WBN Kentucky Wildcat's Roundtable: Should Kentucky fight back against shady journalists?

Early last week, CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish caused a bit of a stir in the BBN when he wrote an article about Anthony Davis.  Parrish went back nearly a year and referenced the unvalidated Chicago Sun Times story about Davis’s father getting money for Anthony to attend UK.

The story was blasted on all fronts and even Gary Parrish denounced it, which makes it odd that he went back to that well this week.  It was a shady move by Parrish, and the BBN reacted.  Even Kentucky SID DeWayne Peevy fired out the above twitter updates that seemed to threaten Parrish’s press credentials.  So, I figured this would be a good roundtable topic and went to our panel with this question:

Recently we saw UK SID Dewayne Peevy “threatening” a media members press credentials over an article that was written by Gary Parrish.  To be fair, the article was negative of a student athlete and not (directly) at John Calipari.  Was Peevy in his rights to fire back and how far should the school go to protect their athletes from inflammatory stories?

Greg Edwards, Wildcat Blue Nation:  I would love to hack on something right now, but I really see this as a non-starter. Peevy was angry and took a shot at Parish, who needs to get spanked occasionally. We all do. We need to remind ourselves that unless there is verifiable proof, the players should be given the benefit of the doubt. They are kids and someone needs to remember that.

Glenn Logan, A Sea of Blue:  Peevy made an error.  SID’s should not threaten or attack media members via Twitter.  That’s a violation of the SID ethics code (yes, there is an organization for that), and Peevy is probably a member.  While I think everyone in the Big Blue Nation appreciates Peevy’s passion for the Wildcats and understands that he was trying to make a point to a writer who had unquestionably repeated a harmful rumor about one of Kentucky’s student athletes, it was something he should have avoided and probably regrets doing now.  It may wind up doing more good than harm, but that doesn’t justify it.  Hopefully, both Peevy and Parrish will learn something useful.

Tyler Adkins, Wildcat Blue Nation:  Peevy was well within his rights to threaten Parrish with withholding his media pass.  UK does not have to give media passes to everyone who wants one; it is UK’s property.  Peevy should have probably not gone directly to Twitter to voice his displeasure, but we are all human.  If the article had been a rumor about Calipari then I would say he was not correct in threatening Parrish. However, the article was about a rumor, and Parrish has stated in writing and on the radio that the rumor is ridiculous, and even that the reporting of it was unprofessional.  The rumor was about a student-athlete for whom UK is responsible while on campus.  Peevy should be able to keep those in the media from media row who maliciously go after UK student-athletes with no facts or credible basis whatsoever.  I am in Peevy’s corner on this.

Tyler Cox, Wildcat Blue Nation:  Peevy had, and still has, every right to fire back at someone that tries to bring up false stories about a UK player, and stir up unnecessary controversy. What Garry Parish did was stupid and there was absolutely ZERO reason to even bring it back up.

Peevey has compassion for UK and it’s student-athletes.  He is a die hard fan just like us, and we would have done the same exact thing, and don’t say you wouldn’t because you would.  I liked what Peevy did. I love his passion for his work. Parrish needs to think before he writes

Paul Jordan, Wildcat Blue Nation:  Honestly, I think it’s pretty badass that Peevy sent the tweets out, regardless of any SID code because Parrish was just looking to stir up drama and while John Calipari is fair game for this, I think the student athletes should be protected.  On the other hand, I am glad that Peevy’s tweets did not really get any national attention as it could have made UK look small and petty.

Regardless, the schools have to have some way to protect the student athletes when their names get brought up in stories that are complete rubbish.  Parrish was making a concerted effort to get this story to stick on Davis somehow and I think the UK brass has simply had enough of this type of journalism and attacks.  Unfortunately, I don’t know what the Sports Information Department can do to protect the players from this.  So according to what Glenn said, I guess Peevy’s tweets were outside the line, but if I ever see him out, I am going to buy the guy a beer for it.

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