Twitter: Drew Pearson and Marshall Faulk talk Cowboys Playoff Chances

[Corso]

One, you're lumping me in with a group I don't necessarily belong in. My hate is mostly for the local Dallas media, and mostly because they're buffoons who can't do their jobs. That's been proven or rendered mostly moot because all but Calvin Watkins and JJT are pretty much the only two who remain from that group, thankfully.

But you're naive to think that national sports networks don't play off the Cowboy love/hate to generate debate and drive viewership. It's possible you know, to both be critical and to be a 'hater' in that sense. As I said, I don't have any problem with Faulk not liking the team as long as his criticism is insightful and relevant which, for the most part, it is. But he and Irvin have a very obviously orchestrated love/hate thing going re: the Cowboys that they've played up for years for all the obvious sensationalist reasons. If you were really as objective as you pretend to be about the topic, you could acknowledge that without letting it threaten your point that it doesn't matter what the theater is as long as the criticisms are relevant.

Objectivity might get you respect, but it won't get you "clicks", or "hits" or whatever they're called nowadays.

In my time it was called "attention".

 

[Risen Star]

Making a villain of the media in defense of a football team is weak sauce. Avoiding making accurate criticisms of some members of the media who don't do good work *because* you're too concerned with the perception that you might look like you're accidentally defending your football team...do you really think that sauce is any stronger? Because it's not.

Either the guys do their jobs well, and the criticism is accurate, or they don't, and it is not.

No. The issue is whether they are a "hater" and merely use their status to "hate" on the Cowboys.

Nobody's saying the issue is with the fact that the commentary is critical. The issue is with commentary--to the extent there is an issue--is with bias. We don't have to pretend bias doesn't exist at ESPN in order to keep the team's recent play in context. The reality is, there's plenty of legitimate criticism of this team's play the last 15+ years *and* there's lots of obvious sensationalism--positive and negative--surrounding the Dallas Cowboys in the cable sports media. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and I can't really believe you're trying to make the argument that the sensationalism doesn't exist with a straight face. It's an absurd argument.

And it's not a blood brother of 'the refs are out to get us' argument. League officials are required to be impartial. NFL Network and ESPN sportscasters are required to be interesting. The two have completely different objectives.

Certainly NFL analysts are expected to be impartial. Or are their employers also haters? Just how deep does this conspiracy run?

I'm not interested in arguing with you whether every single bit of criticism on the Cowboys was valid or accurate. Every team has been unfairly criticized. You're not breaking any news here. It's the intent that I'm arguing. The media isn't so unprofessional to hate on the Cowboys. That is beyond ridiculous to think. It's the kind of stuff that should send you to bed with no dessert.

 

[Idgit]

Certainly NFL analysts are expected to be impartial. Or are their employers also haters? Just how deep does this conspiracy run?

I'm not interested in arguing with you whether every single bit of criticism on the Cowboys was valid or accurate. Every team has been unfairly criticized. You're not breaking any news here. It's the intent that I'm arguing. The media isn't so unprofessional to hate on the Cowboys. That is beyond ridiculous to think. It's the kind of stuff that should send you to bed with no dessert.

No, NFL analysts aren't expected to be impartial. They outright root for their favorite teams in some cases and joke back and forth supporting the teams most of them used to play for. They openly say they'll abstain from picking games in some cases if the team they used to play for is involved. They actively take sides with players at the expense of management ("Pay the man!"). They defend their position groups ("factor back"). It's an obvious and absolutely different comparison than the one you tried to make re: referees. And it's not a conspiracy. It's open and right out on the surface.

Every team gets unfair criticism. Not every team draws the attention Dallas does when their name is flashed on a lead in. If you think they don't tease coverage using the Cowboys, or don't look for angles to cover in Dallas for the sole purpose of driving viewership, you're more than welcome to believe that. I think it's naive. It's not a matter of professionalism, it's a matter of covering stories people want to hear. The coverage itself comes in the form of commentators taking sides on an issue. You don't have to watch too many stories to get a feel for which commentators predominantly end up on which sides. If you think that's just coincidence, that's ok with me. It's not, though.

 

[jobberone]

Hard to get beat deep if deep is less than 10 yards.

You know what I wasn't talking about.

 

[Corso]

No. The issue is whether they are a "hater" and merely use their status to "hate" on the Cowboys.



Certainly NFL analysts are expected to be impartial. Or are their employers also haters? Just how deep does this conspiracy run?

I'm not interested in arguing with you whether every single bit of criticism on the Cowboys was valid or accurate. Every team has been unfairly criticized. You're not breaking any news here. It's the intent that I'm arguing. The media isn't so unprofessional to hate on the Cowboys. That is beyond ridiculous to think. It's the kind of stuff that should send you to bed with no dessert.

You obviously have no connection with anyone in the "media".

Impartiality is boring in the media. No casual watcher wants just robotic numbers. They want bombast and conjecture. Something they can agree, or argue with.

Always has been, always will be. That's why Stephen A and his white homie gets ratings. It's why Rush Limbaugh rules the GOP. It's why Fox News rules the ratings.

Impartiality barely exists anymore. And even when it does it's thinly veiled.

I know you're not this naive. Or are you?

So... The conspiracy runs much, much deeper than you think, although it's not a conspiracy at all.

Now: Go to bed! No dessert!

 

[jobberone]

Some are impartial and try to be fair while others root for their team unabashedly like Irvin. Some are impartial because they don't care for the most part like Deion. Others are very professional like Collinsworth. Some are for show and some are for being ridiculous to draw some people in like Skip and the other guy. Sounds like life to me. Or this board.

 

[Ring Leader]

The gap between bias, agenda driven anti-Cowboy rhetoric and "legitimate" negative media criticism of this team makes Michael Strahan's teeth appear snug. If we listen just a little, it's really not very hard to differentiate between the two. Tossing them in together to form a diluted, blanket generalization of how the media portrays us is just lazy.

 

[Vintage]

Crap. That is the kiss of death.

 

[Redball Express]

Actually he doesn't say how it is. Marshall is the classic example of pretty good football player, terrible analyst....

Look..

During the period when he and his team were dominating the league..

We were an irrelevant team..

So why would you expect him to give us any slack.

And I'm of the deep opinion that UNTIL we win in the playoffs and return regularly..

...this franchise should be withheld from getting any support from the media or player/spokespersons.

Prove it first after all these years of embarrassing losing.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

But they were beaten by a team that got to the Super Bowl and played the Pats on neutral ground.
Every so often, one team has that look of a future Super Bowl representative. The Seahawks are that team.
I'd love to see them against the Broncos, provided, of course, the Cowboys don't get there.

Well let's don't forget in order for the Giants to get to the Super Bowl they had to go on the road every single week until the Super Bowl.

 

[cowboys2233]

does it really matter if Dallas makes the playoffs, nobody is beating Seattle in the NFC

That's the spirit!