October 28, 2011 · 7:53 AM

That’s why he’s called Mr. Conventional Wisdom

The SEC jumped the gun on Missouri’s official entry as its fourteenth member.

Make sure you read cocknfire’s analysis of Tony Barnhart’s participation in the welcoming process. It’s heartwarming.

44 Comments

Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles, SEC Football

44 responses to “That’s why he’s called Mr. Conventional Wisdom”

  1. ChicagoDawg
    October 28, 2011 at 8:20 AM

    Barnhart has been a pant load for quite some time now. He has been Slive’s dog washer from day one, which is why he is no longer taken seriously or found to be interesting. It is obvious that he would rather be invited to the cocktail parties and feel as though he is part of the “club” than be a credible journalist — even if it means prostituting himself by playing the role as the stooge in a faux interview/press release.

    Like

  2. Scorpio Jones, III
    October 28, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    All Barnhart needs is a son who plays football.

    Like

  4. HahiraDawg
    October 28, 2011 at 8:46 AM

    Not to be a TB apologist, but I believe cocknfire could be off base here. In what context did TB say this? It could have been on his show (tv or radio). Question: “TB, what do you believe would be the average SEC fan’s response should Missu join the conference?” There is no conspiracy there. If this is how it went down, he hasn’t participated in some “choreographed public relations campaign”. He merely made an editorial statement and the SEC decided to use it for their own purposes. I’m not saying it went down this way, perhaps he is guilty. I certainly do believe he is guilty as ChicagoDawg has charged, but I don’t necessarily believe this is evidence of that.
    Does he really have to wait until Missu is announced to have an editorial should it hypothetically happen?

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    • stick jackson (@stickjacksonuga)
      October 28, 2011 at 9:09 AM

      There is an entire webpage devoted to “Barnhart’s Take.” I agree that if the SEC just picked up a quote of his somewhere, that would be fine, but that doesn’t seem to be what happened here. Pretty clearly he is an active and willing co-conspirator in the PR rollout in this instance.

      Like

  5. Krautdawg
    October 28, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    You know, I’m beginning to suspect that if I don’t develop some serious conflicts of interest soon, I’m never going to be successful.

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  6. Chadwick
    October 28, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    I might be willing to give him a pass if he wasn’t a paid contributor to the SEC Digital Network. He’s an employee of the SEC in my eyes.

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  7. Babyfarts McGeezax
    October 28, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I think the better part is when cocknfire tries to defend academics at a school as putrid as FakeUSC.

    lolzrs

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    • AthensHomerDawg
      October 28, 2011 at 9:49 AM

      “every school

      Has its pride and joy. One of UGA’s and Mizzou’s are their j schools. No one else in the sec is close. That’s why they’re the only two in Tony’s argument. I’m sure SC has something that they’re unarguably the best in conference at. Just not the j school.”

      by Mark Mandingo

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    • MT
      October 28, 2011 at 10:24 AM

      Being a temporary resident in Columbia, it’s entertaining to hear SC kids try to justify how awesome their academics are. The only school I ever hear anyone brag on is their International Business program.

      But if you walked around campus, you’d realize the school is physically (building-wise) 10-15 years behind the times. Really makes you wonder the quality of what goes on inside ’em

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  8. stoopnagle
    October 28, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    Well, if this wasn’t happening in the “real” news world, I’d be more upset with it happening in an arena that, in the big picture, just isn’t very important.

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    • Nate Dawg
      October 28, 2011 at 10:17 AM

      Exactly. This crap happens with politicians/media all the time. Am I shocked TB is “behind the scenes” with the SEC? Hell no. Emabarassing? Yeah a little but isn’t it just par for the course with people in “power”?

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  9. Dog in Fla
    October 28, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    Slive’s disinformation team is expected to release to the Missouri television markets the following debriefing on Mr. CFB’s intel and protocol breach up with which Slive will not put*:

    “With little or no regret, The SEC has accepted Tony Bagel’s memo of resignation as an ex officio member of The SEC Welcoming Committee for Missourah. Tony’s cogent political and sports philosophy will be missed by some. Tony will be leaving to fish for bream and to spend even more time with his family as well as the Mark Richt family, a result with which neither family will not put. In the meantime, the big hole left by Tony will be plugged up by two interim guys so the tonnage of the The SEC Welcoming Committee remains approximately the same to balance things out. A sample of the work of Tony’s replacement plugs follows:

    http://www.redstateupdate.com/video/hank-jr-hitler-n-wordhead-perry

    * Others inside The SEC bunker disinformation squad having some responsibility for the breach will get a pay raise.

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  10. BulldogBen
    October 28, 2011 at 10:19 AM

    Conference realignement talk…….*SHOOTS SELF*

    So tired of all of it.

    Just beat Florida.

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  11. Newt
    October 28, 2011 at 10:56 AM

    Wes Durham busting TB’s chops about it right now on radio. “Missouri’s coming to the SEC, or so I’ve heard. It must be, b/c you were interviewed about it apparently.”

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  12. Brandon
    October 28, 2011 at 11:56 AM

    Pretty lame how cocknfire makes a point to try and absolve msnbc of bias, all our news networks/channels are propagandists, one way or another, at least barnhart only deals with football, not life or death

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  13. OKDawg
    October 28, 2011 at 12:22 PM

    To me, this story is as irrelevant as TB’s “analysis” of any SEC game. I cannot remember any time when his thoughts on a game were interesting, original, or insightful.

    On to the WLOCP…

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  14. AthensHomerDawg
    October 28, 2011 at 12:53 PM

    Brandon
    “Alcatraz…Alcatraz….”

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    • Brandon
      October 28, 2011 at 1:40 PM

      Sorry AHD don’t understand, to clarify if I need to, I’m just saying hypocrisy and cronyism in sports journalism is less disturbing to me than hypocrisy and cronyism about serious non-entertainment issues

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  15. Mike
    October 28, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    Update:

    “Tony Barnhart — the venerable Bede of SEC football coverage — found his name attached to the SEC’s accidental web posting last night. Taking part in a short Q&A, Barnhart weighed in on how a Missouri-SEC marriage might work. With that hitting the web last night, the obvious questions became: When did Barnhart know this and why didn’t he report it?

    I emailed Barnhart this morning regarding the post and he said:

    “I was asked by XOS to respond to a series of hypotheticals and so I did. Had no inside knowledge. If I did I would have reported it.”

    XOS Digital is the web vendor that apparently dropped the ball by posting the Missouri-to-the-SEC news prematurely. While it would seem that any Q&A would have been done by the league and not the web vendor, the SEC and Barnhart are both suggesting it was indeed XOS that conducted the interview.

    Having dealt with Barnhart via our CSS roles, if he says that’s how it went down, I believe him.
    ***************
    From Mr SEC

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