Today in the Media Approval Ratings, we move on to the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Kentucky basketball beat writer Jerry Tipton, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. I know, I know, Jerry isn’t going to score highly here, but he is one of, if not the best basketball reporters in the country. Not that I’m trying to influence your vote.
So what say you on Jerry Tipton, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?
Previously: Mark Story, John Clay
I respect you and your opinions, John — but I couldn’t disagree more about Tipton. I used to defend him to my friends who insisted he was nuts or had a vendetta against UK, or both. Over the course of the last year or so, I have changed my mind. Tipton is either nuts or has a vendetta against UK, or both. More important, he frequently includes outright misinformation in his columns. He gets a thumbs down from me.
I don’t think Jerry is nuts or has a vendetta against UK…I just think he is WAY past his prime (if he ever had one). He is lazy and doesn’t really report on anything. In the past he has written on the new ride P.Patterson showed up to at Rupp when in fact the car was back in WV. That is just one example of how lazy he is. I can understand reporting both sides of a story, but for Jerry, he reports what he thinks is one side of the story. Unfortunately, in most instances that material is imagined.
RE: I know, I know, Jerry isn’t going to score highly here, but he is one of, if not the best basketball reporters in the country.
Lord help the world of basketball reporters if JT is one of the best!
Jerry has shown he is like some of the other reporters at the Herald Leader, they report to fit their agenda.The team deserves to be criticized, then fine. The coach needs to be criticized, then fine. What Tipton did to the Pattersons deserved a public apology on page 1A, not on his blog. I never did see anything in the paper, but I may have missed it because it was buried on page 8D…oh wait a minute, there is seldom a D section or 8 pages anymore. I mean how blatant is reporting about his new car? It was all about trying to get the NCAA to do an investigation so he could hold up a Pulitzer.
The only good thing about him is that after I take a Tipton in the morning I know I have room for breakfast.
Tipton lost me when he continued to report on the Azibuike family problems. He then hid in some bushes to photograph Rondo’s vehicle.
The fact is, Tipton is a dinosaur in a dying industry. The Sunday notebook is full of 3 things:
1. Week old information
2. Emails/letters from people no one knows or cares about
3. Birthdays
The links on John’s blog are the best thing about the LHL.
No one will remember that Jerry is some Hall of Fame writer. When he retires the only thing Jerry Tipton will be remembered for is how negative he is. What he did to Azubuike’s family was disgusting to say the least. Jerry Tipton’s problem is that he has been in the wrong career/field his entire life. Jerry would have been a perfect candidate for “To Catch A Predator” with Chris Hansen.
Jerry, you will be remembered as the worst writer ever for the LHL and the most hated person in lexington.
I’m Blown away he still has a job and the only reasoning I can come up with is that controversy sells and the constant negativity keeps angry paper buyers coming back to see what slander he will publish today.
LHL you should be ashamed of the way you handled the Patterson matter!! Tipton you should’ve been chased out of town at night with firey sticks(midevil I know, but a guy can dream can’t he). That was a obvious attempt to start some sort of NCAA investigation. We ALL know he has a dislike for the University of Kentucky, well Mr. Tipton here’s a news flash, WE DON”T LIKE YOU EITHER!!
So one of LHL’s own (Clay) calls another one of LHL’s own (Tipton) one of the best sports reporters in the nation? Are you serious John?! You must be either joking or on some good meds LOL.
Tipton is a washed up, has-been/never-was, who hates UK, yet without UK he would be unemployed. What a sad individual and a very sad newspaper.
As fans like myself have been given more and more access to things like raw audio and video footage of coach/player interviews, I have found myself liking Jerry Tipton less and less. Why? Because when one watches and/or listens to the raw footage, and then reads a Tipton account of same, it is like Jerry wasn’t even in the room. He is the world’s worst at juxtaposing quotes and editorializing to achieve a negative slant. And make no mistake, that is what he is usually after — a negative tone. The LHL needs to decide whether Jerry is going to be a reporter or a columnist, because for someone who is supposed to just report the facts, he sure does make a habit of cleverly, though no longer inconspicuously, interposing his own personal viewpoints.
