FanPost

Tom Oates, Please Stop


So Rubie has been getting into it with Tom Oates, who is apparently an actual journalist for an actual newspaper.  Tom has been making infantile rips on Marquette in his Twitter feed, and Rubie basically tore him a new one.

I am one of the Badger fans who frequents around here, not to pick fights or anything like that, but to try to maintain some respectability for my ilk by not being a giant doofus/meatball.  I'm writing today to make a plea to Tom Oates:


Please stop. 

You're embarrassing us.  You have a pulpit to preach from, and what do you choose to do?  You put out nonsense like:

"TomOatesWSJ Tom Oates

Facts R facts, #Marquette fans. 4 of 5 starters R jucos. Rip me all you want, but the truth is out there on floor every game. #MCC"

First of all, who cares?  Second, going to Junior College is not a crime.  No one ever bothers to think of this from the kid's perspective.  So you may not have done well enough to get into a "proper" college, so you go to Juco and work your butt off athletically and academically and you pull yourself up and you do get that degree from your proper college and get in some good NCAA hoops to tell your kids about too.  Isn't that a quintessentially American story?  Isn't this "Rudy"? 

Now Tom, this is bad enough, but in perusing your Twitter feed you also seem to be ignorant on several other subjects.  For instance, on January 17th you tweeted:

"TomOatesWSJ Tom Oates

Led by #Packers' 48, the 8 teams that played on weekend scored 29 points per game, with low of 21. And defense wins championships in NFL?"

Oh Tom.  Tom, Tom Tom...

Remaining playoff teams as ranked by Football Outsiders weighted DVOA, Team Defense:

Pitt - 1
GB - 2
Chi - 4
NYJ - 5

The Giants are 3 if you're curious.  And the #1 offensive team was the Pats.

Yes, defense does seem to help you hang around in the playoffs.

So Tom, if you are going to criticize Marquette would you mind putting some substance behind your criticism?  If not, please keep your comments to midday sportstalk radio call-in shows, where this type of thing belongs.