Richard Justice Should Stop Blogging

[Mike]

Not sure why people keep clicking on his blog, that keeps him in business.

Since I cancelled my subscription to the comical, when they call trying to get me to re-start I politely tell them "no" and proceed to tell them that they have a bunch of gutless, worthless hacks that masquerade as sports reporters and columnists.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Mike

Not sure why people keep clicking on his blog, that keeps him in business.

Since I cancelled my subscription to the comical, when they call trying to get me to re-start I politely tell them "no" and proceed to tell them that they have a bunch of gutless, worthless hacks that masquerade as sports reporters and columnists.

I always say I'm going to quit, and I do try and avoid Justice and McClane. It's just hard when that's the only local paper we've got. I haven't watched the news in years. I get all of my news from the internet so for local stuff I always end up at the chron...and can't resist not clicking a story about the Texans.

[jppaul]

Originally Posted by papabear

I always say I'm going to quit, and I do try and avoid Justice and McClane. It's just hard when that's the only local paper we've got. I haven't watched the news in years. I get all of my news from the internet so for local stuff I always end up at the chron...and can't resist not clicking a story about the Texans.

I treat all off season news as Methodone for a heroine addict. I won't apoligize for my addiction. Maybe I should get a feature on Intervention.

[Keith]

More hilarity. Please don't click the link unless you really want to waste your time, 'cause here's all you need to know.

Richard Justice puts no faith into his co-worker's reporting skills (that being John McClain's) and bad mouths Alan Burge (yes, full disclosure a friend of ItB.com) in the process for citing McClain to prove his point, plus he goes on to bite the Casserly hand that feeds him (well, feeds him garbage apparently, which is hilarious, too).

Has the Chronicle Sports desk no shame? Yes, rhetorical, I know.

"Although neither side will discuss specifics of the offer, it is known the Texans were willing to pay Robinson like Carolina cornerback Chris Gamble." ... John McClain, Feb. 20
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6273910.html
McClain went further on the radio and said that the offer exceeded Gamble's (in guaranteed money). I'm sure I wasn't the only one that heard it.

p.s., Don't get fixated on total value. This isn't baseball. Report the guaranteed money and the years.

[The devil is in the details, my friend. I've been around NFL negotiations long enough to know there's a front side and a back side to the contracts. One side can spin an offer to be worth one amount, the other side another amount. I don't trust anyone's reporting except my own on this. In Washington, Charley Casserly twice leaked me numbers that were lies. When I printed different numbers in the newspaper, he never objected. I don't believe Dunta Robinson would have turned down Chris Gamble's contract, but I'm telling you I don't have the numbers nailed down. I'm not going to guess or say I've got numbers in the neighborhood. At some point, I'll get the numbers and give them to you. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. All I'm certain of is that Rick Smith hasn't handled this deal well. He told the player one thing and then did another.--Richard]


Posted by: aj at April 3, 2009 07:37 PM

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Gee, I didn't realize we were friends...I don't even know you. Along with others, I was just letting you in on what your co-worker had previously reported about Dunta's offer.

[We're not friends. People like me don't befriend people like you. You have a column, right? You're a professional journalist, right? I'm more interested in what your reporting has come up with. Oh that's right, you haven't done any reporting. You steal from others and presume it's correct. Let me give you a basic journalism lesson, junior. Get out of your mother's basement and do some work of your own. If the only source you've got is someone else's work, then you should try another line of work. You people.--Richard]


Posted by: aj at April 4, 2009 08:26 AM

http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice...soon_know.html

Justice still has yet to confirm or deny his co-worker's report, other than to rush to assumptions and tarnish it without reason, of course.

[popanot]

It's amazing how he acts like a little school girl when proven wrong or when someone questions his knowledge, motives, or resources. My 10-yr. old can formulate more mature and reasonable arguments than that hack. I have a feeling it won't be long before he works in the timeless - "I'm rubber and you're glue..." - comeback.

[Keith]

More... these have mysteriously gone missing since it was posted, btw. And yes, Alan is correct, Justice wrong, but you already knew that, didn't you?

No, actually I'm not a professional journalist. I don't have a credential and can't get one. I do what I do in my spare time because of the lousy local coverage we get for the Texans. To use a Paul Kuharsyism, I cover the coverage, which at times (like this) is brutal at best.
So let's sum up here. First you said the only guaranteed money in the NFL is signing bonus, which is not correct. Then you said no one had reported that Dunta had received Gamble money - which was wrong. Now you throw jr. high girl-like hissy fits and insults my way for some reason.... yep, Houston sure is lucky to have 'journalists' like you.

