As was indicated on the Sept. 29 edition of FROM THE PRESS BOX TO PRESS ROW, this is the original letter sent to the newspaper in Raleigh, NC.
***********************************************
It was an absolute disgrace that the only story in the News and Observer about the A&T/NCCU game was a fight that ensued after the game was over. It was even more disgraceful that the game did not make the regular paper. I paid $1.50 for the paper and the story was not in the paper. That will be the last $1.50 I will spend on the N&O. The fight that ensued after the game was a side bar. What a well played game and if you read the N&O you wouldn’t have even known it. For the game not to make the paper first of all is irresponsible of the News and Observer. If this were an ACC game that ended at 10:00 p.m. you mean to tell me there would have not been a story????
Your newspaper can never get the facts straight even when they are presented to you. Prime example, why in Saturdays newspaper on the NCCU/A&T game preview was the radio station listed as WNAA 90.1 as broadcasting the game????? WNAA doesn’t even get into this market. The NCCU sports information office, who sends you game notes every week, lists WRJD-AM 1410 as the carrier of all NCCU games throughout the season. It is listed in your TV/Radio section. How do you miss that??????
As the former Assistant AD for Sports Information at Shaw University, I have had my battles with the N&O over the years. I have been so busy the last couple of years that I have not written the paper about the lack of coverage that Shaw and St. Augustine’s still receives, when there are phenomenal sports stories on both campuses. You are always on the backend of everything. I never saw a story last year about pro prospect Greg Peterson of NCCU during the season last year, even though he was a fifth round draft pick by the Bucs and made the team. I still haven’t seen a story. When was the last time a CIAA football player was drafted and made the team? And the team was a local team. St. Augustine’s DE Alex Hall is one of the top 15 defensive linemen in the country, inclusive of all divisions, with scouts coming to St. Aug’s everyday to watch film, not to mention he’s a great student. I haven’t seen a story on him. Is that not newsworthy???
I have had enough of the lack of coverage that that NCCU, St. Aug’s and Shaw receives from the N&O and the negative coverage the schools receive. You mean to tell me you send a reporter to Greensboro to cover the game and the below story is what is brought back to you with no game story??? What kind of newspaper are you running? St. Aug’s played at home and Shaw played in Rocky Mount on Saturday and you mean to tell me you did not have a reporter at either of those games?? You think running a long press release will make up for not covering these games?? If you are short-staffed, that’s your problem. You are not short-staffed when it comes to covering the ACC. Get more staff or string the games out at the least. You have a responsibility just as I have a responsibility, as a person in this community, to write this letter. This is what our daily newspaper gives to the citizens of the Triangle, as the daily voice of the Triangle? Unfortunately because the paper is online, this is how the rest of the world will probably view what happens in the Triangle more specifically as it relates to sports and will barely know that NCCU, St. Aug’s and Shaw exists. Flip Murray, formerly of Shaw, is now in the NBA and doing pretty well. I don’t recall seeing a story on him in the last four years. When Ray Allen went down in 2003 when he was playing for the Sonics, he was basically carrying the team. I don’t recall seeing a story on him. The N&O has a terrible history of covering NCCU, St. Aug’s and Shaw.
I will not continue to put up with this nonsense coverage by the News Observer. I was close to renewing my subscription to the newspaper. I will not. Not only that, if I have to do it one-by-one, I will encourage others not to renew or subscribe to the N&O. How in the world does a game that finished at 10:00 p.m. not make the paper?????? The News and Observer is irresponsible, has been for sometime and I will not subscribe any longer and will see how I can get others not to and see how we can get the community involved in this irresponsible and disgraceful and distasteful news reporting by the major daily newspaper of the Triangle.
Have you read this story????? And this made the sports section online. This is a joke a disgrace and the citizens of this community should no longer put up with this terrible, horrible, non-factual, sensationalized, bush league coverage by the News and Observer.
And for the record the aforementioned schools play real sports so in the future, I hope someone tells me that you have covered it as such.
Donal Ware.
***********************************************
GREENSBORO - On the same night a classic rivalry was joyously reborn, it may have died an ugly death.
N.C. Central’s 27-22 victory over N.C. A&T was overshadowed by a bench-clearing brawl at the conclusion of the game that lasted several minutes and left dozens of players lying on the field as other swung helmets and fists.
A&T and NCCU police ran in after a few minutes and broke up the fight using pepper spray.
An NCCU player lay on the ground outside of the locker room vomiting after the fight as trainers worked feverishly to wash out his eyes.
The fight so enraged A&T athletics director DeLores “Dee” Todd that she said the two schools likely would take a “cooling-off period” from continuing the series.
“I’m disgusted. It’s very disgusting,” Todd said after watching the Eagles instigate the fight by jumping on the Aggies’ midfield logo. “It’s a game, why do that?”
A&T has the nation’s longest losing streak, now 20 games. After performing poorly for much for the game, A&T had a late drive end on an interception in the end zone with 14 seconds left.
In the emotion of the game-saving interception by Eagles linebacker Eric Ray (whose twin brother Derrick scored earlier on an interception return), the NCCU players stormed the field and began jumping on the logo.
After the game, Todd demanded her coaches sequester the Aggies in the locker room until the Eagles had departed.
NCCU athletics director Bill Hayes, who has steered the school to Division I from the Division II CIAA, was A&T’s football coach for 15 years.
After the game, Hayes said he didn’t see the fight, which he said occurred as he was making his way to the field from the stands. Hayes declined comment on any disciplinary action.
Later, standing in the end zone as the stands cleared, a visibly angry Todd, along with police and security, spoke with Hayes. As Todd walked away with security in tow, Hayes stood on the field with his head down.
Todd said that before the 2005 game in Raleigh, A&T coaches kept their players in the locker room because there was a history of unsportsmanlike behavior between the teams.
But A&T alum Judy Sessions also blamed the Aggies. Sitting in the stands during the fight, Sessions looked on in horror.
“I’m disgusted, why do they have to act like that,” she said. “This is just terrible.”
The game was billed as the return of a rivalry that dates back to 1924. It was the teams’ first meeting since NCCU beat A&T 23-22 in the 2005 Aggie-Eagle Classic. It also was the first time the two old-school rivals met as D-I opponents.
The emotion might have been exacerbated by NCCU’s band.
First, the band jammed for the vast majority of halftime, not letting A&T’s band on the field.
Eventually, as it became obvious to the crowd, the A&T fans began booing NCCU’s band. Then, as A&T’s band had to hustle off the field after a truncated performance, NCCU’s band started playing again and pretty much played for the rest of the evening — even during the plays.