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Patrick A. Patterson/ mvn.com

Is critical thinking dead when it comes to sports journalists reporting on Rob Ryan, Lane Kiffin, and the Oakland Raiders?

The Oakland Raiders’ offseason is slightly more than a week old, but it has been a whale of a roller coaster ride. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was about to be fired, then he wasn’t fired. Suddenly, the rumors are again flying that Lane Kiffin may not even be the Raiders coach for 2008. The nexus of all the rumors is the memo that came out the other day that said that Rob Ryan has not been fired. The media has taken that statement as gospel that Rob Ryan will be back.

Courtesy of Jerry MacDonald of the Oakland Tribune, here is Mike Taylor’s statement that touched off this latest firestorm:

“The recent conjecture regarding the removal of Rob Ryan is incorrect and the constant barrage of rumors is irresponsible. The Raiders organization stated that the speculation that Rob Ryan will be relieve of his duties should stop.”

This is the only official statement from the Oakland Raiders, and nowhere in that statement is there any commitment to next year. To see my original response to this memo, click here.

Most media outlets have taken this memo and have repeatedly reported that the Raiders have committed to Rob Ryan for next season. In my original post, I dissected the statement to show that there is no commitment to anything other than Ryan having not yet been fired.

This is Orwellian doublespeak at its finest. “The recent conjecture regarding the removal or Rob Ryan is incorrect and the constant barrage of rumors is irresponsible.” This is a sentence that contains a lot of words and says very little. In fact, it would do a Washington DC spin doctor proud. The essence of this sentence is: The reports of Rob Ryan’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. (Apologies to Mark Twain.) The attack on the media rumors is a clear echo of the “False Rumor Mongerer” press release of a year ago.

The second sentence is even more of a political spin than the first, “The Raiders organization stated that the speculation that Rob Ryan will be relieve (sic) of his duties should stop.” Nowhere does it say that Rob Ryan will not be fired, or that Rob Ryan is to return. It only asks for the speculation to stop. Again, this is eerily similar to the “False Rumor Mongerer” press release.

Adam Schefter, who is one of the most respected reporters outside the Raider Nation on NFL goings on has stated:

If Kiffin had his choice, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan would not return to Oakland next season. But the Raiders already have announced that Ryan, respected in league circles and with one year remaining on his contract, will come back.

Considering it was Adam Schefter who instantly called BS on the “false rumor mongerer” memo from last season, it would seem that he would see the direct parallel. It is possible that he only caught it last time because it was aimed squarely at him, and missed the finer points on this one.

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News used the bringing Rob Ryan back to compose a complete hit piece on Al Davis and the Raiders:

Kiffin apparently is trapped with Rob Ryan, a talented guy who has his own, non-Lane way of doing things and who, rare among defensive coordinators, has earned Davis’ long-term faith.

Of course, Kawakami backtracked slightly off of that assertion in a self serving response after getting his desired response of an inflamed Raider Nation

Doesn’t mean Ryan will definitely be a Raider for the 2008 season. Al could be holding out for compensation. Al could relent at some point and let Kiffin have his way, if somebody interesting comes available in the next few weeks on the defensive side.

It seems that Kawakami wants to have it both ways. Kiffin is trapped with Ryan or Daivs may relent. This way he can say that he is right no matter how the scenario plays out over the offseason.

Even the respected Ira Miller has taken the bait, and is stating that the Raiders have said that Ryan will return next season:

First, the Raiders declare that Rob Ryan is remaining as defensive coordinator even though the buzz around the NFL is strong that Lane Kiffin wants Ryan out. Consider it Al Davis’ way of explaining to Kiffin who the boss is, just in case Kiffin forgot.

It seems that Jerry MacDonald of the Oakland Tribune is one of the few who actually paid attention to the content of the memo:

Even assuming Rob Ryan is around for another year _ and that is no lock _ it’s a big leap to assume Kiffin would either be fired or quit because of it.

Overall, this story has blown up into epic proportions because it seems that many in the media took what that memo said at even less than face value, because it made for a good story. The Raiders are known for masking their intentions, and that memo has all the makings of a perfectly good masking agent. In fact, it seems a bit transparent when viewed next to the “false rumor mongerer statement” of last year.

But the way that things get reported, and Thoughts from the Dark Side can be guilty of this as well, is that X source says “according to our sources Coach may be fired” then Y source states that “X source says Coach to be fired” and so on. That is how stories such as Lane Kiffin’s alleged temper tantrum over the Arkansas job going to Bobby Petrino. With the 24 hour news cycles of ESPN and the plethora of Internet message boards and rumor sites such as profootballtalk.com its easy for a story with little to no meat to suddenly grow “legs” and start running though the Internet.

The issue with this current story is that there is a concrete public statement that is at the center of all the rumor and speculation. The problem is that reporters, and not bloggers such as myself or rumor mongerers such as pft.com, but professional reporters have neglected the content of the source material and have been reporting on the surrounding rumors and hoopla.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 2:54 pm and is filed under 2008 Offseason, Anti Raider Articles, Media Morons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.