Finally, the guy is simply not above just making stuff up out of this air to achieve his objectives. Never more was this so clear than recently when he inferred that Patrick Patterson had driven a new truck to and from a basketball game — something that Jerry made up completely — again, in an effort to interject some sort of negative innuendo into a story.
It is as simple as this — Jerry is a terrible reporter because his stories are unreliable in terms of the tenor and tone, and because he will just make stuff up out of this air…
Tipton lost me with the Patterson SUV missreport and then when he choose to write about UK’s weak schedule – the guy writes a one sided article that supports his UK bashing premiss, but never said we actually had a pretty good RPI (#20 per CBS sports), or that teams like Morehead that had decent RPI last year (when the schedule was drawn) were losing this year. AND this RPI article comes out after we just had a tougher run than ANY TEAM – NC and UConn back to back and the big story of the year is that a first year coach has returned us to glory. But he wanted to chip away at that glory with a one sided, non-objective story about our supposed weak schedule that aint that weak – otherwise why are we #20 RPI?
One more point, this to me is like a marriage that has run it’s course. Neither side can stand the site of the other, isn’t time to just part ways and wish the best for both? It’s obvious John by your paragraph up top that it’s no secret around LHL the distain the we the readers have for him, and all you have to do is read his crap for a couple days to see he feels the same about UK. Why let this go on??
As of this post, there have been about 500 votes with 90% disapproving of Mr. Tipton. One would think the Herald-Leader, with its readership plummeting by the month, would pick up on their customers preferences.
There is a reason that Kentucky Sports Radio gets more hits everyday than the Herald Leader and Courier Journal combined. Seeing as the LHL is a business, they might try to emulate the aspects that have lead to the success of other mediums namely not inventing stories or placing an arbitrary negative slant on an otherwise positive story.
In my personal opinion, you all should hire someone who is young and more in touch with the fan (consumer) base a la Chip Cosby. As an added bonus, Im sure you could pay them less than the curmudgeony Tipton and perhaps improve the balance sheet.
i really just think he is a douche, in real news we want to hear the bad things… but word from the wise, in sports that is trhe last thing i want to hear. Tipton’s questions and comments are always based upon negitivity, his journalism makes me sick.
Jerry Tipton is ALMOST as big a douchebag as I am.
100% confirmed.
mm
Jerry Tipton is the ONLY reason I canceled my subscription to the Herald Leader. If he retires or is fired, I’ll renew my subscription. I understand that negative news is what sells but Jerry has no right attacking the personal lives of players. The Patrick Patterson truck (SUV) story did it for me. And now Tipton tries to write nice little sweet articles about UK. Sorry Jerry, the bandwagon’s full pal!!!
Jerry Tiptons articles are awful. Mostly negative and sometimes very inaccurate concerning the University of Kentucky. He needs to make a call to Joe Wilson of the Kentucky New Era for some tips in sports journalism..
I waited weeks for this one and voting felt guuuuuuuuud.
The fact that Jerry Tipton writes for the LHL is the biggest,sickest joke I can think of. For someone to make a living writing a continuous stream of negative articles about THE college team in the city where his newspaper is located is hilarious.
Funny thing is, I don’t mind a bit of negativity…when it’s deserved. The fact is, Jerry doesn’t care whether it’s deserved or not. He doesn’t really even care if it’s true or not.
I know controversy sells newspapers. I’m well aware that if you say something negative about someone everyone’s ears perk up. But this personal crusade Tipton has against UK is not only in very bad taste considering, it’s bad business for the LHL. It has to be. Personally, largely because of Tipton’s garbage spewing shots at UK, I wouldn’t line my cat’s litter box with the LHL. I have more respect for my cat than that. And that’s the way it will be until Tipton is no longer employed by the LHL.
No one brought up his North Carolina article before the game?!?! Thumbs down.
Jerry cant carry Matt Jones jock strap,, oh wait. They use the same one.
