Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Enough is Enough

“The Wolf Pack will finish AT BEST, 5-3 in the WAC”

These are the words of Juan Lopez, a student who writes for the school newspaper, The Sagebrush. The sad thing is that it’s Nevada’s school newspaper. And this single quote is all I need to remind myself of why I started this blog.

For far too long now I have heard students talking about how bad this Nevada team is, all the while knowing they have no idea what they are talking about. Now I realize that Nevada is not a football school by any means and most of the students who attend don’t really care, let alone know the rules. But you have to realize that those who get their information about this team read it in the school newspaper, at least that’s what I’ve noticed. And quite frankly, the writers of The Sagebrush haven’t known what they’ve been talking about for at least 8 years.

You, Juan Lopez, are part of this problem while you sit there laughing as your friends cheer on this team.
“Their optimistic cheers aimed at the 42-inch flat screen TV in front of them were funny to me. Regardless of what was happening on the field, they thought Nevada would snap out of it. But I knew there was no climbing out of that 17-point hole. Nevada wasn’t mentally tough enough. End result: A 27-21 season-shattering loss.”

You then went on to call this team mediocre for losing to Hawaii saying at best this is a 5-3 team in conference play. I really do enjoy how you didn’t say “if they don’t change fast” or “if they continue to play this way”, you just came out and said that 5-3 is the BEST this team can do as if you’re some expert on college football, or even Nevada football.

The rest of your article went on to criticize Colin Kaepernick (do yourselves a favor and click on the picture, it gets nice and big for you all to read for yourself). Saying the loss was 100% his fault. That he runs too flashy and loose with the ball. That this is the worst playing you have ever seen by Kaepernick and he “is getting progressively worse and it’s bringing down the entire team.”

You basically did everything but say that he needs to be benched.

My question is this, did you cry when you found out we beat Fresno and Boise State? I’m assuming those are the 2 other teams you expected us to lose to, are they not? Or did you act like you never made the statement that this is a 5-3 team at best? Luckily you’ve kept your mouth shut about football since your column after the Hawaii game…until yesterday.
In yesterday’s edition you made no acknowledgment that you were wrong in your prediction although we all know you were just hoping for a loss against Boise State so you could say that we would lose against La Tech as well and you could be right. Because that’s the type of person you are Juan Lopez, you think you know what you’re talking about but you know NOTHING.

What I want to know is why all of a sudden you sounded proud of this team, saying the game “almost brought tears to your eyes.” Or better yet how on October 19, 2010 you threw Colin Kaepernick under the bus, then on November 30, 2010 you called him “the best athlete in school history, hands down.” You then went on to say “This capped Kaep’s career as one of the best players in NCAA football history.”

Now I’m not saying he’s not amazing, in fact I’ve been saying that for at least 2 years now, but since when do you believe this? And do you honestly believe this or are you just writing what everyone else says? You have become the John Kerry of Nevada sports writing with your “flip-flopping” stances.

I’m disappointed in The Sagebrush for not checking individual’s credentials when hiring them. Students rely on you to get the facts straight and all you have done is confused them and filled their heads with nonsense. To be honest I don’t even know why they still publish The Sagebrush, nothing of any worth has been published in there for as long as I have picked it up.

Juan Lopez, thank you for giving me the motivation to continue my blog; I might not understand the game as much as a lot of people out there, but I sure understand it a million times more than you.

4 comments:

  1. While not a Nevada student, I am so happy that I'm not subjected to read The Sagebrush after what you pointed out. With all of the talk about Nevada's athletic programs not getting enough support from the students, this is where it starts. You publish $H!T, that is the perception that everyone will have. Let some people that have an honest desire to cover their team do them some justice and maybe the students will have a more positive outlook on their team. Thank you for pointing this out as I've never heard of Juan Lopez, but after I type this, I will be sending him and email as well.

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  2. I am a student at UNR and the sports writers are terrible. I can't really speak for the sports outside of football, but I know for a fact these guys do not know the X's and O's of football like a writer should. I really think their only exposure to playing organized football is through a video game. They couldn't sit back from an analytical perspective and break down a play. They can only look from a casual fan perspective and give very biased opinions about what they see. I'm sure they'll be writing columns about how Boise actually isn't the team that everyone thought. What I saw from Boise that night is a defense that progressively got worn down as the night went on. The starters along the front seven just didn't have the stamina to stop our running game because they have never been in the entire game since Virginia Tech. Boise is still a team that is of the same caliber as the top Big 10 and SEC schools this year. Our team was just perfectly suited to stage the type of comeback needed that night and barely escaped with the win. And Kaep is not the best athlete in Nevada history. That title will always go to Marion Motley until someone else gets into the NFL Hall of Fame.

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  3. I feel sorry for any community who's newspaper hires Juan Lopez. The glee with which he tried to tear down Kaepernick is like that of a vengeful child getting to play the bully. Then the quickness with which he changed to jump on the Pack bandwagon showed he has no scruples and no core.

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