I know this has been discussed before but just read an article a few minutes ago by Ben Goff.
In discussing offers from a recruit Ben says…
“Okechukwu played in the Under Armour All-American game on Jan. 4 in Orlando, Fla., and his performance helped him add scholarship offers from Texas, Tennessee and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to go along with others from Arizona, Massachusetts, Florida Atlantic and others.”
He doesn’t say University of Texas Austin
He doesn’t say University of Tennessee Knoxville
He doesn’t say University of Arizona Tuscon
Etc. That would sound silly wouldn’t it?
Its obvious that this is a WholeHogSports thing as most reporters and columnists have been using the UoA Fayetteville tag for awhile now.
I like the site and come here for info on the hogs. I don’t post much but when I do I’m respectful and try my best to offer something tangible and never try and insult anyone. But I find this Fayetteville distinction insulting. Or maybe simply plain dumb.
The University of Arkansas is very well known nationally. The Razorbacks are historically a top 25 program. (Okay not so much lately but historically we are)
Nobody in Texas, Alabama or Michigan (or any other college football fan base) are going to confuse us with Pine Bluff or Little Rock. I’m from Little Rock and I have never felt the need to make the distinction. It has always been the University of Arkansas. We all know where it’s at.
So I’m not sure what’s up with that. And have really never chimed in on the subject but jeez guys how about treating your readers with a little respect. I cannot believe for a moment that these writers don’t cringe as they type the word Fayetteville after the University of Arkansas.
So I would love to know. Who’s the guy that is telling these writers to do this? What is their point? Is it a Fayetteville vs. Little Rock thing? Why is it important to them to make the distinction? I’ve never known a Razorback fan say this. It is the University of Arkansas. We are the Razorbacks. Growing up in Little Rock. Reading Orville Henry as a kid I don’t recall any media folks going out of their way to ever make the distinction. We all knew the UofA was in Fayetteville.
Enlighten me brother Davenport or someone else from WHS. You guys sometimes post here. Help us out. What gives on this subject. I’d really like to know.
I’m with you hawg, every time I see that I can’t help but cringe and wonder WHO is responsible for this on-going idiocy? WHO?! Someone, please tell us. Please…
I totally agree guys. the irony of the situation is that UALR, which IS the University of Arkansas Little Rock, changed it’s
name because they didn’t want to get put in the middle of Fayetteville & Little Rock. LOL
According to the times it has been discussed before its a Demozette policy. They really haven’t enforced it before, but they are now, I’m assuming maybe new leadership.they said it’s because the site is on the web, and someone from “New Hampshire” May not know the difference between UAF, UAPB, UAFS, UALR, and it was so they knew they were talking about the Hogs.
However, I stopped buying into that excuse, and I used articles that Jimmy Carter and Bob Holt had both written. Literally both articles started with “The Arkansas Razorbacks” and two sentences later said University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Jimmy replied to me and said he didn’t put it in there, which means it had to be an editor.
Months ago, I was told by one of the writers that the “Fayetteville” reference is some sort of an editorial policy from the upper tiers of the ADG. If true, it’s an asinine policy promoting redundant, unnecessary content and poor writing practices. It’s also annoying as hell. Anyone in need of a geographic reference to the University of Arkansas campus is hopelessly lost or not a fan of Razorback sports to begin with.
No one, outside of the few “esteemed” writers at WholeHOGSports and affiliates deems it necessary to provide the campus whereabouts for the state’s flagship university. And frankly, those particular writers I have mostly stopped reading. In today’s world, it isn’t too difficult to find better and other well written sources for the University of Arkansas, uh… Fayetteville :roll: sporting news, elsewhere.
Totally agree. I HATE it. It needs to be dropped immediately. It is disrespectful to players and fans. It has also jinxed our athletic program. We have been completely inconsistent and out of sync since they started using it. As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if they started using it during halftime of the Missouri football game last year! Please Stop!
It makes my blood boil! Insult from the word go. This could open the door for some of these writers to open up their own board on Hog sports and get away from the ADG!
I get TIRED OF IT. As a graduate of the university I think it is INSULTING to Razorback fans for U of A -FAY., to be in every article you see in the paper, when they are writing about the Hogs.
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Razorbacks in the first part of the story…
Still haven’t seen a reasonable explaination here as to why this is necessary.
ESPN, Fox, NBC, SB Nation, SEC Country, Bleacher Report, or any other national outlet simply refer to us as either the University of Arkansas Razorbacks or most often as the Arkansas Razorbacks. This has always been the case in my 50 plus years of following and reading articles on the Razorbacks.
Yet the the local media entity designated to all things Hog (WHS) seem hell bent on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Razorbacks tag.
Come on anyone here officially with WHS. Simple question.
