ROB PARKER FABRICATES STORIES?

A. Isaac Senior Editor

**See Rob’s latest F up here**

Sometimes you should just keep your mouth shut. That is to say, if you don’t know what you’re talking about or have no real information about the subject, its better that you just don’t comment.

But a Detroit News writer named Rob Parker didn’t heed that advice and now it looks like he could be in a world of hurt.

Parker is a regular contributor on a local TV station’s broadcast on Sunday Nights in a show entitled “Sports Final Edition”. At the end of the show, Parker has a segment called “Clubhouse Confidentials” which, to be short, is a gossip segment on sports.

Essentially the show becomes a Perez Hilton blog for about five minutes.

This past Sunday, Parker commented on an ongoing legal issue with the MSU football team. A legal issue that has not been resolved and an issue that is extremely serious because it includes possible felonies.

Rob Parker mentioned the name of MSU backup quarterback, Kirk Cousins. Now, I didn’t watch the segment personally but I can tell you that he said the following verbatim:

“A lot of names being mentioned, but the one name being thrown out there big time is backup QB Kirk Cousins … and uh … he was a part of the big thing that happened.“

When Mark Dantonio got wind of this, he started his weekly press conference with a blasting of Parker. Although he didn’t go Mike Gundy, you have a feeling, if pressed, it may have gotten there.

This is an excerpt from the press conference.

Parker hit the radio airwaves in the afternoon in defense of himself. On two separate radio stations, Parker said that he wasn’t insinuating that Cousins was going to get arrested or was even involved, just that his name had been tossed around.

He claimed he had three separate sources to confirm this.

Later on in the day, the prosecutor in charge of the case had this to say…

“According to all the information I have on this investigation, there was no Kirk Cousins involved in the situation,” Dunnings said, before adding: “We are still gathering information.”

Now, this directly contradicts Parker’s story in which he had “three” sources.

MSU coach Mark Dantonio also mentioned at the press conference that Cousins was with his family that Saturday night and that his parents were upset about their sons name being floated around.

“Our family stayed in East Lansing after the Ohio State game,” Don Cousins said. “We don’t typically do that, but we did that week because of the late (3:30 p.m.) start. We stayed at the hotel, went to church with Kirk the following morning and out to lunch that afternoon.

“He was with us the whole time.”


So what’s the deal here you ask?

Who are we to believe?

On one hand we have a prosecutor, a family, and a coach all saying that said athlete was not involved. On the other hand we have a journalist who claims he has three sources.

One of them is lying. Its not only obvious to me but to every single person with even a pea-sized brain.

Rob Parker’s history with MSU athletics is not pristine to say the least. From my recollection, twice in the past, he was not only wrong but severely wrong about a story.

1. He claimed MSU Sophomore Paul Davis was a done deal to the NBA and that Coach Izzo had been told. Davis’ dad came out and refuted this saying none of that was true. Davis went on to play 4 years at MSU.

2. Again, another issue with the MSU basketball program. Brandon Cotton, a player who had transferred out of MSU to University of Detroit was given an outright release. Rob Parker claimed that Izzo didn’t sign the requisite papers because he was bitter at him leaving and Cotton would not get an extra year of eligibility. The story turned out to be completely false and Cotton played till the end of his eligibility.

So it seems, outside looking in, that Parker either

a) has a grudge with MSU

b) fabricates stories to get listeners/readers

In the opinion of this blogger it is the latter. Not only do I believe that Parker fabricates stories out of thin air but I believe he also fabricates sources. That, or the sources he uses is not first hand information but rather 3rd and 4th hand.

Explain to me how somebody could say that Kirk Cousins was involved when he was with his parents and that the man investigating the situation says his name has not come across his desk.

That makes no sense folks.

More than likely, and again this is a bit of a reach on my part, Parker heard that a quarterback was involved and/or cousins of somebody were involved.

He then took that information and said, well Kirk Cousins is a quarterback so it must be him.

That is the only possible explanation I could come up with other than “he fabricated the story”.

Either way, its this kind of shoddy journalism that Rob Parker has been doing for the better part of his entire career.

I’ll never tell my readers what to do or who to read but know this, if you pick up a Rob Parker column, know that it is closer to say “Alice in Wonderland” than it is to “Silent Spring”

UPDATE

Parker apologizes in the Detroit News

“I was wrong. I apologize,” Parker said of the report. Parker is a sports columnist for The News, but his appearance on WDIV Channel 4 is independent of the newspaper. The information never was published by The Detroit News.

“I have reached out to the student-athlete’s family and apologized. They have accepted. I also apologize to the Michigan State community.”

What exactly is he apologizing for…

the fabricated story, the fabricated sources, or the fact this his sources lied to him

Thanks to WOI reader Tim for the heads up..

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