DISCLAIMER: This blog I’m about to post was actually inspired out of the blue by some out of the blue comments on Twitter by a Toledo Blade sports writer who will remain anonymous and who I think is a nice guy.

1st, the TV piece on Dave Clawson that aired on Tuesday night reporting no contact was made by East Carolina to BG…

On Wednesday, I discovered through sources close to the situation in Greenville, NC, the following that I posted on Twitter.

ME: “BREAKING NEWS: sources in Greenville tell us East Carolina won’t be hiring Dave Clawson; will move in different direction. rest easy, BG 3:40 PM Jan 20th from web”

I then linked up to the online story shortly thereafter.

http://www.foxtoledo.com/dpp/sports/football_ncaa/wupw_Clawson_to_East_Carolina01192010hc

Case closed, right? I guess it wasn’t for a local writer who isn’t on the BG beat.

Ten minutes later…

ANONYMOUS PROFESSIONAL WRITER: “Anybody wondering why The Blade hasn’t covered the Clawson to ECU rumors should know the story was complete garbage perpetuated by TV 4:01 PM Jan 20th from web”

ME: “The Clawson “garbage” was not perpetuated by just TV; all the reports I read were newspaper reports 4:19 PM Jan 20th from web”

And that’s true on my part.

Shortly thereafter, a former Blade reporter wrote…

FORMER BLADE REPORTER: @Anonymous Professional Writer “I originally heard about it from a newspaper that covers East Carolina 4:23 PM Jan 20th from Echofon in reply to”

ANONYMOUS PROFESSIONAL WRITER: @ FORMER BLADE REPORTER “I understand. But then leading your sportscast with those rumors and saying ECU is interested, which is false, is wrong about 24 hours ago from web in reply to”

Okay, now that all that’s out of the way… time to go through some journalism 101. Now before I go into this, all three people involved went to the best journalism schools, in no particular order: Northwestern, Mizzou and Syracuse, so it’s really a wash as far as who knows more of what.

But, to defend myself, if I did say ECU is interested in Dave Clawson, then for sure I would be in the wrong. But if you actually watch the video and read the story, I would always ATTRIBUTE that kind of statement to saying it came from reports. Or it came from sources.

The FACT is… that there were numerous reports saying Dave Clawson was a candidate for the East Carolina head coaching gig. Some of those reports say he was a leading candidate with Rick Stockstill turning the Pirates down. Notice I’M not the one saying that. I’m saying those REPORTS are saying that because they are. THAT’S A FACT. THAT’S NOT WRONG.

If we see that respected newspapers are reporting this rumor, it is our job to find out if it is true or not. It is our job to tell the viewer if it is true or not.

Let’s face it. This story has plenty of value. Dave Clawson just finished his first year at Bowling Green and took the Falcons to the Humanitarian Bowl with a record-setting receiver. It’d be crushing if that rumor was true. That also makes it a bigger story. That’s why it was my lead. There was nothing factually wrong with what I said or wrote. There was nothing wrong with putting it as my lead story. College football is a big deal around here, especially with National Signing Day less than two weeks away.

Instead, if I didn’t cover it at all and ignored the whole thing, then THAT would be wrong. THAT would be called – not doing my job.