When the news broke Monday that a Nebraska football player had been hospitalized in connection with a "medical emergency," it brought to mind the media circus that erupted when Dallas Cowboy football star Terrell Owens attempted suicide last September.Speculation about the events that led up to Marlon Lucky's hospitalization Sunday night provided instant fodder for discussion on Omaha's two afternoon sports radio talk programs, "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" on KOZN (1620 AM) and "The Big Show with Matt Perrault" on KXSP (590 AM).
However, hosts of the two shows proceeded with caution when reporting on the few facts about the incident that had emerged.
"As (my) show went on, many people started to call us reporting that they were hearing from other media outlets about speculation about the story," Perrault said. "Some of that speculation turned out to be correct, some turned out to be wrong."
University Released Few Details
Kevin Kugler, co-host of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct," said the story was particularly difficult to cover because so little information was being divulged by the Nebraska Sports Information Department.
"We waited to report (Lucky's) name until we had a copy of the Lincoln Police Report in our hands due to the sensitive nature of the story," Kugler said. "We received that copy at approximately 3:40 (Monday) afternoon, so we felt confident in going with the name of the player at that point."
Perrault said he chose to mention only what major media news outlets, like sister TV station KMTV (Cox Channel 5), were reporting.
"I am a sports talk show host," he said. "Unless someone is willing to go on the air to talk about specifics of a story involving a player's health, I don't talk about it or wonder out loud about what could be going on. It's just too dangerous a situation to be wrong about."
Kugler said he felt responsible to be right, not first, with the story.
"This is too sensitive of a story to just run out and throw rumors on the air," he said. "We won't do that. Anything we have reported or will report will be confirmed through multiple sources."
On his early evening sportscasts Monday, KMTV Sports Director Travis Justice pointed out the primary obstacle many journalists faced when reporting on the story.
"You have a university that doesn't communicate and it leads to all types of speculation," Justice said. "In today's Internet world, it can run crazy."
26 comments:
A University that doesn't communicate....
AMEN!
How long is it going to take Smiley Jones and Big Red to realize they can kill a lot of rampant speculation by being upfront.
You might be able to control information, but you cannot control people from sharing their thoughts - educated or uneducated.
Uh, folks...
The UNL Athletic Department (and hospitals, employers, etc.) cannot, due to federal law, release information about a person's medical condition. It's called the HIPAA law. The Lucky family has the final say on what, if any, information is released. Smiley Jones is guilty of many things, but it wasn't his call on this one.
So what the UNL athletic department should do is what every other school does in a situation like this - leak the information through a credible, confidential source.
It's just sad that so many adults around here have to hear every detail of a 19-22 year old's life, including hospitalization, just because he plays football for a middle of the pack college team.
When your life revolves around the lives of college kids..... well, it just doesn't sound like much of a life! Go Big Red - riiiight!
Yes. Blame Pederson for not going behind Marlon's back and telling everyone what happened against his family's wishes. That makes sense. Afterall, isn't everything Pedersons fault? This situation is between Marlon, his family and his doctors. It is no one elses business. So speculate all you want, you still don't know because Marlon does not want you to know and that is his right. Not as a Nebraska football player but as a human being. Which I'm starting to doubt most of you understand.
It's Steve Pederson's fault that Marlon Lucky and his family chose not to tell the world all the specifics?
That's rich.
He's also to blame him for global warming.
The university puts out information all the time about players. They've reported on Kenny Wilson's hospitalization and many others in the recent past.
If it was an innocent allergic reaction to over the counter or prescription medication, someone would've come out immediately and confirmed that.
The fact that no one is releasing any information clearly means that it is something they don't want to talk about, most likely an intentional OD.
Lucky will never play for Nebraska again.
What I didn't care for was the radio shows blasting the University for not "getting out in front of this story" or "releasing more information" in other words, feed their news cycle and generate more ratings for them.
As an earlier poster noted, UNL was prohibited under HIPAA (as is the medical facility) from releasing Private Health Information (PHI).
The 911 tapes are fair game under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) which will probably shed some light on the situation.
Wilson has allowed them to release information lately (he didn't early on)and that's the difference. People have bad reactions to medication all the time, it doesn't mean they OD'd...Some of you don't live in the real world...
Are you kidding? Do you actually believe what just came out of your keyboard? Because the University isn't releasing any information it is most likely an intentional OD? How in the world could even the most conveluded mind come up with that? The only reason anyone is even saying "OD" is because Sean "No fact checker needed" Callahan said so. And ps...I recently had a friend die from an OD...of prescription meds...and she took the doseage the doctor told her to take. Even if the case turns out to be just that, an OD does NOT have to be intentional or illegal. You make me embarassed to be a member of the same species.
1:58 Anonymous,You obviously work in the biz and Im guessing got beat on the story. So Sean made it up? Sean didn't have the facts? Sean didn't check the facts? Let me know your source on that one.Perhaps Shatel,Sipple and other print-types are jealous that a young guy working for a website has info and sources that they do not have.
1:58 Anon,
So tell me genius, if it's any of those innocent things that you mentioned, why isn't someone comin out and sayin so? Marlon is a public figure. The U has lots of PR people (they even wrote Brandon Jackson's comments for him when he announced he was coming out for the draft.) None of them realize the damage they are causing by not saying anything if it is innocent?
The ONLY reason to not say anything is if it isn't innocent.
Perhaps I should have been more specific on my first comment (see post 1).
