Weekly Answers, Pt. 8
Check out the latest batch of weekly answers...
1) Will Hundley be our starting QB next year? - UCLA FAN IN SEATTLE
Depends on his spring ball.
2) Obviously Were not going to hit a home run on hiring a football coach. At this point who would move the needle as a hire? That being said obviously nobody can predict the future(I.E Pete Carroll everyone thought that hire was a joke when he was hired.) In your opinion is there still somebody out there that can grow into a home run or a sleeper? I was thinking Jim Mora Jr. Your thoughts? - Nickos Rovello
I think college football is so incredibly fickle that you cannot possibly predict the future. A home run looks the same in hindsight, no matter the hype of the hire. Basically: Who knows?
3) Any interest by UCLA Football for Manny Diaz? What are your thoughts about him? - Gumby123
I haven't heard his name beyond idle wishes, but he's a great coach.
4) Is the problem with Reeves fixable? It seems that because he is being benched that whenever he comes into play, he does his best to screw things up. His attitude seems to be infectious too, as you can see other players being affected by his negative attitude. Do you see this Reeves situation similar to Drew Gordon's where he just leaves the program? Or kicked out of the program? - 1987Bruin
I think it's on Nelson to prove to Howland this time that he truly wants to be a UCLA Bruin, and not just play college basketball at some nameless, faceless place. Nelson's behavior this season has not been good, but it's on him to correct it, or Howland is not going to have a tough decision to make.
5) I enjoy your blog and the timely reporting of updated information and even the speculation of what may or may not be happening. I figure you could use a break from all the coaching questions, so I have a journalism question for you (this question is not meant to question your journalistic integrity, but I am curious about the apparent conflict between reporting and blogging):
There appears to be a conflict between being a reporter and some aspects of being a blogger. I assume you report what you know and can confirm. In the Blog Q&A you to get many questions that are asking you to speculate on an individual's motivation or knowledge of facts where you have no first-hand or confirming information? Are you concerned that the nature of blogging can have an impact on your reporting credibility? Newspaper blogs run by reporters seem to raise some questions about the ever blurring line between journalism and opinion. I understand that this Blog provides revenue to your employers, but wouldn't it make more sense for the Daily News (and other news outlets) to use someone without a connection to the journalism side of the house? Are you young enough that this type of issue was addressed in a journalism ethics class? - Anonymous
Man. Well...whew. OK. Perhaps the hardest part of this job is balancing that line. I don't think you can be prepared for this. I was not. The blog is a relentless beast that needs to be fed, fed, fed, fed, fed, fed, fed, and I by nature am not a feeder. (I'm an eater, but that's obvious). I got into journalism because I love to tell stories, particularly long ones, and because I have strong opinions and a thirst for great quotes and sentences. That's really just it. I just love good sentences. Like that one.
So the blog has taken some getting used to, because it's not only a beast that needs to be fed, but one that wants to be fed by something entirely different than my newspaper job. They are two different things. Two completely and utterly different things. There should absolutely be two different people, one for online and one for print. But that's not the world in which we live. So you have to improvise. Some writer/bloggers go for breaking news, some for analysis, some for razzle-dazzle, some for just straight information. I try to be somewhat of a mix of everything, but I get why some people don't like my style. I don't force anyone to read this. That's the beauty of it. I'm only a little red box on the top right of the screen away from instant bliss! I'm just easy like that.
Oh, and no, journalism school did little to prepare me for this. The Daily Aztec, though. That was a pretty good education.
Leave Mr Sleeve alone! He has his priorities and we are the beneficiaries.
He may not play like a pro, but he sure rolls as if he looks like one. If the pro-ball thing doesn't work out he can get a job working on bikes with Teller and Morrow in Charming, CA.
Jon: Past few weeks been an education, too ... you are doing fine.