Kirk Bohls #1 sportswriter

Mesohorny

Mesohorny

1,000+ Posts
To brighten your Friday....

"American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls has been named 2011's Texas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriter Association."

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In today's paper, couldn't find a link.
 
Maybe now Mack will let him watch football practices....nah, not gonna happen, and he'll continue to whine about it in his column.

Isn't this honor kinda like being the top whiplash attorney in the state?
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Say what you want about Bohls, and I am certainly no apologist for him, but this article was allsome.
The Link
Loss doesn't bode well for SEC-bound Aggies
Kirk Bohls, Commentary
Updated: 11:11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011

Published: 10:56 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011


And then the screen door hit 'em in the butt.</p>The Big 12 got new member West Virginia on Friday. And it got its wish on Saturday.</p>The jilted conference that Texas A&M is leaving behind took some consolation in the facts that the Aggies suffered a devastating loss and don't look anywhere near ready for the conference they're going to join.</p>Neither is Missouri, but somebody had to win this game.</p>A&M showed it was ill-prepared for the grizzly Southeastern Conference. It's not even equipped to beat a 1-3 Big 12 team at Kyle Field.</p>On a cloudless Saturday, SEC-bound A&M fell to almost certain future SEC brethren Missouri, and showed that there's little difference between the two. They even needed an extra period, as the Tigers scored on a touchdown pass and then deflected Ryan Tannehill's fourth-down pass to win 38-31 in overtime.</p>Now A&M's not even the best new SEC team.</p>Missouri left with a mediocre 4-4 record, while A&M has its final Big 12 season severely tarnished with an average, 5-3 mark. Oh yeah:, the Aggies still have Top 10 Oklahoma on the road next weekend, then an away game at 7-1 Kansas State, before closing out with doormat Kansas and that nasty fight with Texas.</p>Hello, Insight Bowl.</p>It had all seemed so much sweeter for A&M, which had righted itself with three straight wins after crushing defeats by Oklahoma State and Arkansas, when the Aggies blew intermission leads of 18 and 17 points.</p>A&M President R. Bowen Loftin told me at halftime that the Aggies have "a very good chance of being co-champs" in the Big 12, and I almost never doubt a guy in a bowtie who is a physics grad with a Ph.D from Rice.</p>Loftin obviously should know better. He sees his Aggies every week, and if there's one thing A&M's got down pat, it's the art of the second-half collapse. However, not even he knew Mike Sherman's offense would stall after halftime with dropped passes and false starts, to undo a 28-17 lead. A&M's offense has scored a grand total of 13 second-half points in its three losses.</p>On the other side of the ball, the Aggie defense misses more tackles in a series than Alabama does in a month. That atrocious pass defense that ranked 120 nationally â there is no 121st team â held Missouri under 200 yards passing, but found another way to stink.</p>Its rush defense surrendered 284 yards, 162 to dandy running back Henry Josey. The Arlington flash is one of a whopping 35 Texans on Missouri's squad, reason enough to give the Tigers hope when they finally man up and join the SEC. OU, we know, has proven for a century it can't win without Texas talent.</p>The question is, can Gary Pinkel continue to raid the Lone Star State when Missouri no longer plays regularly south of the Red River? The Tigers commit as many as four coaches to recruit Texas, and it shows.</p>Missouri quarterback James Franklin â who isn't the fastest dual-threat quarterback but is a versatile sort, an adept runner and doesn't panic â hails from Corinth, Texas. Eric Waters, the tight end who caught Franklin's first touchdown pass Saturday, played high school ball at Mansfield Summitt. Michael Egnew, another Missouri tight end who was an All-American last season, caught four balls. Of Pinkel's 15 verbal pledges, seven are from Texans.</p>You get the idea.</p>"I think their recruiting could change a little bit," A&M recruiting coordinator Tim Cassidy said. "They don't have quite the recruiting base we have."</p>The Aggies can count on strong classes with Texas and Louisiana as fertile bases. They have 13 Louisianans on their roster â like tight end Michael Lamothe, who scored Saturday, and linebacker Jonathan Stewart, who led all tacklers with 13 stops â and 2012 commitments from three more. Sherman deploys four assistants to scour the marshes of Louisiana.</p>Pinkel will need to keep mining Texas if he hopes to constantly restock his teams, but he could have an SEC advantage on A&M if the Tigers get placed in the softer East Division. The Aggies should volunteer for such duty to keep away from the steady diet of Alabama, LSU and friends in the West.</p>Of course, as Loftin pointed out, "Every year is a new year. Look at the SEC now and see how things come and go. You might be a national champion one year and not competitive the next."</p>He's talking about you, Auburn.</p>A&M should have a big leg up on Missouri, if only because it sits in a state with 350 Division I players every year. The Aggies already have the makings of a top 10 recruiting class next February, with top prospects like quarterback Matt Davis â who will enroll at mid-term â and tailback sensation Trey Williams.</p>They may need 'em both since starting running back Cyrus Gray is a senior and co-No. 1 Christine Michael would be an early NFL draftee if he comes out. Tannehill's at the end of his college career, too, as is fading wideout Jeff Fuller.</p>Still, A&M would have been better off playing in the SEC this season instead of starting next with a new quarterback â whether it's strong-armed redshirt freshman Jameill Showers or whoever â and some new skill personnel.</p>But it must try to relocate its footing under a head coach who is inspiring little faith at the moment. Lose big to OU, and it could get downright ugly for Sherman.</p>"I just want to win next week," said a shellshocked Sherman, whose Aggie record dipped to a pedestrian and unacceptable 24-22. "We'll worry about what we accomplish after we've accomplished it."</p>Loftin has high hopes but maybe not realistic ones. Asked how long it will take until the Aggies are competitive in the SEC, the prez confidently said, "Day one, sir."</p>The Aggies should hope they don't open up with Missouri.</p>[email protected]</p><p/>
 
Barry Switzer remarked in his book that geniuses don't become football coaches. They for sure don't become sports writers. What kind of person does? Somebody who is obsessed with games they can't play very well. OR can't play at all.

Quite a few of them don't know squat about the games they report on. They do know how to write a facile column or give you the score of a game and tell you who scored or intercepted a pass. Try talking about what is actually going on in the actual violent chess game on the field and they are largely clueless.

I was a journalism major for a while at one of the colleges I attended before transfering into UT. One of my teachers had been a sportswriter on a major Texas daily, even had a column. I talked to him about our school's lackluster football team that season and he clearly had no idea what was holding it back (no offensive line and only one good cornerback). I asked the coach's son, who was on my intramural team, about his dad's opinion of the guy and he said it was a relief to the coaching staff that all he could report on was how frustrated they were. And how hard the guys were trying.

The cornerback who was real good spent several years in the pros and never had a feature written about him in the school paper because none of the sportswriters realized he was that good and the prof who ran the show didn't see it either.

They are very fair and equitable about passing out awards to each other though.

Bohls got a good gig with a mediocre paper in a town with great college sports. The coaches have to suck up to guys in his position to an extent. Bohls is not trustworthy, which is one of the things that can take you a long way in his profession. He has not left Austin and is not likely to ever get a better or better paying gig. Good.
 
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