This is one of those little gifts that you just have to love. The members of the local mainstream media want a scandal so badly, they can all taste it. Trouble is, they might have finally run into the guy they can’t bully. They’ve certainly run into a guy who doesn’t care about them.
On Tuesday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were chided by the media and, one suspects, the CFL’s head office, for having a man who once scouted Canadian and CIS players for them, show up at a Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice and start taking notes.
Word is, Robert Trentini had pages of diagrams and alleged plays written down on “sheets and sheets” of paper.
The Ticats were so pissed off, they revoked Trentini’s press credentials for Saturday’s game. The Bombers, meanwhile, called the league to say Trentini had indeed worked for them as a scout, but he was a rogue on Tuesday.
It was quite comical. And, ultimately, quite meaningless, something that will be forgotten by most people tomorrow.
Still, on Wednesday, Bombers president Lyle Bauer sent out the following written statement:
“In regards to the reported incident in Hamilton it should be noted that the WFC did not engage the services of this individual who attended an open practice for said purposes nor do we condone any such actions.
“Although we have used the services of this individual in the past it has been in the area of personnel scouting including tracking of Canadian and CIS players.
“We believe that our efforts are best spent in the areas of coaching and film study.
“Our interests are in presenting a professional product for the entertainment of CFL and Blue Bomber fans. The focus of our Football Operations people remains on preparation for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this weekend.”
Of course, the local mainstream media didn’t pay much attention to Bauer. They’re afraid of him. But they did smell a scandal and they saw head coach Mike Kelly as the villain. They were going right for the jugular.
So at Wednesday’s coach’s news conference, the media folks asked Kelly the same question eight times. Not once, but eight times (wonder if they knew that a test for mental health is to check to see if patients ask the same question over and over expecting a different answer). Different verbiage, but pretty much the same question eight times.
Kelly’s response was (and I’m paraphrasing): “Non issue. It’s been handled internally. I’ve got nothing to say.”
Seven questions later, and seven of the same answers later, Kelly finally said: “Did you not listen to anything I said. I’m not talking about this. It’s a non issue. It’s over with. It’s done. Now, unless you have something else to say I’m not talking about it. So you can take that and leave the building. It’s that easy. Do we all understand each other now? Good. Next question. Got nothing to say? Enjoy your day fellas, we’ll see you at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Good for him.
It’s about time.
If the local media can’t ask good questions, they don’t deserve any answers.