Chris Hill hates the media. The media despises Chris Hill. Utah could play BYU every year if it wanted. Hill is telling lies. The media is taking cheap shots.
These accusations and many more are flying around.
Must be football season.
With two weeks left until BYU and Utah begin their campaigns, the rhetoric is rising. Twitter lit up Monday night when a Q and A story by Deseret News columnist Lee Benson appeared on the newspaper’s website. Benson asked the Utah athletics director if he ever revisits his decision not to play BYU annually in football.
Hill replied, “Not too much. The deep, dark dirty secret is our fans are not disappointed. That’s a hard thing to say, right? There are three groups. There’s our fans, who say it’s only two years (off), we get to play Michigan here, it’s not like every year we’re not going to play them, it’s not that big a deal. Then there’s the media, bless their hearts, but it kills their self-serving jobs. What are you going to talk about on the radio if you don’t have the BYU-Utah game? What are you going to write about? And of course BYU wants us to play every year. But my job is what’s in the best interest of the University of Utah, and the Michigan game this year at our place will be the most-watched game out of Salt Lake City ever.”
That triggered a few hours of Twitter rants about Utah thinking it’s too good for BYU, Hill disliking or disrespecting the Utah media, and the reverse. A few pointed out that it’s hypocritical for Hill to call the media self-serving, when he’s doing the same thing — looking out for his employer’s interests. That got things back to Utah not playing BYU again this year.
I figure the Utes schedule nine potential Pac-12 losses every year, plus one outside power conference opponent. If I were Kyle Whittingham, I’d consider another losable, emotional game an unnecessary risk.
Right now BYU needs the Utah game, though that may not apply forever. At the same time, this is the BYU that on some years skipped playing Utah State, or required two-for-ones because the Cougars didn’t need the Aggies.
All schools are self-serving.
As for Hill’s observation on the media, I didn’t think it was especially mean. News flash: Coaches, administrators and players don’t enjoy the media. They think they’re problem makers — except when a glowing article appears. Then they’re “responsible.”
Even then, it’s seldom an easy fit. A story on the relationship between athletes and media is told by author Ben Bradlee Jr., in his book “The Kid.” A young ballplayer once asked Ted Williams how he could address sports writers so disrespectfully.
“Son,” Williams replied, “if you hit .350 you can do a lot of things.”
Generally, athletes and coaches have always thought the media were dimwits who never played the game at a high level. The media thinks athletes, coaches, etc. are condescending, thin-skinned and often plain arrogant. It’s true most media members don't play beyond high school, but conversely, coaches, AD’s and players simply don’t like to be questioned or analyzed.
With rare exception, the media-athlete dynamic has been tenuous for decades. Years ago, I saw an athletic director observing an out-of-town writer and saying, “Look at that guy. Is he ugly enough? Of course, I’ve never seen a good-looking sports writer.”
I was just surprised he wasn’t talking about me.
This is the same AD who said, “If you buy a sports writer a sandwich, you own him for life.”
If that’s not condescending, I don’t know what is.
Another AD, speaking to a group of Utah high school athletic directors, said the media couldn’t be trusted and that they’re “liars.”
A Crimson Club member told me Rick Majerus once labeled my columns “complete garbage.”
None of the aforementioned incidents sent me into therapy.
Tuesday morning, columnist/radio host Gordon Monson said on 1280-The Zone that Hill "flat-out lied" in claiming Utah fans weren’t worried about keeping the rivalry. In an unusual move, Hill issued a response, saying he was “very disappointed at the inflammatory statements made by a local radio host toward me personally.” He went on to say not only are the teams scheduled for 2016-2018, but have an unsigned contract through 2020 and have discussed games in 2021 and 2022.
On his afternoon drive-time show, Monson apologized for saying Hill lied, but reiterated his contention that most Utahns want the game played annually.
It’s safe to say Hill could live without the media.
Whether Utahns truly want the rivalry to continue is debatable, but where I most disagree with Hill is his contention that the local media needs to promote the BYU-Utah game in order to keep consumers interested. Utah-Michigan and BYU-Nebraska are interesting all by themselves.
If Utah or BYU goes to a New Year’s Six bowl, I doubt either fan base would say, “I wish they’d played the Utah-BYU game.”
I don’t lose sleep over any of it. The media gets to say what it wants and Hill can say what he wants about the media. They’re just opinions. News organizations and sports figures don’t need to agree. They just have to live in the same space.
Email: rock@desnews.com; Twitter: @therockmonster; Blog: Rockmonster Unplugged