[The signing bonus is the only guaranteed money. Now the first-year salary and sometimes second-year salary can be represented as guaranteed money because of the salary cap hit, but it's not written into the contract as guarantee money. So you're wrong about that. Second, no one has reported the Texans' offer to Dunta Robinson. I've seen ''in the neighborhood of,'' but that doesn't tell you what the offer is. NFL contracts are complicated documents. The publicly reported figure frequently isn't accurate. I know agents that love leaking numbers to reporters when the actual value is far different. They're not lying exactly. They're spinning. Third, you represent yourself as a journalist, but you don't actually do any work other than read what others have and comment on it. Pretty good gig.--Richard]
Posted by: aj at April 6, 2009 06:36 AM

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Re [RJ said]: "Now the first-year salary and sometimes second-year salary can be represented as guaranteed money because of the salary cap hit, but it's not written into the contract as guarantee money"
fyi, there are two lines on the Player Contract Information Form on the standard NFL player contract that show guaranteed base salary (in writing).
One line shows the amount of the Paragraph 5 salary guaranteed, if any, and another line shows the amount guaranteed, if any, relative to skill, injury or both. Both amounts are specifically written into the contract and are separately accounted from (but included in) the specified yearly cap amount.
I'm not a journalist, and I can't say that particular career path ever crossed my mind. I'm just a fan blogger that's followed the NFL and Houston sports for a long time and I do what I do in my spare time. btw, your flippant and condescending remarks make you look really bad, but none of that bothers me so I'm not sure what you're gaining by any of that. I'm actually quite shocked that you engage readers in such a way.
Looking forward to the information you promised on the Texans offer to Dunta so I can comment on it. Get to work, will ya?

[I spoke to Dunta's agent this morning. I'm sure you know him well in doing your research. Oh wait, you don't do any research. You steal from others and call it research. Nice gig. As for your understanding of a player contract, it's basically 100 percent wrong. There are specific guarantees written into contracts, but those are very unusual except for quarterbacks and some free agents. However, if the signing bonus is large enough, the contract essentially is guaranteed for the first year or so because of the cap hit. All I know for sure is that Dunta is ticked off at how this has been handled and doesn't plan on showing up.There are zero negotiations going on at the moment, and then it comes down to how far does he push it. Would he be williing to miss a game check because he's mad at the GM? A smart GM would be continuing a dialogue, but Rick Smith may not be smart.--Richard]
Posted by: aj at April 6, 2009 01:11 PM

[papabear]

Newspapers around the country are shutting down. It's pretty obvious that he's bitter about the state of his industry, but at the same time I think he does some of this on purpose because it gets more traffic then being nice. It sounds to me like Justice has decided that it easier to make people hate you than it is to have them like/respect you...It's like he's playing a character for the WWE. Newspapers in their current form are a failed business model....like the pony express after the invention of the telegraph. It's not the bloggers that are eating into their circulation, but they would be smart to look at the things that make the fan sites successful instead of the condescending attitude towards them for being amateurs.

[Joshua]

I'm confused. Justice only trusts his own reporting on this, and in support of that, cites the numerous times he's been fooled? Assuming someone was willing to confide in him, why would this time be any different from the others? Couldn't the Texans (or Dunta's agent) just give him a bunch of BS? How does he think he can tell the difference?

Also, I love his research. He made one phone call to Dunta's agent, one of the very people that he claims always lie in these situations. Further, why is it when Justice relies on what someone tells him, it's "research," but when others do it, it's "stealing."

Finally, I've noticed on numerous occasions with Justice and McClain that when they get specific, technical questions; particularly about the cap, contracts, etc., they clearly have little working knowledge of the subject. Thus, rather than address the specifics, you get vague "NFL contracts are complicated documents" boilerplate responses. But, let's assume that's true and NFL contracts are that complicated, seems like there might be a market for someone; oh, I don't know, maybe a sports reporter in a major media market, to the learn those intricacies and thus, provide a useful service for his readers. Crazy, I know, but it just might work.

[popanot]

Originally Posted by Keith

More... these have mysteriously gone missing since it was posted, btw. And yes, Alan is correct, Justice wrong, but you already knew that, didn't you?

What a joke!! He's removed all of the posts from AJ. He hasn't posted my second reply either, which I assume is because I pulled some of his quotes from his last response to AJ and disputed them. My second reply was to the point and contained no harsh language and was not derogatory in any way towards Justice on a personal or professional level. It's a shame the Chronic allows their blogger's to do that crap. I know that's how most blogging sites work, but you expect a major media source like the Chronic to have some level of integrity (even though some of their hacks do not) and show they're trustworthy. That's not the case when they allow their hacks to skew information and edit or delete anything that doesn't fall in line with their opinion or exposes them for the frauds they are.