I'm of the opinion that a reporter should be challanged by his readers... his lazy-non-scooping-company-line-pooping-speel was getting old... he has since stepped up with some informative pieces (followed the Rose signings closely)... anyone can change a reputation by improving work habits... that should come from self motivation.
All I ask for is to get more inside information that you can't find in the ass press or nba.com.
An example of good reporting while still having your head mandated up the companies ass is Langlois... you just get the sense that he's digging harder for new stuff.

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Big or Bust

Or simply drag it where you want the text to go.

I'm working feverishly to find some stuff McCoskey wrote as a pimple-faced sophomore in high school to use against him. Stay tuned. If he ripped the varsity basketball coach, dammit I'll find it because I know that opinion was "set in stone" just as his opinion of Dumars should be.

I'm not a huge McCoskey fan but I like to see the guy spreading his wings a little. And as a former newspaperman, I can say definitively there are certain rules you have to live under when you're writing for a big metro. As far as him ripping Dumars, Dumars probably shoulda been ripped AT THE TIME. I'm sure McCoskey knows he jumped the gun.

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"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore. - George Carlin

That was a helluva good piece.

The other one about Flip just happened to be on the front page and pique my curiousity. I knew Chris was putting something up about the new point of emphasis rules but forgot to follow up on it.

gazoo is right. Beat writers aren't always in a position to reveal everything they see and hear. I remember reading that Drew Sharp overheard Zeke and Daddy Rich discussing the Dantley trade but because it was off the record, he couldn't use it.

It would be nice to get closer, but those press creds are hard to come by. In the meantime we will have to be happy disseminating what is out there.

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There is no such thing as a good time for bad luck. - Down, On March The Saints
Progress cannot be organized. - Ludwig von Mises
You cannot stop innovation. - Sun Tzu

Unfortunately, McCosky's email at Hoopsworld isn't working. My comments on his 'No Tolerance' article keep getting REJECTED.

LOL -- Hobbs must have the infamous ITA on his desktop. I know I do...

Anyways, IMO McCosky is truly a twerp. Truth is probably that Taylor, McHale and Saunders deserve each other -- each seem clueless in their own ways. No matter how you look at it, it's another exmaple of Flip failing to figure out what makes a player tick.

Back to McCosky:

1. McCosky's Rasho logic is pretty flawed -- Rasho failing under Pops doesn't mean Flip's approach was better. Many people things we think would be good for us, yet fail in doing so. McCosky's argument is akin to saying that if you tried to quit smoking and couldn't, then the obvious conclusion is that you should be a lifelong smoker.

2. Amusing to see him use the phrase ``revisionist history''. This is the guy who published Flip's quote that ``to beat Shaq you need a scoring center.'' He's also the same guy who saw the team he covers beat Shaq twice in a row in the playoffs with Ben. If he's doing his job properly, that Flip BS doesn't get in the paper. IMO, he's not a shill, he's just not very good at being skeptical.

3. QUESTION: Since the infamous ITA, howmany times has McCosky trashed the org? Does he still do it, or maybe that was the incident that triggered a ``loyalty program''?

Find the ITA here: MAJOR blast from the past [Archive] - MotownSports.com Message Board

Hack, did you read the No Tolerance bit?

And I don't get people who freak out over the Ivory Tower article. At the time, it was an accurate summation of where the Pistons were after that first season. Read it again. Picture that it is the end of the 2000 season.

Has he since been in a loyalty program? You bet. And we're worse off for it.

What's the no tolerance bit?

I recall McCosky losing me at the "Jordan's a professional and Joe's not" part of that story and the "losing stature among league execs" bit. And I never bought into the lazy/ part-timer accusation. It just didn't make any sense given what we knew. Memories fail, but I also don't remember being so down on Joe at the time. I think the first time I was truly disappointed in Joe was February. I forgave him for giving us a line about resigning both Okur and Sheed. Until Flip won this summer's beauty contest I was sure Joe was immortal.