Observer needs to end bias if they are to assess performance

[MHS831]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/08/13/1621664/panthers-stock-watch.html

Gantt notes that players whose stock was up due to Thursday's performance-- and he fails to list these players (although he mentions Hardy):

Greg Hardy (2 sacks and was all over the field)

Fiametta ("Slobberknocker" was Jaworski's word)

The third Moore, DE, who had an eye-opening performance

Tyrell Sutton and his 8 yard per carry average. Sure he fumbled--so what.

Dan Conner--played very well vs run and in coverage. This is good news because it suggests he might be able to play SLB when Davis returns, or NOW if they want to move Beason back to MLB and move Anderson to WLB.

Here are the players Gantt felt improved their stock:

CJ Wilson (I suppose because he broke up a pass and picked up a fumble and scored--not because he was a step slow and playing soft)

Chris Gamble (who did not play)

Dwayne Jarrett and Kenny Moore--If their stock is up, sell.

Wait for it....here it is.....

ARMANTI EDWARDS--For catching punts in the rain and having an 18 yard return.

In fairness, he also included the offensive Armanti Edwards in the "Stock Down" category, but added that he was going to be a project and he was behind, and that the Panthers have people to handle WR in the short term.

My response: WHO? We didn't go free agent, we lost nearly half our starters, should we be looking for projects in the third round and spending second rounders to get them? Catch the damn ball. Nine passes went to AE and he was open (good sign). He caught 2.

Darrin, there are many other players on the team who deserve to be mentioned. Zip up Armanti's pants and step back from the situation and cover the other players. Damn son. ANd for those who say don't read it if you don't like it, direct me to another source that has in-depth Panther coverage that features reporters who don't think the team colors are blue, silver, black and gold.

[Carl Spackler]

Yeah, I started a thread about Gantt slurping Edwards a while back, I'll go ahead and truncate it for you...about 35 people disagreed with me, a couple basically called me a dick, and 5 agreed with me.

[MHS831]

That doesn't mean you are wrong. I have a degree in journalism and know what I am talking about--although I don't pretend to have all the answers like some GED scholars on here. But now they have something concrete to illustrate our points. Then again, I admire loyalty these days, but there are places when objectivity is appropriate. The people who responded that way now have an example of why it sucks. Then again, they have a right to an opinion--just like Gantt, but if their job was to assess the team, they should wipe off their chins first.

[PantherBrew]

Cut Armanti, wasted pick.

[Carl Spackler]

That doesn't mean you are wrong. I have a degree in journalism and know what I am talking about--although I don't pretend to have all the answers like some GED scholars on here. But now they have something concrete to illustrate our points. Then again, I admire loyalty these days, but there are places when objectivity is appropriate. The people who responded that way now have an example of why it sucks. Then again, they have a right to an opinion--just like Gantt, but if their job was to assess the team, they should wipe off their chins first.

Agreed on all accounts, I also have a degree in journalism, and in Sport Studies.

[pantherfan49]

Yeah, I started a thread about Gantt slurping Edwards a while back, I'll go ahead and truncate it for you...about 35 people disagreed with me, a couple basically called me a dick, and 5 agreed with me.

I rarely agree with LoyalPF, but he is absolutely right about Gnat's slurping of Edwards.

Hell, there was an article yesterday that's headline made it sound like it would be about the pass rush- and the contents of the article were about AE.

[Sam Mills Fan]

I've told you guys that Gantt is embarrassing and a joke journalist. I was always under the impression that journalists have one main job to do: report facts. If they're also going to put opinion pieces out there like stock up/stock down, then they REALLY need to try and do it as unbiased as possible.

People thought it was cute/funny that Gantt would get a raging boner whenever talking about Edwards when he was playing for App State and before the draft, but now that he's getting paid to supposedly cover him in an unbiased manner, it's getting extremely annoying and irritating and unprofessional.

I just tune everything Gantt has to say about Edwards out. He's completely compromised with him and it would be like you or I trying to objectively put out articles about our girlfriends or children. He's not ever going to change, so go read Steve Reed if you want OBJECTIVE news/opinion about Armanti Edwards.

