New Pluto article on JD

[ZachTheZip]

http://www.ohio.com/sports/9304466.htmlNo patronizing tone, no little-engine-that-could story, no "oh, by the way, there is another football team besides the one in Colombus" feel, just straight up "This is the story, and this is the way the people involved are reacting to it" journalistic reporting. I think Pluto's figured it out! Just in time for him for the PD, too.

[Big Zip]

Did you miss the ode to Owens in the article? Not necessary -- the article would have been fine without it.

[BZip_08]

"Brookhart won in his first two years with a combination of players left from former coach Lee Owens, transfers from four-year schools and a few of his recruits. Now, most players are his own."That wasn't an ode... come on, all he was doing was stating the fact that a few players were leftovers from that coaching era.Good article overall. Coach definitely had some tough decisions to make this off season, and I have to say it looks like he's making the right ones. I love the discipline he is trying to instill.

[skip-zip]

Pluto always seemed very partial to Owens. I'm not surprised if he meant that to be a "Brookhart won his first two years because he had Owens' players" reference.My observations tell a different story. I think JD did one heck of a job picking up a mess of a program from the ashes to produce results very quickly. However, I do recognize that Owens had some good players that JD was able to use effectively.

[GP1]

God I can't stand Terry Pluto. Was JD supposed to come in and start 18 freshmen his first year? Of course not, you have to play with the cards you are dealt. I think Pluto does that because he an LO must have been butt buddies, and there are a certain number of people out there who love Owens because he brought suburban kids to Akron. It plays right into his little engine that could story line. Fact, JD won the MAC and LO did not with better teams than JD had the year he won it.Deeper analysis would show that the three players that made the championship impact the year we won the MAC were all JD's recruits and without the the team does not win the conference......Getsy, Biggs and Alleman.

[Blue & Gold]

I found this to be a good Zips article from Pluto, but, sadly, that is most definitely an exception and not the norm. I think it's good for Pluto to move along. I was hoping against hope that the BJ could somehow get a new mindset and different voice than Pluto's the day his article about UA's new stadium was published. His attitude towards the paradigm-shifting stadium was that it shouldn't be viewed as a tool for better recruiting classes or a more successful UA football program, but should be viewed as merely a general community asset. That was one of the more bizarre points of view I've ever seen, and to have it published in YOUR daily paper?! It's healthy for all of the city of Akron that Pluto gets out of town and goes to write for the city his heart truly belongs to.

[Zipgrad01]

I didn't like the article myself. I am a already a fan, so I appreciate what JD is doing by getting rid of the head cases. However, it seems like any chance the local media gets to print a negative aspect about the program they do it. Very rarely do we get positive articles trying to build local support. The articles are all....1. We don't deserve a new stadium, but hey it's great for the city.2. The team has head cases and the coach had to get rid of some.3. We are not a major enough program to support ourselves because Akron and the conference in general stinks.4. Nobody wants to go to the gamesblah, blah, blah!!!How often are there articles talking about what the program and the community can do in order to get to the next level? Lets face it...the media shapes public opinion whether you want to believe it or not. If all you hear is how pathetic the program and the conference is and all you hear are mostly the negatives pretty soon you will believe it EVEN IF you are a fan.It would be refreshing to see what would happen if the local media (ABJ) actually covered the program like they gave a damn that it existed.