The recruitment of MacFarland just got crazy...

[SHSUHorn]

Wow how interesting this recruitment has become. Texas was the early leader for Mccfarland but things changed recently and OU took over the lead. The rumors were Mccfarland wanted Texas but the mom changed her earlier tune of liking Texas to switching to OU.

Lots of rumors coming out of Lufkin that some illegal stuff was swaying mom and that recently the mother refused to give Mack Brown the in-home visit.

Then this was posted from a reliable Longhorn poster about Texas finally getting fed up and ready to turn OU in for foul play about a week ago...

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/trips-right/information-on-the-jamarkus-mcfarland-recruitment

Now tonight Mccfarland has chosen OU as his school and gave the NY Times the exclusive story ripping Texas apart (the writer is from Oklahoma).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/sports/ncaafootball/26recruit.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&ref=sports

In that article Texas is accused of taking him to a party after the TX/OU game where girls were dropping their pants and drugs were everywhere (funny thing is he was a vistor of OU to the game, and the Texas players head back to Austin after the game not stay in Dallas and party).

He also takes a few shots at LSU and makes a statement that Brown asked him whose house was bigger Miles, Stoops, or his?

This thing is gonna blow up big time and now I know what my pops meant when he talked about how recruiting was back in the ole' SWC.

Sure i may be Texas homer but knowing Mack, the writer of this article, it seems like spin control at its finest especially when a week before his committment and this story was that Texas was finally going to turn OU in.

opcorn:

 

[jwayne]

Ha. As someone very familiar with his recruitment, this is some funny shit. Mack's a nice guy, probably too nice, but will this finally send him over the edge and lead to his going on the offensive vs the OU pay for play machine? I actually expect it will. And there will be some emails/recorded calls from principals that will blow your mind. Should be good times.

 

[SHSUHorn]

Ha. As someone very familiar with his recruitment, this is some funny shit. Mack's a nice guy, probably too nice, but will this finally send him over the edge and lead to his going on the offensive vs the OU pay for play machine? I actually expect it will. And there will be some emails/recorded calls from principals that will blow your mind. Should be good times.

I've heard from a current starter that alot of the UT kids would tell Brown about the other schools and what they do in recruiting and he would just take the high road.

I'm not saying Texas is squeaky clean by any means and how do you control a rabid alumni fan base? Their is a difference from giving a kid hundred dollar handshakes or free drinks and meals at a bar to setting up his parents and family with high paying jobs, giving Lexus away, or having a car dealership employ 19 players from your football team.

I went to HS with Tommie Harris and its known he was bought but OU was outed so Harris was given nothing which is why he almost walked out of OU his first week there.

I think Muschamp has alot to do with this. He comes from the SEC and more importantly Nick Saban's staff. He's probably wanting to push the envelope a little or at least have everyone else on a competitive playing field.

The kid wanted to go to Texas but the family wouldn't let the coaching staff visit him at home. The same family that wanted him to commit to Texas in the summer.

I need a shower after all this cause it stinks so bad.

 

[pags11]

thanks for the info. horn...Merry Christmas bud...

 

[RJ Esq]

Yeah, time for OU to go back on probation again.

 

[SHSUHorn]

I honestly don't know if I'd want a kid playing for me that didn't like Texas girls taking off their shirts and pants at a party and not liking LSU hostess sitting on my lap.

That's just me though.

 

[GWarner27]

Yeah, time for OU to go back on probation again.

they bought the BCS, too.

45-35

 

[RJ Esq]

I honestly don't know if I'd want a kid playing for me that didn't like Texas girls taking off their shirts and pants at a party and not liking LSU hostess sitting on my lap.

That's just me though.

I don't believe any part of that story...including the not liking the girls.

It is particularly interesting that the story was directly reported/leaked to the NY Times and a writer with Oklahoma ties. When has the NYT ever reported on recruiting and specifically when have they been the first to report recruiting news? There is a reason why Scout and Rivals got bypassed--the story fed and published in the NYT would have been highly questioned.

Now OU stole a top recruit and is trying to paint UT and Mack as unscrupulous bad guys? Everyone knows OU is dirty, they just don't report it.

 

[RJ Esq]

Now, the truth is starting to come out. Below link is to a Rivals story by Chip Brown who interviewed J-Mac's uncle. Shows what happens when you do some real reporting. Looks like Mom made the decision and that she's a little crazy.

Hope J-Mac likes OU because his Mom doomed him to be a Sooner the rest of his life.

McFarland's Uncle: J-Mac Wanted Texas ($)

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
McFarland's Uncle: J-Mac Wanted Texas ($)

The highlights, for those of you without subscriptions:
1. J-Mac's uncle says he expressed a desire to go to Texas and would have done so had it not been for his mother.
2. Kashemeyia Adams told the uncle the same story about not being able to reach Mack Brown.
3. John Outlaw says he has never encouraged a player to attend a specific school and that the Longhorn coaches were always completely professional.
4. Both the uncle and Jamarkus considered it a classy move by Texas to take a step back after realizing the recruitment was tearing apart the family.
5. Three sources corroborate the story that McFarland exaggerated the Texas party he attended.
Amazing the things that come to light when reporters do actual reporting. Thayer Evans should be absolutely ashamed of himself, but of course won't be as an OU partisan. By the way, the movement of this whole story towards actual truth has indicated the complete and total inability of many people to think critically about articles of this nature. Yes, I mean you OU fans, and you, Dr. Saturday, and you, Chicago Sun-Times blog. What happened to critical thinking?

 

[euros]

they bought the BCS, too.

