The scandalous recruitment of Jamarcus McFarland is over: OU wins out

MLUTiger · Dec 28, 2008

The Times article included inflammatory statements McFarland had written about the recruiting practices of Texas and LSU for a senior English class assignment.
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What was inflammitaory that he said about LSU? I only remember his mom not being happy that hostesses were sitting in guys laps. I don't know of any uptight Pentecostals that would be happy about that, but that's hardly what I would call inflammitory.

Ooooohhhhh... Girls in guys laps. I bet Joe Francis is around here somewhere with a video camera...

MLUTiger · Jan 20, 2009

UPDATE: NY Times OpEd responds to their "shoddy" reporting

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/opinion/18pubed-web.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

The Wild Party

On Dec. 26, Thayer Evans, a Houston-based freelancer who writes frequently for The Times, reported that one of the nation’s most intense college football recruiting battles had ended: Jamarkus McFarland of Lufkin, Tex., was going to Oklahoma, not Texas.

Evans had stayed close to McFarland and his mother, Kashemeyia Adams, for months, and he recounted an intense courtship of them by coaches and boosters. He quoted from a paper that McFarland had written for his high school English class that described the recruiting process, including comparisons of the football programs. McFarland’s paper described a party at an upscale Dallas hotel, hosted by Texas fans after the Texas-Oklahoma game, where he said drugs and alcohol were plentiful and young women took off their clothes and were “romancing each other.”

But McFarland later told rivals.com, a football fan Web site, that he had “spiced up” the description of the party and intimated that, if he had known Evans was going to quote from his paper, he could have told the reporter what was accurate and what was not. Evans told me he went over the paper in detail with McFarland, and Adams told me that she knew the reporter reviewed what he was writing with her son, although she didn’t know the details of their conversation.

The Times asked McFarland to clarify his conflicting remarks, and after two days, he sent a text message that cleared up nothing. It said he had respect for Evans, that his school paper was written “to capture and inform my audiences,” and “I stand by this story and I have moved on.”

Adams said that since The Times article was published, her son has been the target of racial slurs from angry Texas supporters, and she said she would not let him talk to reporters in the future. But she defended Evans’s story. “An article was written, and I was very well pleased with it, and that’s that,” she said.

What really happened? I asked Evans how much he pressed for independent verification of the party. He said he asked for the name of the hotel, and McFarland could not remember it. The reporter did not ask who invited the young man to the party, who accompanied him or who else might have witnessed the lurid events.

Evans said that in retrospect, he could have done more to get independent corroboration of the party. But he said that McFarland and his mother had never misled him during their long association.

Tom Jolly, the sports editor, and Mike Abrams, who was editing the 2,800-word article on deadline on Christmas Day, said they did not press Evans about the party. Abrams said the allegations were in a school paper, and “there’s a trust between this kid and a teacher.” McFarland is a good student, and “submitting this document for a grade added credibility,” Abrams said — “maybe too much credibility.”

The article also contained allegations by Adams that she had received various offers to induce her son to go to Texas, although it made clear that she did not believe that anyone associated with the university was responsible for any misconduct. Nick Voinis, a spokesman for the University of Texas athletics department, complained to me that Evans did not call the university for comment before the article was published.

Evans did alert the university just before his article was published on the newspaper’s Web site. Why didn’t he seek reaction beforehand? He said that if anyone at Texas had spoken to him, it would have violated N.C.A.A. recruiting rules. And, he said, he did not want to give either Texas or Oklahoma information they could use to try to influence McFarland’s decision.

“I felt like we made the best efforts we could under the circumstances,” Evans said.

Regardless of whether Texas officials would have commented, Evans should have given them the chance. As in each of the other cases, a phone call could have headed off much embarrassment.

Ronald Reagan may not have loved the press, but he had good advice for every reporter: Trust but verify.
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DRC · Jan 20, 2009

MLUTiger said: ↑

UPDATE: NY Times OpEd responds to their "shoddy" reporting
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Not exactly the retraction Texas people were hoping for. I was hearing that a full retraction was coming from the NY Times and this isnt it. Maybe its the first step in an attempt to lessen the blow of a full retraction but Texas wont be happy with this.

roygu · Jan 20, 2009

Since when has the New York Times had credibility?

TwistedTiger · Jan 20, 2009

roygu said: ↑

Since when has the New York Times had credibility?
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Yes really, I rank it right up there with the National Enquirer.

LaSalleAve · Jan 20, 2009

"J-Mac" needs to tell him mom to shut the f up. To me it sounds like McFarland was getting pushed by his mother to go to OU because he has a better chance to go to the NFL and get a paycheck so she can get her hair did once a week, and get a new house, and the F out of Lufkin.

LSU was out because they have maids?

Can you just see bob stoops' phone ringing and his mom bitching because J-Mac is in tears over not getting to start a game his freshman year.

geauxtigs · Jan 20, 2009

LaSalleAve said: ↑

"J-Mac" needs to tell him mom to shut the f up. To me it sounds like McFarland was getting pushed by his mother to go to OU because he has a better chance to go to the NFL and get a paycheck so she can get her hair did once a week, and get a new house, and the F out of Lufkin.

LSU was out because they have maids?

Can you just see bob stoops' phone ringing and his mom bitching because J-Mac is in tears over not getting to start a game his freshman year.
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:geaux: Don't know if she'd notice that since supposedly she never saw him play in game in HS, or anywhere else supposedly. As long as "the check" comes in though, she'd probably be happy. :LSU231:

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The scandalous recruitment of Jamarcus McFarland is over: OU wins out

MLUTiger Secular Humanist

MLUTiger Secular Humanist

DRC TigerNator

roygu Founding Member

TwistedTiger Founding Member

LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

geauxtigs Tigers Forever

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