have nothing against Frank Anderson whatsoever, which is why his name was never mentioned in the blog. As far as I know, he might be the next pope. The whole point of the blog is that coaches should help themselves in regard to marketing and selling their program. What if the OSU basketball program instituted a rule that first-year players could not speak to the media in 2004? John Lucas never would have gotten to talk about "the shot" against St. Joseph's.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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