Texas Longhorns 'Ewers vs. Manning QB Competition': Did Media 'Create Fake Controversy'?

Was our interpretation of Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian's comments about an open competition involving Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning “highly misleading and completely overblown''?

There is everything right about media outlets serving as "watchdogs'' of one another. It shouldn't be fueled by malice or even by rivalry, but rather, by a simple desire to "get it right.''

And when it comes to the issue of media "aggregation'' in two cases now in the sports spotlight? Many are very much "getting it wrong.''

In Austin (visit here for the other case, a similar issue involving Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher's misunderstood "Aggie Joke''), a 2022 story about the University of Texas battle for the quarterback job is being used by standout sportswriter Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News as an example of "a blatant misinterpretation of an interview by click-seekers who aggregate other people’s work.''

Finger's problem: He puts on blast LonghornsCountry.com by citing our headline - “Steve Sarkisian Hints at Longhorns QB Competition in 2023'' - by reporting that ...

1) We were a part of a wave of "media aggregators from around the country'' ... a "faraway website offer(ing) a more salacious version of a story covered by locals.''

2) Our interpretation of coach Steve Sarkisian's comments about an open competition involving Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning was "highly misleading, and completely overblown'' and part of "this hysteria about a supposed quarterback controversy.''

 But Finger, in chiding us about getting our facts right, gets his facts, in both of these accusations, all wrong.

Finger asks, "Was this ... version written by someone who was there, or did his own reporting?'' Our answer? Yup. Our Longhorns editor, publisher and beat writer, who lives and works in Austin and has been a successful professional journalist for almost a decade, Matt Galatzan, did indeed "do his own reporting'' and was indeed "someone who was there.''

In fact, assuming Finger is also "someone who was there,'' Galatzan may very well have been sitting two chairs away from him.

To Finger's credit, we contacted him regarding the accusation and he politely issues a mea culpa for lumping us in with the "aggregators,'' adding, "I'm glad more (organizations) are hiring reporters to report instead of to aggregate ... That’s good news.''

Indeed. Now, what about the "open competition''? Finger is displeased that national media outlets like Bleacher Report and Fox Sports wrote headlines alluding to that; we'll assume they were not represented in Austin that day and we will let them argue their own cases.

But as Finger himself transcribes accurately, here's what Sarkisian said that causes Galatzan to write about an "open'' competition for the QB job ...

"They (starting positions on the team) are all open right now, but I’m not worried about who’s going to be on the cover of what magazine next week. I’m more focused on each guy focusing on what they need to do to develop to be the best player they can be.''

Galatzan heard Sark say that. That mindset has certainly infused our coverage of the Longhorns. And you know what other quotes were in our story that day?

This one from Sark: “So, like every year, we'll go into the offseason and wipe the slate clean and let these guys compete and battle and see what it looks like, because that's what makes us better.''

And this one from Sark: “I think competition is healthy for all of us. To anoint anybody for the future - that probably wouldn't be fair to the other guys in that room.''

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you know what Sark was saying with all three quotes? He was setting up the idea of an "open competition'' - exactly as Galatzan interpreted it and exactly as Galatzan reported it.

Galatzan's story that day included another quote, from the eventual winner of the open competition. Said Ewers: “That’s how this works, especially under Coach Sark. For sure I’m ready for any competition.”

What? So Sark and Ewers both called it a "competition'' - but LonghornsCountry.com was writing "fiction'' and being "salacious'' and "causing a hysteria'' by labeling it ..."a competition''?!

And again, we were not doing all of this from "around the country on a faraway website''; We were sitting in the press room on the UT campus, pounding away on our laptop ... perched presumably right next to Finger or one of his Express-News teammates, who was pounding away on same.

We have deep respect for the work of Mike Finger, and we're serious about the "watchdog'' value of journalism. We also appreciate that Finger points out that he, too - just like Bleacher Report and Fox Sports and everybody else in journalism - utilizes aggregation.

"I occasionally opine on games I don’t attend,'' Finger writes. "It’s the way the business works, and it always has been.''

Same here. But we also attend games and practices and press conferences, just like the San Antonio Express-News does. So, let's all "watchdog'' each other while making sure that before we publicly question whether the competition has its facts straight ... that we ourselves, as the accusers, have our facts straight.

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