I knew the reporting of the Pope-goes-to-Florida mess seemed fishy. He will be playing for Aliquippa in the winter after all – or at least that is what is being reported, for now.
Pope supposedly had transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla. Pope’s friends had said he was at Country Day, and the school’s coach, Rex Morgan, told a Kentucky newspaper that Pope would be on the team this season. Country Day officials never confirmed Pope’s enrollment, claiming privacy rules.
Pope was unavailable for comment, but this is the second consecutive year Pope has gone to Country Day and then returned to Aliquippa. Last year, he was back for the start of classes at Aliquippa. Pope is ranked among the top 30 seniors in the country by some scouting services.
I still have yet to find the Rex Morgan quote in the Kentucky Newspaper.
So Dokish was wrong on this one. It happens. I did find it weird that he had no source or quote in his original report. However, in his defense, reporting on where Pope is seems to be the equivalent of reporting on where Osama Bin Laden is — no one knows. Yes, I just compared Pope to Bin Laden and no, I do not feel badly about it. Who knows, Dokish could still end up being right on this one. I won’t believe Pope is playing for the Quips until I see him wearing their uniform and getting T’d up for his antics.
Dear Pitt; say no to Pope!
You heard it hear first, vishtay?
Pope is one of those prospects that has a lot of potential to do both good and evil to a program. Anyone who takes him is going to have to be willing to accept the risk of the considerable damage he could do to team unity and morale. When the likes of Bob Huggins is backing off from the kid, that should tell you something. Huggins in exactly noted for the class acts that he recruits.
The original Dokish report said this, with a wording that I think presents it as fact:
“Former Aliquippa High School star forward HERB POPE is now enrolled at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL.â€
That same report has now been edited and changed to say this:
“Aliquippa High School star forward HERB POPE is back at Aliquippa after another brief flirtation with Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL.”
And the most recent PG story says this:
“Country Day officials never confirmed Pope’s enrollment, claiming privacy rules.â€
The information in the original report is being shown to be wrong – why else would it have been changed (more on this in a second)? The Dokish story gave no source. It obvious the guy has great contacts so I am comfortable assuming he got his information off the record from someone (I said that in my original post). Still, when using info of that nature and presenting it as fact a journalist runs the risk of being wrong.
There is this tidbit from Dokish’s blog (separate from PSR and Keystone recruiting) that helps explain the situation a little:
“Now, you know why when people talk about Pope, they always use the qualifier “as far as I know” and why Stright says he doesn’t tell anybody anything for the record anymore with Pope because it changes daily.â€
I’m sure Peter Gammon has been wrong about a trade, or Andy Katz wrong about a recruit. GM’s change their mind; college kids change their mind. That doesn’t make them bad reporters, in fact, their willingness to be wrong (once in awhile) may even make them better reporters.
Because Dokish has inside sources and is willing to go out on a limb, we the fans get timelier, inside and breaking information. Because he has earned such a good reputation (like Gammons or Katz, but on a smaller scale), he has earned the right to be wrong once in awhile. That doesn’t mean we (I) can’t say when he’s wrong. I was by no means intending to knock the guy – at all! I’m not stupid; he used to work as a bodyguard!
The ONLY problem I have with this whole thing is that the original Pittsburgh Sports Report article has been changed. I see that as revisionist history – stand by what you write. I’d prefer and update, keeping the original intact (Dokish did keep the original intact on this blog, using an update instead)
Just one more thing, Dokish was not the first to report the thing about his Aunt. That is credited to the Beaver County Times by Dokish himself. Again from his blog:
“A woman claiming to be Pope’s aunt, and legal guardian, contacted the Beaver County Times and told them that her nephew is in New York and will attend Aliquippa when he comes back instead of going to prep school in Florida.â€
Check this out:
link to news.enquirer.com