The Chicago Sun-Times is no longer using the services of freelance sports writer Clyde Travis after he went into the locker room of a high school basketball team after the game he covered and proceeded to lecture the team with a speech.
Jim Romenesko has the scoop, and there apparently was video of Travis lighting into Curie High School’s basketball team following a narrow win over Hyde Park on Wednesday. The video was taken down, but according to Romenesko, here’s what Travis said:
I hope you all gave yourselves a good round of applause. You know why? Because you all stunk that shit up worse than anything I’ve seen. That was the worst exhibition of basketball that I’ve seen in about 30 years. And not that they weren’t trying, it’s that you guys did not come out focused. You are the number one team in the state, and they played like they were the number one team in the state. …
The word that I would use in terms of looking at how you all played was it was a very unintelligent game. ….”
Is this a journalist or the team’s head coach? Sheesh. I’m getting confused here about roles.
Curie (23-1) is ranked No. 4 in the state according to MaxPreps and won 58-56 over 16-9 Hyde Park. Imagine what Travis would have done had they lost!
If there’s any good news to come out of this development for Travis, it’s that he should have more time to pursue coaching and motivational speaking gigs.
