King doesn't call him on it because being a media toady is all about accessibility. Confront and confound a source and you're toast. I have SO little respect for the profession and its practitioners.
IMHO, there's a whole lot of disrespect to throw around.
I'd include the athletes, agents and execs use their favorites in the press to put out things they won't say themselves.
How many times do we hear "league sources" or "team sources" or "sources close to X"?
In my mind, Parcells did this kind of **** all the time, and his relationship with McDonough reeked. Note how McDonough's "journalism" dropped off a cliff just as soon as BP left town.
And I agree, journalists are a dime a dozen with little to distinguish them, so it is all about access. Go too far, and there's no difficulty in finding another journalist to talk to.
The whole thing is a farce. Even before they hit high school, athletes know all the boring, meaningless "right things to say". There's way too many media members chasing after way too little of substance to report. How often do we see someone put a mike into an athlete's face and already know what the answer is going to be before the end of the question?
There's nothing to call him on - yet. He doesn't have Luck. Yet.
Nor will he, unless he trades up with the Rams.
The only problem is other people, including some in the media have noticed some of that more blatant lack of effort and Poilan's been under much more intense scrutiny about how much effort his players are giving.
So are a lot of teams. NYJ, NYG and DAL all come to mind immediately.
