Richard Justice Should Stop Blogging

[HPF Bob]

Gibbs probably yelled at him once and refused to go on the record. Don't think sportswriters don't hold grudges. Stephanie had the nerve to question what was so horrible about a coach yelling at his players. The she had the further nerve to provide some evidence that swatted down his claim.

So then he starts in with the personal attacks. Not surprising but not cool.

Then he replies. "This isn't about me". Wrong. It's ALL about him. It's about him because some coach told him off or refused to talk to him and so when he writes a piece needlessly ripping him and gets called out by a blogger (God forbid!), his ego can't handle it and he starts going postal.

We're wise to his act. He's the Jay Marriotti of the Southwest, too thin-skinned to have to answer for the crap he dishes out and then carries grudges when sources don't want to talk to him. Marriotti finally got his comeuppance and Justice will someday get his too.

BTW, just as background, when Gibbs was in Denver was when the offensive line refused all interview requests and suffered through fines and other retributions for a few years because of it but it also served as a bonding thing for members of the OL and most of them, I think, rather enjoyed it.

[Joshua]

Unfortunate yet predictable chronology from Justice. FWIW, Justice was on 1560 with Lance and John last week and the Gibbs article came up. He basically admitted it was based on nothing but his personal grudge against Gibbs. From the way he told it, his grudge stems completely from the episode 12 years ago when Gibbs wouldn't give him a quote for an article in support of greater benefits for assistants. The notion that the only thing that kept the owners from giving better benefits was an article from Richard Justice (complete with Gibbs' quote) is laughable.

His behavior during his feud with Steph is obviously reprehensible, but my questions start much before that. I had many of the same questions she had when I first read the article. It completely came out of left field and was contrary to all the public quotes I'd read. I too wondered if he had heard rumors or been told off-the-record comments. Apparently not. Where were his editors? When he turns in a story like that (particularly when it contains no facts), shouldn't an editor ask what's his source?

[HPF Bob]

Editors and fact-checkers: Among the first things to go when there are layoffs. And the whole industry is having layoffs because they are trying to sell a 19th Century product to a 21st Century audience.

[Mike]

I've just decided to stop reading the Chronicle or Justice in any form. No sense in getting into a "pissing match with a skunk." Instead of engaging Justice, it is easier to write an email to the sports editor telling them what a hack Justice is, and that I cancelled my subscription due to his lack of objective "journalism."

Why waste breath or keystokes on that sorry excuse for a "journalist?"

[Joshua]

Rather than just complain here, I did send an email this morning. It said -

Several weeks ago, Richard Justice penned an article regarding Alex Gibbs. To say the least, I found the article to be contrary to the conventional wisdom and was curious of its foundation. From all accounts, Gibbs was widely hailed as an excellent hire and is considered one of the greatest offensive line coaches in NFL history. In addition, I had not heard one negative comment from any Texan, offensive lineman or otherwise. Thus, Justice’s vehement questioning of Gibbs coaching aptitude and style struck me as unusual. The fact that not a single quote in support of the article appeared therein further highlighted my skepticism.

This was particularly true considering the timing of the article. We are barely in the opening act of Gibbs’ tenure with the Texans. The article was written after only 3 preseason games. By all accounts, the zone blocking scheme takes great coordination between the offensive linemen and this takes time. This is further compounded by the fact that 3 new starters were in place (including a rookie) and cut blocking isn’t allowed in practice due to injury concerns. In short, at the time the article was written, I think any objective person would agree that it was simply too early to pronounce judgment. Despite my reservations as to the veracity of the article, I was not compelled to write this letter.

Apparently, I was not alone in questioning the timing and content of the article. The article (and subsequent blog posts) generated a tremendous amount of comments. A number of the commenters simply sought greater clarification on the factual basis of this article and if Mr. Justice had received some inside information, off-the-record comments, etc. from Texan players regarding Gibbs. Although the comments and responses are too numerous to address individually, Mr. Justice generally responded to these comments with generalized, unfounded statements, personal insults and a dismissive wave of the hand of any facts presented which were contrary to his thesis. In addition, Mr. Justice revealed the true reason behind the article. He does not like Alex Gibbs. Although he alludes to it in some of the comment responses, I happened to hear him on 1560 The Game the other morning and the Gibbs article was addressed. To quickly summarize, he acknowledged a grudge with Gibbs dating back over a decade over Gibbs’ refusal to provide a quote regarding assistants’ benefits package. His long simmering anger over this appears to have been the impetus for the article and the notion that "good coaches don’t yell" was the best idea he could come up with for disparaging Gibbs (I will give him credit for honestly admitting his personal vendetta. Most reporters aren’t that willing to admit these types of things). Despite the dubious validity of the article, multiple insults to Chronicle readers, and later admitted bias, all this alone did not prompt me to write this letter.

What finally prompted me was Mr. Justice’s treatment of a particular commenter to his blog. An account of what transpired between Mr. Justice and Stephanie Stradley can be found here - http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/29/h...acks-ale/#cont.

As I’m sure you’re aware, Ms. Stradley used to blog for the Chronicle and now blogs for fanhouse.com. She has been diligently and intelligently posting Texan-related material for years and any cursory review of her postings show a fair and collegial blogger whose sole goal is to provide as much Texan insight as possible with little to no bias or personal attacks. As there is no need to completely regurgitate the chronology contained in the above link, a quick summary is that Mr. Justice responded to her valid questions (the very questions that I and many others had) with nothing more than personal insults and generalized claims (although he has since deleted some of these comments and responses). These insults became quite personal and continued in other comments and apparently on the radio. Needless to say, I find his behavior highly inappropriate and a curious way to respond to a Chronicle subscriber.

In all, it appears as though Mr. Justice penned an article which had no basis in fact. Despite being repeatedly pressed for his source of any disenchantment among players with Gibbs, he provided none. Instead, the article was a thinly disguised attempt to get back at an individual who he believes brushed him off over a decade ago. This dubious reporting is further compounded by his treatment of your readers and, in particular, his awful treatment of Ms. Stradley. The Chronicle, and its readers, deserve better on all fronts. I don’t believe it is too much to ask that an article be based in fact and legitimate questions regarding its validity be addressing forthrightly and without insult.

As an aside, I used to be a Chronicle subscriber, but no longer am so. One of the primary reasons for this is the lack of in-depth analysis from the sports desk. Routinely, the Chronicle sports page (and blogs) read like the worst of talk radio and is replete with outlandish statements with little to back them up. I can assure you that I am not alone in my feelings. In fact, I would encourage you to read the comments by die-hard Houston sports fans (and thus, potential subscribers) at the above site and this one as well –

http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/sho...057#post981057

Finally, I take no glee in writing this letter. I truly wish for a local paper with insight and analysis. While I understand the “any publicity is good publicity” mentality, I certainly hope that the Chronicle does not aspire for notoriety at the expense of integrity and solid journalism. Clearly, this article generated a lot of interest, blog hits, comments, etc., so, to some extent, the Chronicle may consider this article to be a success (and I would be curious as to whether this is true). It should not be.

Thanks for your time.

[KJ3]

hard to be a good sports journalist when john mcclain can out-write you......

[Keith]

Good news: Steph is blogging on chron.com again.

Bad news: Richard is blogging on chron.com again.