Fuzz…
I want to be fair to Jerry. I am sure he is a decent person. But as it relates to your question, John, I am a believer that fans in a small town like Lexington that are so devoted to their team and University want the man that covers said team and University to be one of them…on their side…a general fan of the program and University. Jerry is none of these – he is just the opposite. He and his bosses will hide behind the weak story of “journalism” until they have nothing to hide behind but the unemployment line. You don’t have to go far to see great examples of the Fan/Beat Writer. The aforementioned Chip Cosby (ESPN PTI Two-Timer…nice pub!) and the fabulous Larry Vaught. Larry’s been on fire these last few years, in part, because we fans can relate to him…he tells the stories we WANT to hear about. WAKE UP!!! UK fans deserve the BEST and we just aren’t going to get that from Mr. Tipton.
Bin Laden could be on the LHL staff and would score higher than JT, and deservedly so.
I truly believe Jerry Tipton is a muck-raker which IS NOT an impartial position. He is a skunk and I will not shed a tear when he retires, is fired or just moves on. I’ll buy the bus ticket Jerry, just say when.
Could someone explain exactly what it is that supposedly makes Tipton “one of the best sportswriters in the country” and a “hall of fame reporter?” He’s not an especially clever or interesting writer. He doesn’t capture the essence of what basketball means in a state where it means more than any other. He’s just a bitter contrarian that thinks just because he constantly stirs up negativity by taking cheap shots at the home team that he is somehow a “real” reporter. It couldn’t be more transparent that he’s just trying to garner attention for himself at the expense of an historic and beloved program. So please, if nothing else, stop referring to this bitter old hack as somehow a “great” sportswriter because clearly he is anything but that.
Jerry Tipton is a joke and I’m glad to see the people of KY have given him a 92% disapprove rating. I’m sure the votes will continue to pour in and that % will get even higher. His negativity is overwhelming and it’s about time the LHL got rid of him. His firing or retirement will be a good day in the world of UK sports and it’s fans who enjoy reading well-written, thorough, insightful articles. John Clay is 10x the better writer but I can’t bring myself to say I’ve ever enjoyed reading an article by Tipton.
I no longer read anything Jerry Tipton writes. He has an obvious bias against Coach Cal and UK sports in general. Chip Cosby, Larry Vaught and John Clay are good journalists, and fair to our Cats, but Mr Tipton cannot find a good word to say about them without his bias showing though loud and clear. Please pay attention to these findings, and let him go!
Tipton and his anti UK B.S. agenda is the reason I ended my subscription to the LHL YEARS AGO. I don’t go to their website for hits, I don’t do anything that benefits a company who employees a person who has so many times gone out of his way to hurt our University.
Tipton’s questionable at best reporting is insulting not only to the readers, but the scholarship players he stirs the pot about on a regular basis.
Shame on Jerry Tipton and the Lexington Herald Leader. I hope your paper continues to lose more and more subscribers as you support a man who should be writing for The Enquirer.
The ass has shown his ass time and time again. He is an awful writer and I’m surprised 8% approve of his articles. It is insane that we have a writer whose sole purpose in life is to give us information about the university we all love, but no this guy does nothing but bash UK. It has gotten to the point that I will no longer read the LHL if given a chance because I will not support a newspaper that employs this man. It is a shame that the newspaper out of Louisville does a better job of not bashing out Cats than our hometown paper. Please, please, please take these statistics to heart and FIRE this man. After you do your subscriptions will go back up.
Just a thought, after you fire him maybe you can humiliate him by writing an article bashing him like he has done to a few of our young men giving all they have in athletics to our university
To echo some of the other comments, yes, JT should be moved to the editorial section for the few remaining months the paper has left in Lexington. He is in no way, shape or form a \”reporter\”. This is a local rag. No one outside this area is reading it. Alienating the Kentucky faithful is alienating your only customers and that WILL end poorly for you all. Morons!!