45-35

Will this ever end? :hang:

 

[Schrute]

So you're calling the NYT writer an OU homer but see the longterm Texas poster as a completely reliable jouranlistic source? I don't have a dog in this fight but that seems kind of ironic and homeristic in your own right

 

[Sarcastic Sword]

Now, the truth is starting to come out. Below link is to a Rivals story by Chip Brown who interviewed J-Mac's uncle. Shows what happens when you do some real reporting. Looks like Mom made the decision and that she's a little crazy.

Hope J-Mac likes OU because his Mom doomed him to be a Sooner the rest of his life.

McFarland's Uncle: J-Mac Wanted Texas ($)

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
McFarland's Uncle: J-Mac Wanted Texas ($)

The highlights, for those of you without subscriptions:
1. J-Mac's uncle says he expressed a desire to go to Texas and would have done so had it not been for his mother.
2. Kashemeyia Adams told the uncle the same story about not being able to reach Mack Brown.
3. John Outlaw says he has never encouraged a player to attend a specific school and that the Longhorn coaches were always completely professional.
4. Both the uncle and Jamarkus considered it a classy move by Texas to take a step back after realizing the recruitment was tearing apart the family.
5. Three sources corroborate the story that McFarland exaggerated the Texas party he attended.
Amazing the things that come to light when reporters do actual reporting. Thayer Evans should be absolutely ashamed of himself, but of course won't be as an OU partisan. By the way, the movement of this whole story towards actual truth has indicated the complete and total inability of many people to think critically about articles of this nature. Yes, I mean you OU fans, and you, Dr. Saturday, and you, Chicago Sun-Times blog. What happened to critical thinking?

Mack Brown is probably happy he went to OU - what a headache this would be and a huge locker room distraction - especially if Mommy tries to interfere if he son isnt playing..

 

[Schrute]

Yeah its going to be interesting to see if this kid shows up at OU overweight and doesn't get much PT his true freshman year. Will mommy be there bitching to the coaches?

 

[RJ Esq]

So you're calling the NYT writer an OU homer but see the longterm Texas poster as a completely reliable jouranlistic source? I don't have a dog in this fight but that seems kind of ironic and homeristic in your own right

Dwight:

The Rivals story is from Chip Brown who used to be the Longhorn beat writer for the Dallas Morning News. He's familiar with the players on both the Texas and OU sides and is a respected journalist. He's written about OU and Texas football for years (remember Dallas is halfway between the two schools).

Thayer Evans writes for the New York Times (what the hell do they know about OU or Texas?) and has only written two articles of note in the last two years--both critical of Mack Brown, Texas, and Texas recruiting. Both articles are single-sourced, single-sided and are completely anecdotal for "insiders" and "family".

Journalistic standards usually require at least two sources before publishing and a phone call is usually attempted to the target of the story for their side (not required, but usually attempted).

None of this has happened and Thayer Evans seems to play by the same standards as Jayson Blair under the NTY (the writer who published hundreds of stories without talking to ANY source whatsoever).

Mack and Texas have a very good case for libel and defamation against the NYT.

 

[RJ Esq]

Typical NYTs way of dealing with a poor article and bad research and protecting themselves from a lawsuit: don't acknowledge the poor reporting and bad article that is demonstrably false even according to the subject of the story (McFarland said he embellished the "facts" of the party), and bury the "other side" somewhere in the newspaper.

NYT Acknowledges Furor, Immediately Makes it Worse

from Burnt Orange Nation by billyzane
NYT Acknowledges Furor, Immediately Makes it Worse

This sidebar report lifted from the DMN's Texas blog is being published today in the sports section of the New York Times. It essentially says that Mack Brown denies any recruiting improprieties in the wake of losing JMac to OU. Um, ok. Unbelievably, there is absolutely no mention of the Thayer Evans article that engendered the need for this article. So here's the logic within this sidebar report: "Texas did not get a recruit and as a result, Mack Brown says his program's recruiting practices are clean." That makes no internal sense. No one reading this article without knowledge of the previous Evans article would have any conceivable idea of why Mack Brown was defending the legality of his practices when Texas lost the recruit.
The NYT just decided that they didn't want to be a part of the story so they left out the part where their reporting (which was done without ever calling for corroboration of any of the interested parties) is what's being debated here, not Texas' recruiting practices. Well....tough s--- guys, you made yourselves part of the story by shoddily reporting it in the first place. The accusations made in the article that ran in THIS VERY PAPER make up the entire damn story! How can you not mention that? How can you not mention that fact when the NYT article is the entire focus of the DMN post that you're quoting? This is the same crap that Evans did in the original article that made it awful journalism to begin with!
If this is you attempting to give the "other side of the story," you're doing it wrong. The other side of the story isn't that Texas runs a pretty damn clean program (that's well documented, unlike a few programs I can think of) but rather that Thayer Evans and the NYT sports editor were allowed to print this garbage to begin with.

 

[SHSUHorn]

The fact that Evans is not answering calls from any on the media to get quotes from him and numerous radio interviews is pretty telling.

 

[SHSUHorn]

Also looks like the NYT and Mccfarland are nbow pointing fingers at each other. Here;s the NYT editor's response:

"Mr. Evans devoted a significant amount of time and energy in reporting this article and many Web sites that it are overlooking significant details. The article was careful to point out that McFarland and his mother were not accusing the University of Texas of any wrongdoing.

Mr. Evans discussed McFarland's term paper with him and, in fact, McFarland realized in going over it with Mr. Evans that he had mistakenly said that the party had taken place in Austin when it was actually in Dallas. He pointed out the error to Mr. Evans and we reported it correctly (and not in quotes) in our article.

I have read the piece by rivals.com in which McFarland now says he "embellished a passage" in his paper, but everything that we printed was read back to him and he did not indicate any such concerns at the time. (We have asked him to explain why he said something different to rivals.com and we are awaiting his answer.)"