A Measured Look at the Jimmy Clausen Story

For as much as he's been lampooned on this site, the South Bend Tribune's Jeff Carroll wrote a balanced article on this silly Clausen story, where he put the story in proper context, using perspective, something that was sorely missing from most accounts.

Carroll and the SBT lead with the headline, "Spotlight Blitzes Clausen." Notice what's not there. No sensationalist wording. No mentions of "Investigations" or "teammates in the crosshairs." He actually fleshed out the story to something broader without pimping it for hits. I've been a critic of Carroll, but credit where credit is due.

Even The Big Lead acknowledged the absurdity of the story, citing none other than Jeff Carroll (screenshot on the right) and wrapping it up nicely with,

""Tough spot for the kid—he’s a virtual celebrity on campus, as is any QB at ND. Of course people are going to break out the cameras when he shows up at parties, and of course Clausen is going to attend parties, which college kids should do. Again, we find nothing wrong this photo - and we feel the same way about the Matt Leinart pictures that emerged earlier this year. Athletes unwind in the offseason, and often, this will —and should—include partying. Assuming the Clausen photos were not taken from August-December…where’s the beef?"

 

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Notice how a little thoughtfulness and perspective change the entire story? That's why writers have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders, especially ones who "break" a story, because their viewpoint will be parroted in papers and on television around that country.

That's a lot of responsibility that directly affects a 20-year-old's reputation. I have great affection for the Chicago Tribune, which is why it's so disturbing to see what looks like unbalanced reporting.

As Bob Chmiel writes (more eloquently than I) to Hamilton in Blue and Gold Illustrated's Troubled by the Trib about his reporting in the Tribune:

""And since you write for the paper I delivered, I had your back. But this week, I am just an old football coach who happens to write. There appears that there is some type of agenda, and today I am just a bit less proud of having thrown your paper on so many snowy porches a long, long time ago.""

Where do we go from here? Not far. What we've learned from our posters is that Res Life doesn't get involved in off-campus issues unless the police were called. Of course, more to the point, there's no direct evidence of anything wrong. Sources inside Notre Dame say nothing needs to be done other than a verbal warning, which has been communicated to Clausen. In fact, if Notre Dame were to take action it would be treating Clausen different than it treats other students and that is highly unlikely.

In other words, it's a non-story except as a cautionary tale.

Let the season begin.