Jerry Tipton is a stain on the reputation of sportswriters and sports columnists everywhere. He is curmudgeonly and completely uninterested in even feigning a glimmer of journalistic integrity. That he continues to be paid to produce his vitriolic drivel is a never-ending source of amazement and confusion to me. I currently live in North Carolina and I can read more fair coverage of University of Kentucky athletics from journalists in this area, than anything provided by Tipton.
John Clay, I applaud you for even having the cajones to allow this vote in your blog. You had to know how it would turn out. What really galls me is that you even have to share a stage with him. You\’re a better man than I, because your ability to call him a coworker and probably even a friend, is beyond just being professional and is more deserving than even Obama, of a Nobel Peace Prize.
John and to all who read this, Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you and yours!!
P.S. PLEASE FIRE OR FORCE THE RETIREMENT OF TIPTON! HE IS AN AWFUL MAN!
John I’d love to be able to say something positive about him because he writes for my beloved teams hometown paper but its just not possible. Fire Tipton and hire Larry Vaught and breath some life back into the hometown paper. Hes done more to drive away readers than the rest of you writers can overcome.
I miss Chuck Culpepper!!!!
Jerry Tipton and Mark Story are dead to me.
They epitomize what I hate about the Herald-Leader.
This paper goes out of its way to denigrate the
people it’s supposed to serve.
Here’s what I can’t figure out. I’ve been a BB fan since I listened to Oscar Robertson play at UC. I watch or listen to every UK BB game (I’m a grad of both Duke and UK, but have little interest in the Blue Devils). Every day I read the latest on the Cats from multiple sources. People give me UK gear as presents. In other words, I’m a fan of the game and particularly the Cats. My problem is, I don’t hate Jerry Tipton. To tell you the truth, I don’t even dislike him. Heck, it’s even worse than that: He doesn’t even irritate me. On the other hand, the endless outbursts of anti-Tipton venom strike me as whiny, childish, and BORING. What’s wrong with me?
“…he is one of, if not the best basketball reporters in the country”…at asking a leading question to get the answer he wants rather than the answer that most accurately reflects the truth as most people would understand it. Tipton doesn’t report truth. He writes scripts.
here is my gripe with the entire mens basketball coverage. NO CONTENT. I have an odd sports affiliation. I lived in Seattle Wa then moved to lexington. I was and am a UW Husky football fan and Seattle Seahawks fan. I then became a UK basketball fan. I follow the Seattle teams in the seattletimes.com sports blogs. From following the seattle blogs I know all the coaches, including strenght and most of the players as well as recruits daily there are three to four informative blog post even in the off season the blog is up and running. The UW season was over two weeks ago I have read more blog post in the last two weeks than I have seen all season on HERE. Plain and simple JT John Clay and Mark Story you are still living in the days of paper print. You could do so much more to keep us informed about the team the evnts and the Players. Come On this is UK basekteball one of the most prestegious college basketball teams of all time, yet we get very little out of any of you. being away from Lexington the net is the only media outlet where I hear news and it is said to say just how little news you guys report. come on get with the times. there are 13 players take the time to do stories on each of them. PP deserves a week long series….i really hope you guys get some fresh blood or look at other papers to see how it can and SHOULD be done..
I never had a problem with Tipton until this year when he made up that story about Patrick Patterson and his truck. Once a media member loses my trust they have nothing. I ignore Tipton now.
I think Tipton is often over criticized and sometimes readers make stupid comments and criticism. Like a previous commenter, I don’t even hate him.
I do however find him annoying. I don’t consider him reliable any longer. I do think he wants to create controversy for UK for his own career. He is not clever, he is negative for its own sake, and I never feel like he understands the Cat fans.
He is not one of the best basketball reporters in the country. John Clay is better without trying.
One of the reasons I (along with other family members and friends) dropped my subscription. I don’t check the LHL website either (just an FYI in case you think I still read on-line); this was just linked from another site full of individuals that feel the same way. Refuse to read either again, until he’s out, and have been spreading this word to everyone I know.
