Red Raider Gridiron | Linebacker Preview and More Information on the 3-4 Defense

Courtney, nice way to get a few more lines………..by writing a crock. You would not know the truth if it bit you in the ass.

Tre Newton? Seriously? I’m ok with Christine Michael, Cyrus Grey, or DeMarco Murray. But Newton, he’s done nothing productive. That’s a crock of s*** by Steve Hunt.

Seth, Courtney Linehan is trying to validate her work and her job. I don’t think it’s your fault that she doesn’t do a very good job.

I go to DTN and DTN only for my Tech fix. We always have the news before anybody else and it’s accurate. Keep fighting the good fight. We all appreciate it.

Wreck Em Tech!

Seth, I think a bigger difference here is that you have been reference by major news outlets in the past for your journalistic ability and depth of knowledge. Linehan is still trying to get validation at the corner of 4th and University.

He will have to get over it. Red shirts are purchased, the qb is set and expectations are in line with the last 10 years. Let’s play ball.

You do a hell of a job. The print media and Lineham needs to look inward. I see sloppy journalism constantly whether it be in sports (ESPN) or national (NBC). Thank God we have bloggers such as yourself!

“Even though the rubber banded print edition doesn’t show up until morning, we’re on the web, the iPhone, and goodness knows Twitter as soon as a story’s confirmed.”

I checked several times in the day after Potts was named starting QB on the Twitter link the AJ provides & their last update was several weeks back. Neal Brown Twitters a hundred times more often than the AJ staff & he may have one a day. If the reporters on the AJ feel they are fighting some rearguard action to save Journalism with a capital J from the blogesphere, they aren’t trying very hard.

I refuse to let this happen to our site. Lots of blogs on SB Nation are nationally recognized for being top notch.

Just a few in the Big 12, Rock M Nation, BON, DTN, and Crawfish Boxes. Those are a few I follow. More often than not, these “bloggers” get the chance to sit down with rather important people and interview.

is worthless. Always full of mistakes and opinions that can’t be backed up. Tre Newton? Are you serious? That is one worthless waste of prime recruiting for UT. That RB position at UT has had some great ones but not lately. I’m excited about Urell Johnson and Porter in this secondary. I have a feeling Porter is the breakout player on defense. This coming season is going to be a great one with these new players seeing time.

Pretty obvious what’s going on with that Linehan article. It’s a paying job for them and for whatever reason they feel threatened by the internets and blogs.
But here’s the thing, EVERY single “news” source used information from Blogs and Pay sites during the realignment events as their “source”. I actually sent Seth a note about this very thing back in May or June referring to how the blogs/pay sites seemed to be “breaking” (read: leaking) all of the information and how the traditional news outlets were using guys like Chip Brown as their source.
So it’s rediculous to sit up on your high horse claiming to be above the “bloggers” when you freely use them when it is to your advantage! Holy crap, talk about hypocritical.

Seth – You’re right on the money. This site is different and they are threatened by it, IMO.

Umm, haven’t seen the LAJ get much right, or I should say balanced with regard to its Tech football reporting. I quit going to their website long ago. DTN and following a few on Twitter (Chris Level for example) are the only places I go for Red Raider news.

Yes, their are bloggers out there that have no interest in the truth. There are also “serious journalists” that have no interest in the truth. Move on Courteney.

I don’t get the point of Linehan’s article. Its tone is whiny with a touch of envy. She paints herself as the victim because of her perceived competitive disadvantage. (She can’t be her true self and express her passion for her team because she has to be perceived as impartial.) This article belong in a therapists office, not in a newspaper.

The only thing that has changed over the past 10 years in journalism is that a passionate fan now has an outlet to voice his/her opinion through a blog rather than the letter to the editor or talk radio. If the fan’s opinion doesn’t pass the smell test or provides information of no value, no one reads it.

However, if the fan provides excellent information from a variety of sources and analysis from some sharp cookies like DTN, then others who crave this sort of thing will eventually find the blog and add value to the conversation. It’s like a virtual bar or a breakfast place. These are the places that people like us have congregated in the past to hang out and Monday morning quarterback. Now we can do it on the net too. Lucky us!

