New York Times Not Checking Facts

The mashup joke slogan for the New York Times “All The News That Fits, We Print” is accurate. There’s no other explanation.

Nobody Cares If You Make It Up

There was a blog post today from a couple guys (Jeff Z. Klein and Stu Hackel) that are neither prolific nor accurate. Unfortunately, because these two guys publish their blog under the banner of the New York Times, their speculation and prevarication immediately gains gravitas. I won’t link to their post, if you MUST read it after reading my post, Google or Bing is your friend.

While these guys don’t produce much output for the Times, it’s ironic that “Take Coyotes Off List of Teams Likely to Move” is the title of one of their earlier posts.

Today’s post titled “Decision on Coyotes Seems Near” is getting lots of tweets and follows from the usual anti-Coyotes suspects today. It’s understandable because the theme of the post is that the Coyotes are imminently leaving Glendale for Seattle. Let’s go through the post and see what their “facts” are and what is either supposition or simply false.

According to published reports and to officials familiar with the team’s status, the N.H.L. will sell the Coyotes to the last in a long line of prospective buyers pledging to keep them in Glendale, Ariz., or will decide as soon as next month to allow the team to relocate.

“According to published reports” is a phrase used to lend credence to whatever statement follows. It is purposely unclear whether the published reports were the result of real reporting or, as is likely in this case, simply OTHER unsubstantiated blog posts or Internet drivel? The statement itself is actually silly and truly nebulous verbosity. Parse the sentence, they state the NHL will sell the Coyotes to someone. Um, yeah, that’s a revelation. The second half offers an opinion that the NHL might decide as soon as next month to move the team. Yeah, or they might decide as soon as right now to keep the team in Glendale.

Use, Then Ignore Attributed Fact

Jeff and Stu continue:

When asked Friday if the league had a Plan B in case the team moved, Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner, responded by e-mail: “No contingencies have been made. We are planning on the Coyotes being in Phoenix next year.”

There is something attributed to a person with a name and with intimate knowledge of EVERYTHING going on with the Coyotes. Mr. Daly states in no uncertain terms that the NHL, which OWNS the Coyotes, has NO contingency plans and plans on keep the team in Phoenix (not Glendale). If either of the two guys were astute and willing to do some work, the “Phoenix” word would have triggered some questions.

But, no, the post continues on and the “point” ends up giving significantly more weight to “published reports” and “officials familiar” than it does to the statement of the “official” that is arguably the expert on the planet for the subject they are discussing. Taking the argument to the end, Jeff and Stu are calling Bill Daly a liar.

Opinion Isn’t Fact

The post summarizes the recent emergence of two additional contenders to purchase the Coyotes. Coming into the light on the immediate heels of misleading statements from Darren Dreger was the “whale” investor for Ice Edge we have been talking about for a while now, George Gosbee. Darin Pastor also appeared recently, announcing his intentions with a press release instead of a press leak. The refreshing change was followed up with appearances on the radio and with reporters. We like the way Darin rolls.

But these suitors are unlikely to succeed where previous groups failed, in raising sufficient capital to buy the club or in forging an acceptable lease agreement for the city-owned Jobing.com Arena, the Coyotes’ home, which is heavily indebted.

Wait, what? If you read to the bottom of the post, you will see NO support for the either of the above statements. That makes it pure opinion from a couple guys that are completely unfamiliar with the Coyotes situation.

There is no basis in fact that would cause a reasonable person to assume the two newly announced contenders for the Coyotes won’t be able to raise sufficient capital. In fact, with even five minutes of “research” on Google the exact opposite opinion would be more reasonable. Both men, as individuals and as the firms they represent, are entirely capable of raising sufficient funds.

The two conveniently ignore that at least three other groups are active or have been mentioned as active by reputable reporters. Dismissing them is fine, but a reader of the blog unfamiliar with the Coyotes saga would think there are only two active groups on the scene. Yet, it’s widely reported that Greg Jamison continues his efforts to purchase the team, John Kaites has publicly announce his (and by inference with his old partner Jerry Reinsdorf) interest in the team and a Canadian hockey reporter said Shane Doan’s agent Terry Bross was working on financing as well.

There is also no basis for the supposition that Coyotes buyers won’t be able to reach an acceptable agreement with Glendale for the arena. The City of Glendale has all the numbers they need to make a decision on an arena manager. They have hired professional sports negotiators with hockey experience and knowledge of all the parameters of the Coyotes deals. What about that indicates failure is a more likely outcome than success? Nothing.

Factual But Wrong Conclusion

Following the above sentence is this:

Last week, the city of Glendale hired a Massachusetts company to seek a manager for the arena, a signal that it was no longer waiting for a new Coyotes owner to materialize.

That’s partially true. In reality, the Massachusetts company (Beacon Sports Capital) was hired on March 4, not “last week”. Click here for substantiation of that fact. While I submitted a public records request for the Beacon contract, it has now been published publicly for anyone. Assuming Jeff and Stu have access to the Internet they could have used real information instead of regurgitated trash.

The conclusion they reach is completely off base.

Hiring Beacon doesn’t signal Glendale is giving up on the Coyotes. It signals the opposite. If Yogi and Boo Boo had done some research (like here), they would have discovered that Beacon was involved with the Coyotes way back when this mess started. They would have discovered that one of the publicly announced groups vying for the Coyotes has very intimate ties with Beacon. They would have discovered that Beacon and one of the potential buyer groups were sued TOGETHER in California. The ties are so clear that the hiring of Beacon presents a clear conflict of interest IN MY OPINION.

Quebec Is Out Seattle Is In

The two guys, who now have zero credibility if you actually examine what they’ve written up to this point, continue to make a case for Quebec City not getting our team based on the recently approved NHL realignment.

Whether their discussion of the two sites for a team that doesn’t look like it’s going ANYWHERE is valid isn’t important, it’s the sort of thing to argue about over beers. It’s NOT the sort of thing that should be published beneath the banner of a respected publication.

The New York Times should divest themselves of these two guys immediately and should then be more circumspect in their hiring and editorial policies.