I’ve read enough of Jerry in the past that I know that he’ll have an axe to grind. So, honestly, I never read his articles even when he tries to bait the fan base into responding. I definitely don’t buy the paper for the same reason. I’m not trying to be mean here, but he’s the worst reporter that I know of…
I really hate to write negative things about anyone especially at Christmas time. However, Tipton is the main reason I don’t subscribe and read the LHL. I love to read Larry Vaught and Chip Cosby (only Sunday’s paper and blog) because of their viewpoints. Not because they are always positive but because there is no agenda being driven and both understand UK’s fandom. I would hate to see a person lose their job but unless Ebeneezer “The Grinch” Tipton either gets visited by the ghosts of UK past, present and future or his heart grows three sizes or more, then I will still see the LHL sports as a “Bah Humbug”!
The way he lied about Patterson and his truck really was the ending of a horrible career. Tipton might have all those rewards and honors but the people he was hired to write for hate him. Tipton has beeing lying and trying to dig up dirt for a long time even when there is nothing to find. He has questions that leading instead of trying to just find the facts and getting a real answer. I really don’t appreciate how he calls parents of recruits who UK is looking at or has committed to UK and ask their parents questions he has no buisness asking them. Ask Hood what questions Tipton asked after he committed. Ask Zollo and his Robin (his mother) the same thing back when he was committed to UK.
Tipton is not only a horrible writer but he over steps his boundaries and acts like he answeres to no one.
I’m a Louisville Fan and I even think Tipton is horrible.
Jerry Tipton makes me look unbias
Jerry Tipton is the real reason I left.
Jerry Tipton sent that package…
I like most of the people who replied before me used to read the Lexington Herald every morning. Couldn’t wait to read the sports page to check up on my Cats, which was the only reason I’d buy your paper anyway. But then the negative articals from Tipton really soured me on the rag that you call the Lexington Hearld. I haven’t personaly bought one of your papers and have gone out of my way to aviod your website because of that clown you call a writer. That will be my stance until Tipton is removed and the negative tone that is conveyed against the Universtiy of Kentucky by your paper is changed to a more positive tone. Thats what the readers want and deserve, not the garbage that Tipton spews.
jerry tipton can suck my balls.
The LHL had best pay very close attention to this poll. Like it or not, most of the people who visit your site or read your paper do it for sports coverage. Like it or not, they do not want anything that Tipton has to offer because his content has been unfairly biased for far too long. And I know that you do not like that most go other places now instead of reading the LHL, me included. Thankfully someone posted this poll on a real UK sports coverage site. Getting someone who was neutral, or even a UL fan to cover the Cats would be a 1000% improvement. His recent attempts to make amends are like trying to repair a bridge across the Atlantic. I expect fair and balanced from the LHL and Tipton wouldn’t know fair and balanced if it bit him on the arm. Not only that, he’s blown his credibility out of the water and no one can be certain that what he says is true. Last but not least, he dominates interviews with the most stupid, “Tipton” questions and consumes so much time that others can’t get a decent question in edge-wise, which I am sure is by his design. PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS POLL AND SHUT HIM UP NOW. You don’t have to fire him. Just move him to covering knitting or something.
I stopped buying the LHL just because of Jerry and his obvious efforts to bring down the UK Basketball program. And listen up those placing Ads with the LHL I will not purchase anything if I find out they have spent $ with them as long as bad tipster is employed there!
I stopped reading his articles a couple of years ago because of the negative spin he always put on them. Granted, during the Gillispie experiment the negativity was deserved but ceartinly not now. Don\’t fish for a story when it\’s simply not there. At work I can pick up the paper and start to read only to get a couple of paragraphs into it and immediately realize who wrote it. Listening to post game interviews with players and coach Cal has been rough because I hear a question and think \”who would ask such a baiting question?\” and the kids look equally uncomfortable trying to come up with the right way to answer the question and then I recognize the voice and it all makes sense. Cal knows how to handle him which helps but still, come on Jerry, quit being the Negative Nancy, Debbie Downer, there isn\’t always something going on beneath the surface.