The problem with the old media is that they are used to having a monopoly. They could publish what they deemed fit and bury the rest. There hasn’t been anyone who has competed with them for years to force them to innovate and stay on their toes …. until now.

A good blog like DTN pressures the old media because it beats them to the punch most of the time and provides valuable, in-depth analysis from the blogger and its readers that paper is unwilling to provide.

Keep the good work Seth and the others who provide timely information and insightful analysis. You bring value to journalism that the old media doesn’t.

The Print media have to protect their “Access” so they are threatened by truth speakers.
Without a welcome/ vip or press badge they can’t do their job so in effect they write to not piss off the folks they must talk to on a daily basis. Result is they lack some intellectual honesty and the neccesary rigor of making tough calls with regards “how it is”. So whatryou get is a series of sunshine pumpers, who work pretty set hours and rely on “sources” which are developed and stroked. My take on DTner’s is we just like to engage about the teams, school’s future prospects etc. If the AJ could milk this site and its legion of extra eyeballs and brains they would. They can’t admit we bloggers are more agile than the professional journalist. If they did use you Seth they’d get blackballed. CBS and SI websites do use you because they don’t have the local stigma. IMO. But the rub is then – mainstream media – wouldn’t get invited to the social gatherings around Lubbock ergo the sources would dry up. Remember follow the money = the “sources”.

It’s true. I saw it on TV.

Saw a news report yesterday that claimed texting has increased by 600% over the last few years and that texting releases the same endorphines that cause people to become addicted to drugs, gambling, etc.

I think this sort of theory would extend to blog communities, especially successful sites like DTN. We get the best Tech information available along with a few laughs. Sites like DTN are the future, and the old media are running scared. I haven’t been on the LAJ, ESPN, DMN sites for months but it’s not out of spite. I get all the information I need right here, and I’m on this site a lot.

DTN is the future of Tech news and we can all help it continue to grow. Get your buddies over here! If we all bring in 5 new members, DTN will be a force.

I wanna see Seth all credentialed up. I wanna see Katfish calling Seth to give him an update and Seth ignoring his call, because he’s so important. I wanna see Linehan posting her news reports on DTN because it’s the place to be.

DTN is the future. It’s like heroin. Pass it on.

You have more education and training than she does and she gets paid for it. Laugh it off…she’s a pinhead Seth!

little info was coming out of the TTU camp and so the LAJ folks had to actually really work to get info.. Now that all have a lot more access it seems that makes the LAJ folks job harder? I love having the updates on the TTU athletic site each day. I follow Level and other TV guys in Lubbock’s tweets and of course DTN. But I look @ the LAJ several times a day and I get “Zero” updates. I may just boycott the LAJ just because of this article…Wreck’Em Tech

To be a good reporter, one has to be objective and not be affraid to piss people off. If you want the inside scoop, you have to kiss ass, but nobody will take you seriously. This country was a better place when the media did their job by being an adversary to the powers that be instead of being in bed with them and part of the machine. This sentiment is true no matter what side of the political landscape you come from. A free society cannot exist with out a free press, but so much in politics the press is just a shill for a certain party and with big dollar college sports, we have our own paper shilling for TTU and its admin, BOR. ESPN has a hard on for the traditional CFB powers because of the ratings the tee shirt fans bring and in the last 10 years, the DMN has been having an affair with OU/UT. The once proud DMN, once considered the bible of ALL sports pages across the nation, has succumeb to the pressure to play to the biggest crowd in lue of presenting all of the facts. Tre Newton, at this point in his career over BB???? Or what I love the most is when these TV talking heads rank teams based on their “talent” rather than their on the field performance.

The once flush with cash newspapers which were monopolistic in their respective cities are now having to actually compete for readers and dollars and these journalism majors making less than $50K are in butt-pucker mode.

Our media is failing us miserably, but like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” this information revolution called the interwebs will ultimately provide all people with access to the truth. Information is power as Seinfeld’s Newman once said and “When you control the information, you have the power.”(Technically the quote was, “Just remember, when you control the mail, you control… information.”)

If you’ve ever watched the movie Idiocracy you know what this place will be like in a hundred years. We’ll be watering crops with Gatorade because it has “electrolites,” but not understand that the salt is killing the plants.