[Jpjr]

I've told you guys that Gantt is embarrassing and a joke journalist. I was always under the impression that journalists have one main job to do: report facts. If they're also going to put opinion pieces out there like stock up/stock down, then they REALLY need to try and do it as unbiased as possible.

People thought it was cute/funny that Gantt would get a raging boner whenever talking about Edwards when he was playing for App State and before the draft, but now that he's getting paid to supposedly cover him in an unbiased manner, it's getting extremely annoying and irritating and unprofessional.

I just tune everything Gantt has to say about Edwards out. He's completely compromised with him and it would be like you or I trying to objectively put out articles about our girlfriends or children. He's not ever going to change, so go read Steve Reed if you want OBJECTIVE news/opinion about Armanti Edwards.

It's too early to draw this conclusion. I hate that clishe, but it's true. Once again I'll cite the Golden Tate example. He came into Notre Dame as a running back and Weis converted him to wide receiver. Basically he sucked his entire freshman year. But sophmore year he turned it up and as we all know now he won the award for best wide receiver in the country in 2009 as a junior.

Obviously the Panthers see something similar in Edwards, and obviously it is going to take a season or two of work. They were willing to make this investment in time and from that perspective he is doing just fine with progress to date.

[monstercat]

My God! I see the light now! Armanti and LaFell are obviously both worthless. No need to see anymore than 2 quarters or so of preseason action that we have already seen. And Gantt is worthless because he didn't trash Armanti nearly enough for everybody's liking. My God the world is ending right before my eyes!

[pantherfan49]

It's too early to draw this conclusion. I hate that clishe, but it's true. Once again I'll cite the Golden Tate example. He came into Notre Dame as a running back and Weis converted him to wide receiver. Basically he sucked his entire freshman year. But sophmore year he turned it up and as we all know now he won the award for best wide receiver in the country in 2009 as a junior.

Obviously the Panthers see something similar in Edwards, and obviously it is going to take a season or two of work. They were willing to make this investment in time and from that perspective he is doing just fine with progress to date.

You are missing the point. This isn't about whether AE is going to turn into a good player or not. This is about the Disturber's love fest for AE and the unjustified attention given to him.

[Jaxel]

Watching all other Pre-season games and seeing about 85% of the returners drop/fumble a punt, I believe Armanti catching in the rain, and not dropping having decent return.. he did a better job than most give him credit for. As soon as he stops second guessing himself and just goes for it and hits the hole I think all will be surprised.

[Sloth]

To be fair, Gantt used to be pretty decent and by far the best reporter covering the team.

I don't know what happened, but he's now at the point where he really dislikes the local fans and basically trolls.

Fans excited about Clausen? Make snide comments about Clausen being the messiah. Fans upset at a player? Throw out something insulting and allude that they know nothing about football. He's doesn't even have a good track record of being correct anymore (although he used to). Anyways, he'd probably be a better fit just writing print articles, not blogs, where he can't get a ton of feedback or interactivity. You can tell he's bitter at this point.

The lol part of him being dismissive of Clausen is that he was the exact EXACT same way with Delhomme/Moore the last few seasons. What had Moore REALLY shown, fans are over-reacting about Delhomme, Moore is just a guy, oh hey look at these Jake stats, Jake has the most dreamy personality, etc etc.

Just take what he writes with a grain of salt.

[top dawg]

My God! I see the light now! Armanti and LaFell are obviously both worthless. No need to see anymore than 2 quarters or so of preseason action that we have already seen. And Gantt is worthless because he didn't trash Armanti nearly enough for everybody's liking. My God the world is ending right before my eyes!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I suppose that some of you guys have never heard of Op-Ed pieces. Let's not pretend that ALL of journalism has to be unbiased. Journalists are human. Papers slant one way or another because of the owners that they have, and/or the writers that right for them.

[Panthers128]

If you don't like the observer, don't read it. This forum has way too much whining about the observer. Those tears were warranted before the internet. Now you can come here and get more varied opinions from different types of people from various facets of life.

Observer constantly loves Fox's veterans, local players, the UNC tarheels and they loathe the Bobcats.

I know nothing about journalism and still find the Observer annoying as hell.