It’s amazing to me (and I’m sure I’m not the ONLY person) that the LHL can continue to employ a writer who is simply living on past credentials. I’ve never seen–much less read–a more biased newspaper reporter. ALL of his articles have some type of negative spin to them. If UK beats a ranked opponent, his story has a negative spin to it. If they beat a nobody, then his story has a negative spin on it. If they lose, someone needs to clean him. I stopped reading his stories a long time ago. I’m suprised someone hasn’t decked the bozo.
John,
In the first place, I would not really advertise the fact that Jerry is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. That does not say very much for the Hall.
In the second place, no offense but who really cares about the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame? Where is it, even? Does it have a little building like the “Ky Softball Hall of Fame” in the Legends’ parking lot?
Jerry Tipton is the only person in the world who can make a 10-0 UK team, that is as exciting as it has ever been, seem boring. He dwells on the negative and searches for issues to create when there are none. This seasons CATS are a feel good story and yet rarely does he write anything that makes the reader feel good. Others, and there are plenty, do it all the time. I have read some remarkable stories regarding this team but none from Jerry. He just seems like a bitter old man who rarely writes anything positive.
Jerry Tipton lacks any sort of credibility, and has for a while. Obviously the LHL does not care, so my only option the last few years has been to quit reading anything Tipton writes (in the paper or online) and to avoid the LHL altogether. Works for me. It is really too bad, because like most UK fans I soak up news about the UK basketball team, and spend quite a bit of time every day reading about them. If the LHL had a decent writer to cover the UK program in Tipton’s spot I would read every article, but instead I turn to other sources.
I think you both are terrible. “I know, I know he won’t score highly here”. Neither should you. You are the biggest UK hater on the planet. I know some UL, duke and UNC fans that respect UK more than you do. It’s sad when the Courier-Journal writes better articles about the University of Kentucky.
Tipton, and the Herald in general, have confused “objectivity” with “negativity” and “cynicism”.
Objectivity is reporting the good and the bad. It’s balanced, and an effort is made to see both sides of an issue.
Tipton never sees both sides of an issue, nor does he pick his stories with any balance or objectivity. He seems to consider himself the personal watchdog for the UK basketball program instead of a reporter covering the UK basketball program. His sad comments on Kalenna’s father, reporting Epps getting into an argument in a flag football game, and far too many other examples to list show a pettiness and distorted priority, not a fair effort to report on a sports program.
Report it all. Good and bad. The highs and the lows. That’s objectivity. Tipton has anointed himself as the negative yin to the program’s positive yang. that’s not objectivity. That’s just cynicism.
I bet Herald-Leader brass has this poll pulled with a quickness. They obviously have no desire whatsoever to “know” our opinions on Tipton, and leaving a poll up like this only convolutes their ability to ignore the facts. Jerry lies, we know he lies, he is bad for UK, bad for Lexington, he is unliked by all, and his only mission is to report negative stories regarding UK Athletics, whether truthful or made up. Otherwise he and his fictional stories would have been sent packing long ago. As far as the Herald-Misleader is concerned, there is a place for reporting false stories in Journalism, and it is not just in the National Enquirer. If readers what rumors and gossip, we will go read Perez Hilton’s blog.
We won’t get it but I think we the readers deserve an explanation of why the LHL continues to keep Mr. Tipton on staff after seeing the results of this poll! You know how we feel, if you do nothing it’s a blatant middle finger to the ones who read your paper and visit this site. I hope your prepared for the backlash that will inevitibly follow such a poor decision.
Your silence on this matter will only serve to validate every comment above, and prove to all your readers the “go to hell” mentality you’ve shown us for some time now.
Jerry’s approach is an example of someone who mistakes negativity for objectivity. What he did with the Azubuikes was really beyond the pale.
I also think he tends to be a little bit lazy. For example, several years ago he was quoting “recruiting analyst Zeke Martins” as a source in his notebook, when that same person was trashing UK basketball and UK fans on the H-L forum. 2 minutes of reading that forum by Jerry would’ve indicated that he needed to find another source, but apparently Jerry couldn’t be bothered to do so.
