Bo Pelini "Snaps", "Fuming" on His Birthday?

Our overlords at SB Nation don’t like it…. :-)

Pelini needs to understand that the stupid questions aren’t just going to magically go away, and he also needs to understand that certain responibilities come with such a high proile job. He needs to work on his media relations.

Wipe off that fucking pissed off look on your face you carry all the time and relax. He makes this job harder on himself than the media does. You gotta play their game, because that is their job.

And try treating those working-class reporters with a bit of decency, they have to ask the dumb, rumor-filled questions or their news outlet will find someone else who will.

I’m sorry, but that’s a terrible idea. Reporters have a job to do, and that necessarily involves asking people questions they’d rather not answer. (As the old saying goes, journalism is printing something that someone else doesn’t want printed; everything else is public relations.)

There were no questions in that interview that were inappropriate or contentious. Bo just has to learn to handle them better. He’s just flat-out terrible at press conferences and group interviews, and that’s nobody’s fault but his.

Your characterization of the Nebraska press corps is really inaccurate. These guys aren’t obsessed with getting gigs at national media outlets. (Have you seen the journalism industry lately? Those gigs are disappearing fast.) They’re just trying to do their jobs.

I’ve been in their shoes – trying to get information out of someone who absolutely refuses to give you anything substantive, knowing that you have a story due that afternoon that depends on it. It’s miserable. You start fumbling for questions, hoping for something, anything that will get the source to say something interesting. Nothing works. By the end, you’re just throwing crap up against a wall, hoping to get lucky and get a literate response.

Every reporter – even the best ones – looks like a blithering moron in those situations, but fortunately for most of them, those interviews aren’t taped and released for public consumption. But that’s what happens at a Pelini press conference/group interview.

Nobody’s trying to be Bill Simmons or Michael Wilbon – they’re just trying to get a good article written or a good piece aired. And Pelini makes that really difficult – and even more difficult to look good while the sausage is being made.

they released saying pretty much what you just said?

I finally listened to the interview just a few minutes ago. My thought is this is much ado about nothing whatsoever. Bo is Bo, and frankly, I’m tired of the “personality profile as sportswriting” genre. Interview players – ask them about where they came from – talk to assistants – stop beating a dead horse that won’t answer your questions anyway.

really?