Recently the Spectator was taken to task by VSU’s head football coach, David Dean. Apparently he has taken a keen interest in the work of this newspaper and he must not like what he sees. The part which he is particularly disturbed by is the coverage of Kellen Lewis’, starting quarterback, arrest for one count of battery.
In fact, Dean was so thoroughly disgusted with the coverage of his quarterback’s situation that he spent the first several minutes of his radio show ranting about the local media. In that segment of his show directly challenged the Spectator to report a story about the good things his team has done.
If Dean was lashing out because he cares about his players and what people say about them then maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. Top-ranked North Alabama comes to Bazemore-Hyder tonight for the biggest game of the season and all Dean wants to do is pick a fight with the local media. It surely can’t be beneficial to his players to feel like they are the victims of the big bad press. Where are their heads this week and an even better question; where is Dean’s head? It should be on UNA.
Truthfully, this section has been doing exactly what Dean seems to desire so much. Many players including Lewis has been praised for quality play and handling to mildly disappointing season with class. Actually, Open Mike focused on the outstanding performance of Lewis against Henderson State and was congratulator of his player of the week honor earned last week. The fact that he was arrested that same week and that this same section reported on the incident can simply be attributed to reporters doing their jobs.
It has not run amiss to anyone that the Blazers are responsible for giving back to the community, either. This is the reason the Lewis story was such a shock. It was something out of the ordinary according to most Blazer fans. It should be expected that the local media would cover one of the few negative incidents surrounding the team and it should not be forgotten that the good news is what fill the papers on most days.
As always the Spectator will maintain a strong grasp of the facts and will continue to report in a non-biased format. It wouldn’t be fair for us to cover sports in any other way. Okay, that isn’t entirely true. Go Blazers beat UNA!