The H-L could–and should–do so much better for a UK beat writer. Time for him to retire.
Tipton is a tool with an agenda. The guy should be driven out of the business.
Had a reporter (and I use that extreamly lightly) been in Bloomington Indiana and write about the Hoosiers as Tipton has written about the Cats, Coach Knight would have had him banned from any and all functions that had to deal with IU Basketball. I\’ve read the drivel that he has written for the last few years, and I can honestly say, I\’m surprised no one has accosted him on the street or worse. I used to get upset over his extreamly biased agenda against UK sports until I finally woke up and started reading KSR for info about the Cats. I don\’t mind criticism, a jouralist has a side to every story, but the negative slant he provides is limitless. The article on Patrick (SUV) was the absolute last straw. No retraction! No apologies! No one to answer to! Therfore, no problem…..on reading it anymore. I used to print it out and put it in the bottom of my bird cage, but the my Cockatoo would stick his rear out the cage and use the floor because he thought there was enough crap on it already. Fire him, keep him, who cares? I just won\’t read the LHL anymore….
The Herald Leader gets respect from anybody? Don’t you guys know that it is referred to as the “yankee liberal lie rag”? It is ran by carpetbaggers who are here to educate “the ignorant hillbillies”!We are talking about a publication who does not even know the geography of the state(commonwealth, they probably don’t get that either) they cover!They have Eastern KY due south of Lexington, and the world ends at Winchester. To take them, and a hate-monger like Jerry Tipton seriously is a joke!
@Robert ^^^
Seriously? “Carpetbaggers?” “Yankee liberal lie rag?” This is 2009, not 1869. I get it that you don’t like Tipton (and I really would like to support your argument because I dislike Tipton just as much as you) but saying irrational things like that really makes you lose credibility.
This is a discussion about a sportswriter and how he covers a basketball team, not politics. And if you really, truly think that the H-L is a “yankee liberal lie rag” that “does not even know the geography of the state”, I would wonder if you’ve had your head stuck up your a** ever since the Civil War ended. Here’s an update: it’s over, and the South lost. Everyone has since gotten over it and moved on. In the 140 years since then, basketball has been invented, and the Commonwealth’s team has won seven national championships. I’m a pretty big fan, and I think you might be interested too. One player, John Wall, is actually pretty good at basketball.
Patterson’s mom doesn’t like him. That’s good enough for me
I know for a fact that Jerry is the reason I canceled my subscription and so did two of my friends and my in-laws. He’s a total hack who dreams of being the Woodward & Bernstein of sports and to bring down UK. The Hearld MISleader is just as guilty for letting this idiot continue to call himself a sports journalist. The day he leaves the business is the day a loud cheer will be heard all across Lexington.
Tipton is the absolute worst. Period.
The only guy I read anymore regarding UK basketball is Larry Vaught. He’s the best. And yes he is critical when it’s warranted.
I contacted his editor back when this stuff with PP truck happened and the guy totally supported him and made excuses for him and even implied that Calipari was paying off his players. He said, “Shouldn’t Jerry find out and report it?” I couldn’t believe not only what he said to me but the attitude and tone in how he said it. It seemed like I was(and maybe I was )talking to Jerry himself. I knew then that unless someone above his editor did anything to make a change it wasn’t going to happen. If I were Jerry and cared about the company that has protected me and not fed me to the wolves I would step aside because it would save the HL. Their subscriptions and revenues would probably skyrocket. I have found many of the comments here insightful. A young energetic writer would be great. Oh yeah, his editor actually said Jerry isn’t supposed to be a cheerleader. Well, I guess it’s ok if he is a dishonest trained cynic as long as he isn’t a cheerleader. That makes sense. Do they think we are all so stupid to believe that Jerry is good for the cats (that is his responsiblity – why you read his stuff) for the paper and good for lexington or the fans a.k.a readership, its like having Bin Ladin write for the entertainment section for USA today (I know a little over the top). What do you think he would say?
Correction above his editor said what if he was giving his players money.