When I say the U. needs to release information. I mean, the fact that he was hospitalized in the first place. I did not infer that they should tell us why he was hospitalized or anything beyond that.
The only reason they released what little they did was because the reporters had started to sniff out the story. Sometimes you can squelch rumors by being out front and open from the beginning.
In other words, this is how I would have handled it..
Sometime around noon-ish (about 12-15 hours after he was hospitalized) I would have released the following statement.
"Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky is currently hosptialized in intensive care in Lincoln after a medical emergency at his home Sunday night. Marlon is in stable condition at this time and due to federal privacy laws we are not allow to release any more information than that until we have permission from his family to do so.
We hope you understand our restrictions and will respect Marlon's privacy at this time. We will release more information when it becomes available."
That might not satisfy everyone, but it would certainly not create quite the negative speculation we got in the hours after the story broke.
How do you explain his HS coach's comments?
After the season, Ratcliff said Lucky was unsure about his future but that his mood improved greatly after the start of Nebraska's winter conditioning program.
"The last time I talked to him, he was the same old Marlon," Ratcliff said. "No problems, nothing to worry about. That was just a few days ago."
Ratcliff said he had sensed some frustration from Lucky about his role in the Nebraska offense.
"He wanted to do more, but I don't think that played into this at all," Ratcliff said.
When asked to elaborate, again, the coach retreated.
"I'm not at liberty to say anything," he said.
"Lucky will never play for Nebraska again."
You really called that one.
This just in: A high school phenom was frustrated that he was not yet a huge star in college. Film at 11.
2:10 Anon,
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have nothing to do with the media. Other than reading and listening. As far as Sean checking the facts, he recanted his assertion that Lucky OD'd in a later interview. That to me would say he did not check facts.
As far as you trying to figure out why the U is so secretive, maybe he has cancer? I mean, they have not said that he does not have cancer, so that must mean he does. Or AIDS? No one from the University has come out and directly said he does not have AIDS, so that must be it. Shall I continue on with this list of things that have NOT been said to clarify how stupid you look for assuming it was an OD (intentional or not) just because no one has said it wasn't? He may very well have OD'd and that may come out in the future, but for you to say he obviously did because they are not saying he didn't...ludicrous. The fact of the matter is they are not allowed to say anything that the family does not allow them to say and what ever their reasons are for being quiet are their own an of no concern to you. And regarding the comment that "Lucky will never play for Nebraska again"...WHO CARES?!?!?!?! This is about a young mans life. Whether he is sick, whether he OD'd, no matter what is wrong, a normal human would be concerned with him getting better and having a good life. This is soooo much bigger than football. But again, I highly doubt the human side of the issue is something you would understand because you show very few signs of being one.
This is another case of rabid internet fanboys getting all worked up in their mommy's basement over an athlete. In their zeal they feel some strange need to shut anyone up that doesn't align with their thought process.
Great fans, NU!
Kugler brought up a great point today about the Shatel column. Not too long ago it was the OWH that followed Incognito to Topeka, KS to report he was in a mental health hospital...they even followed him to Applebee's to report they saw he was eating lunch. Shatel even commended Liz Merrill if I remember right for her reporting on this story.
It doesn't make much sense to me for Shatel to take a shot at the guy only doing his job. If this was Denver, Kansas City or another market, this would be no big deal. But obviously, people in Nebraska just can't handle the truth. All Sean did was report the facts. Lucky was in the hospital and 1620/WOWT reported what he was in there being treated for. OD can mean several different things...if you take too much cold medicine, that's an OD, etc.
Jay Bilas on 1620 even said if there's no malice in the reporting and it's a straight fact, the reporter is doing his job. At the time this info was reported, all that was out there were internet rumors...Sean's report was fact...period. For those that don't agree, get out of the business.
Now the media is arguing amongst themselves!
When does this stop? Is the next investigative report from Mike McKnight going to be going through the trash cans of Nebraska football players? At what point does one's RIGHT to privacy supercede the media's need to tell everyone what happened?
The almighty media should not trample on an individual's rights to privacy!!!
BTW - I am not a rabid Husker fan - just someone concerned with my right to privacy...thank you very much!
The talk radio stooges including the tool himself, Travis Justice don't care about privacy.
All they care about is creating attention for themselves.
Sean Callahan is the only regular objective media reporter who actually has a clue. The rest of those dorks (Kugler, Perrault and Justice) simply read the internet every day and pass that info off as their own. Kugler wouldn't know a Nebraska athlete if he hit him with his car. Perrault can't even pronounce Creighton properly and Travis is just a blow hard idiot.
Callahan gets to know these guys when they are recruits, gets their phone numbers and can actually track them down when a story is developing. Kugler, Perrault et all would be mute if their internet feed ever went down so do yourself a favor and ignore them.
Rock on! 7:55am.
If you ever miss anything on the Internet, just listen to Kevin Kugler or Matt Perrault. They'll recite everything word for word. Factual? Insightful? Not them. Travis? What a joke!
Seriously, do you listen to Kugler/Severe?
The information they recite is from the guests they have on their program. They don't need the internet for news because they get the people on who know what's going on.
Just a typical blanket statement from someone who is led around by the nose by those in the Rose colored glasses.
Sideous
I said it before and I'll say it again:
"Lucky will never play for Nebraska again."
4:20 Anon,
I'll say it again..."Who cares?". There is more to life than football.
It seems like the media is giving a pass to Husker football and the Lucky story, when compared to the feeding frenzy that ensued after the Lawrence Phillips story. How/why have things changed?
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