Why? We would like to know your stance on this matter.
Totally understand your thoughts and frustrations, hawginTN. I have raised the same question several times in the past. One writer suggested that the campus reference was buried in some sort of past writing related policy and was now being enforced. He gave me the names and email addresses of two individuals with the ADG and affiliates and suggested that I raise the issue with them. I did so, months ago, and have yet to be acknowledged.
The “policy” is absurd and moronic, in my opinion. Moreover, it promotes a fundamentally poor writing practice with completely unnecessary and redundant content in a sports related context or article. Not all of the writers with WHS and affiliates use the reference. Personally, I have purposely stopped reading those who seem hell bent on shoving the matter down our collective throats, including Wally Hall, Little Rock. :roll:
There’s a hidden agenda, by someone, somewhere, in my opinion. Regardless, as you have said, there are plenty of other better and well written sources for Razorback news.
We have been told that this was “a decision above our heads” and “Wally had nothing to do with this”. Ok, let’s go with that. Whoever above the writers’ heads that made this decision reminds me of my father in his latter years. In his first eighty years, he was a well-spoken, logical, astute man. Once he hit 80, his mind started to deteriorate. He was redundant and repeated himself. He would say things I had never heard him say and I would have to verify with my mother, many of which were not true. It gradually got worse and then we lost him before his 84th birthday. I’m sure many of you can relate to this story with a parent or grandparent. This decision truly reminds me of that period in his life. This method of writing goes against the logic of good journalism and has been crammed down our throats without explanation. We watch it play out with disbelief but understand that the person can not help themselves and must not understand how foolish they look.
"Linebacker Jaylen Moody will make his third official visit this weekend when he arrives today in Fayetteville to visit Arkansas.
Moody, 6-2, 225 pounds, 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Conway, S.C., has scholarship offers from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ole Miss, East Carolina, Georgia State and others. He has visited Ole Miss and Georgia State previously."
Nothing against this particular writer, who seems like a good guy and apparently is marching on orders from a higher authority. Yet, if there is truly an editorial policy related to informing readers of the campus whereabouts for the University of Arkansas, it is entirely redundant and valueless from a literary standpoint, in addition to being mind blowing stupid and annoying as hell. It is also insulting to the U of A graduates, in my opinion, as well as anyone else smart enough to know how to find a Razorback game in Fayetteville.
As to the referenced article, where else would a linebacker being recruited by Arkansas and desiring to visit the university campus be intending to travel? Little Rock? Monticello? Fort Smith? Pine Bluff? Good luck with that GPS adventure.
I haven’t lived in Arkansas for years and my opinion is from the outside looking in, but for whatever reason, the “policy” also seems to promote a certain sense of divisiveness, in an effort to single out part of the fan base in NW Arkansas compared to the rest of the state.
Some editorial wizard and/or someone from above at the ADG clearly has a hidden agenda.
Agreed, someone at the ADG has a hidden agenda and demonstrates it daily by forcing his asinine pettiness down the throats of us, the ADG’s (and Whole Hog Sports’) paying customers. Whoever it is obviously doesn’t give a rat what we think, as this topic has been brought up many times before on this forum by many different subscribers. You can say it is “corporate policy” all day, but there is an anonymous living, breathing human being at the ADG who is enforcing this dumb policy, and he is hiding behind the corporate shield. Beyond poor writing and poor journalism, it is blatant ignorance of the old “the customer is always right” maxim and to continue doing this is insulting to the people who keep the ADG and WHS afloat. I canceled my ADG subscription over this issue, and never got any kind of acknowlegement. I guess it is obvious they simply don’t care what we think, but I think we, the readers, have a right to know WHO is behind this! If we knew WHO, it would probably explain WHY. Probably just beating a dead horse here, but that’s my opinion.
Appreciate you guys opinion on the matter. I would love to see more posters provide their opinion. I do find it odd that no official WHS staff has acknowledged the subject. They post here regularly so I have to assume they have seen the thread. If it’s an editorial policy at WHS or ADG then just acknowledge that it is what it is at the very least. That would go along way to providing us some understanding on the subject. For the most part, the requests here for some explanation have been respectful. Shouldn’t be too much to ask for a respectful response.
Hawg…I guess you’ve missed it but that’s the ONLY explanation given, that it’s been a policy for years and they are now enforcing it. That’s not a valid explanation. What if the policy was to use all small caps for proper names or use question marks instead of periods to end sentences. It would look ridiculous and just saying it’s the policy would not give us an explanation. The only state newspaper in the land that feels it’s necessary to identify the location of its major university in every single article. “76,000 came to Reynolds Razorback stadium on Saturday and witnessed number one ranked Alabama defeat the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville”. Ridiculous.