Congrats to Batch. Here is hoping the numbers at the end-of-the-season give him the actual award.

The AJC’s Tony Barnhart statement reflects his lack of research on the subject of the Texas Tech football program. Enough said.

Which allows a segue to Courtney Linehan’s comments -
Linehan and every reporter (news, sports, etc) need to do their research and inform the public in the most accurate and timely manner that they can. She needs to stop complaining and get busy with doing her job. She needs to "hit the pavement" and get more legit contacts and links so she can be accurate and timely.
Seth you do a wonderful job with DTN. You report and ask others that submit postings to be accurate and logical and ethically sound in those posts.

Wreck’Em !!

The next ten days can’t go fast enough. Beat SMU !!

RndRck makes a good point and lead me to another thought. (by the way RndRck, we’re neighbors)

What Linehan doesn’t account for is the site policing it’s self in terms of accuracy and truth. Many times I seen folks ask for links to back up a post or get called out if what they are promoting can’t be validated somehow. So by having a large group of people on DTN holding it to a standard, you end up with quality information which is almost always spot-on. If not, you get called out and the post goes to hell in a handbasket.

Then again, sometimes a post goes to hell just b/c it is unpopular. Either way, it’s a heck of a lot more fun than reading the box scores in the paper.

Another thing Willis is becoming known for is putting players in different slots on the field.
"That’s one thing Coach Willis does better than anyone I’ve ever been around," said linebacker Bront Bird. "He takes certain guys, and if you’re good at certain things he puts you in a position to succeed."
Linebacker Daniel Cobb has a similar take on Willis’ strategy.
"You have to know every position really because you don’t know where you might end up on the field based on the call," he said.
Cobb, a redshirt freshman, gave credit to Willis and his staff for helping speed the younger players’ learning curve.
"We learn a lot every day," he said. "The coaches do a good job of breaking it down to us, getting in the film room, fixing our mistakes on the sidelines."

"This defense and these practices are very physically grueling," Bird said. "So the more bodies that we have you know that’s going to help."
That may help the unit improve as much as anything, but the players’ confidence in the staff is mirrored by their confidence in themselves.
"We’ve got great chemistry on this team and on our defense everybody gets along," Whitlock said. "As far as everybody backing me up, I guess you’d call it first string now, we’re really tight knit."
And while Saturday was a rough day for the defense, Cobb said there was still reason to believe the unit can change the perception that a Red Raider team only performs on one side of the ball.
"Our defense will come along," he said. "Toward the end of the scrimmage it started going our way. We had a couple picks, a couple fumbles, so it’s just starting fast and finishing strong."

For Courney’s dilemma:
bq. Get over it.
/s/ TT

I can see a point, here is a person who has just spent perhaps 4 years in a public university learning to be a professional journalist…and suddenly sees that there are a lot of people who can do as well or better w/o the diploma…tough pill to swallow. When I read the editoril, I kind of scratched my head and said to myself that is odd…I wonder if she got some kind of challenge assignment from the head ed to make some kind of opinion piece as a test…I really see little in the whole deal.

And of all people who are not implicated in the Starbucks comment Seth is the first on the list, a hard working dedicated fan who writes great opinion and manages a DTN blog site as well as anyone…I have been on two or three sites for about 10-11 years, this site is the very best, the cream for voicing opinion and being able to read good opinion…and to have fun. First Rate !!

I still don’t understand the traditional media feeling the need to continue to take pot-shots at bloggers.

Traditional journalist who are insecure in their place in life see you and your kind as a threat.
 So they attack, it is that nasty side a basic human instinct.
It is like the way people like to attack trial lawyers, even though they are the part of the judicial system that is there to protect the common man.

Until the tradition print media gives up pulp and rubber bands and embraces the Kindle / I-pad delivery method you can expect more of them to be insecure in their jobs.
 
Short sightedness is also another one of those nasty basic human instincts.
Smart traditional journalist have embraced the blogger as an addition the the world they cover be it sports, politics, ect…

Compare your hits for the past year the AJ’s circulation numbers, I bet that will make you feel better.
If not, then compare TT Nations revenues to some of the larger newspapers in the country and the fact that your not bleeding money like they are should.