The Patterson truck thing was embarrassing and the worst kind of yellow journalism.
Don’t forget Rondo and his Denali, which The Herald found out was totally legal and above board and STILL ran the story.
At what point is the list long enough?
What I don’t get is this: The Herald is taking a hit like every other newspaper, and subscriptions and revenues are down, yet they insist on hiring bad, unpopular and biased reporters to cover UK sports. They are the self appointed guardians of some arbitrary sports morality enforced against the single most popular and beloved institution in the state.
Gee, I wonder if that might impact sales? You’d think the owners of the Herald would want to fix what this poll and thread show as the tip of the iceberg of how the Herald’s sports staff is perceived.
You KNOW the skunk is reading every bit of this and reveling in it. Makes him feel like a REAL journalist. He’s a REAL something alright.
I’ve given up trying to figure out the LHL. At one time it had a thriving board that had former UK basketball, football, baseball and soccer players posting along with former Kentucky Mr Basketball players. There was a wealth of Kentucky history discussed from 50′s football and basketball on up. Guess where they are now? On blogs and forums telling about their knowledge of Kentucky sports history and getting news quicker. To be honest and not beat on the LHL I don’t know how newspapers in general can compete against free to $10 a month blogs and forums where posters surf, write and post news faster than newspapers can. The blog software the LHL is using is free by the way.
John, I’m sorry but Jerry has written so much negativity about the “home town team” that I don’t see how he could ever get readers and UK fans back on his side. He is a constantly a joke on the message boards where many UK fans have turned to for information because of the bias this writer has shown. People don’t like to read the negative, and his reporting is often times wrong, about the team they support and local writers should know this about the readers they write for. Jerry should learn that lesson. His time has passed, he has lost the readers and he should just move on.
Jerry, I hope you and the LHL brass are reading the responses here. How many subscribers have dropped the LHL because of you? One is too many IMO.
One thing that’s getting lost here is the fact that the LHL is obviously behind Tipton 100% or he wouldn’t still have a job. Which is incredible to me. It tells me that the suits in charge at the LHL would willingly sacrifice money in lost revenue in order to further push what is increasingly, and apparently, their own anti-UK agenda.
This doesn’t let Tipton off the hook. He obviously loves what he’s doing and probably has little warm-fuzzies that he’s garnering so much hostility. He probably thinks something like, “if so many people are so upset, I must be doing my job”, or some other similar beat-writer, Woodward and Bernstein fantasy.
And I think I know what he’s trying to do. Pull the major college sports scandal of the millennium out of thin air, win himself a Pulitzer, become nationally known and go to work with the BIG BOYS at ACC haven ESPN. Even a blind dog with no nose will find a bone if he digs enough holes…right Jerry?
There are two local media figures that I completely avoid at all costs. One is the subject of this poll. The other is Alan Cutler from WLEX. The bush league move of chasing Gillispie was completely over the top and made him a bigger joke than he already was. I was no BCG fan…but that was just wrong.It’s difficult for me to think about Cutler without thinking of Tipton. ESPN’s Pat Forde is another guy who makes a living bashing UK. I can’t stand that walking piece of garbage either. But at least he doesn’t pretend to be telling us anything other than his opinion. Tipton would like us to believe the outright lies he prints.
The fact that he LHL not only condones but defends Tipton gives me yet another reason to never pick up a Herald-Leader. Congratulations LHL. You made your point.
I agree with Coach Cal, Next Question. Tipton doesn’t deserve any more comment than that. I wonder if that has anything to do with the
lack of game day coverage in today’s LHL?
I can’t wait until the LHL goes out of business. I hope a real paper like the CJ comes in so we can have something to read again.
The majority of us UK fans do not like Tipton, but he is bringing the Herald Leader the traffic it wants. We hate him so we go to the message boards, visit his site and leave nasty, but deserving, comments. When I started wrting this there were 80 comments. Look at all the other articles from the other writers and see if there are this many. Go ahead browse through all sections of the site. Tipton brings on controversy that stirs up the masses so Herald Leader loves him and he is getting paid.