Positive Press vs. Negative Press - who won?

[SeattleUte]

Whatever anyone thinks about the way the PR is blowing this minute history will condemn BYU.

[Babs]

Babes's curious brand of selective journalism can be summarized succinctly in this cool emoticon I found recently and would like to have added to our library:

you so did not find that. you big stealer meanie thief. Incidentally, it's really fun to see you do this complete about face from when you lived in California and laughed at all the Utahns for thinking their state was of any consequence.

[TripletDaddy]

you so did not find that. you big stealer meanie thief. Incidentally, it's really fun to see you do this complete about face from when you lived in California and laughed at all the Utahns for thinking their state was of any consequence.

yikes. touchy

[Babs]

yikes. touchy

YOU STOLE MY EMOTICON. Even though I found it, I'm going to have JL name that one :triplet:

[TripletDaddy]

YOU STOLE MY EMOTICON. Even though I found it, I'm going to have JL name that one :triplet:

I doubt many people here believe you anyway. Why would I steal an emoticon?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Last night's 7:00 hour on KGO (the biggest radio station in the SF Bay Area) was devoted to the Davies thing. The usual host has been out this week; his sub, Pat Thurston, is a lefty and she ripped on BYU's chastity rule (not realistic to expect a young man to refrain), said BYU has double standards, citing Jim McMahon (three decades later), and opined Davies got the boot because he was black. My wife listened while she was on the road and called me; I didn't bother to tune in.

The topic has also been discussed a lot on KNBR, the main sports radio station, where Tom Tolbert observed that under the Honor Code, a student can be expelled for wearing mismatching socks.

[Babs]

I doubt many people here believe you anyway. Why would I steal an emoticon?

Beats me. I continue to underestimate the depths to which you have fallen since the move.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Babes's curious brand of selective journalism can be summarized succinctly in this cool emoticon I found recently and would like to have added to our library:

I love it. That will definitely go in the palette.

We just need to decide what to call it. You two duke it out and let me know.

[TripletDaddy]

I love it. That will definitely go in the palette.

We just need to decide what to call it. You two duke it out and let me know.

Thanks JeffLebowski! When I first found that emoticon, I knew everyone would enjoy it. I'm glad I thought of it.

Some ideas for the name:

: ostrich:
:Babes'sperceptionofLDSworlddomination:
:FARMS:

[Babs]

I love it. That will definitely go in the palette.

We just need to decide what to call it. You two duke it out and let me know.

I knew you'd love it when I found it last week and asked jackass Triplet here to add it to the list.

Since Trip doesn't want it named after him, I suggest we name it :Tex:

[TripletDaddy]

I knew you'd love it when I found it last week and asked jackass Triplet here to add it to the list.

Since Trip doesn't want it named after him, I suggest we name it :Tex:

:babs:

[Babs]

:box:

[SeattleUte]

Last night's 7:00 hour on KGO (the biggest radio station in the SF Bay Area) was devoted to the Davies thing. The usual host has been out this week; his sub, Pat Thurston, is a lefty and she ripped on BYU's chastity rule (not realistic to expect a young man to refrain), said BYU has double standards, citing Jim McMahon (three decades later), and opined Davies got the boot because he was black. My wife listened while she was on the road and called me; I didn't bother to tune in.

The topic has also been discussed a lot on KNBR, the main sports radio station, where Tom Tolbert observed that under the Honor Code, a student can be expelled for wearing mismatching socks.

It's crazy bad luck for BYU that this happened on perhaps the most celebratory day in 50 years, certainly in 30 years for BYU basketball. Otherwise it would NOT have been a national story, as it was not with Unga.

The thing that I've not read highlighted that gets me is the element here of this concept that these DI players are somewhat like slave labor and then they do this to him. Frank DeFord goes on ad nauseum about how they should be paid. I don't agree with his conclusion that paying them is the only right thing to do.

However, there is a moral dimension to Davies pouring his hear out, developing himself from a little recruited kid from the sticks into a star on the no. 3 ranked team, and then BYU summarily ripping that moment from him. Can you imagine all he has given to BYU? To fans who get so much high from BYU (just look around here)? What other reward could he get for all his "free" service to BYU than experiencing the celebratory high they took from him?

They celebrate him as a conquering Spartan, then turn around and knock him down and spit on him because he turns out to be less than sexually pure. (How can you not be reminded about Christ's words to the mob that wanted to stone the harlot.)

Apart from leftist rants, I think if you drill down on not so much the standards as the punishment, BYU can't help but come out looking really bad. People will analyze this more closely as the years go by and this will be another badge of shame on BYU.

[Top Ute]

Ok, there's a ton of negative press, people complaining about BYU, what they have done in the Brandon Davies situation. How draconian we are in our ways etc.

However, there has also been a ton of good press, how it's great to see a university stick to it's principles, etc.

So, in light of all the negative press and the positive press...who has won in the eye of public perception? (or winning)

Positive. Not by Nixon-McGovern or Reagan-Mondale standards, but a definite plurality (I'm accounting for the, "I respect their standards, but are they bleepin' nuts?" crowd here, as a neutral option). Kinda like when Clinton beat Bush-Perot.

[RobinFinderson]

People will analyze this more closely as the years go by and this will be another badge of shame on BYU.

This is definitely another Rodin moment, but the sports version.

Gail Houston firing and the academic freedom fallout = big black eye for BYU academics.

Rodin exhibit censorship = big black eye for BYU arts.

Brandon Davies punishment on eve of playoffs = big black eye for BYU sports.

These things just keep happening, like clockwork, and it seems like BYU will never learn.