I'll Defend You, Kevin Scarbinsky.

  September 17, 2009:
   I was in high school and I was attending a journalism workshop at Samford University. It was a opportunity to get out of school and hear some interesting concepts on journalism and how to become a better writer. The last thing on my mind was to be opportunistic. My favorite college football team, the West Virginia Mountaineers, were going on the road to face the Auburn Tigers in two days and I had a ticket. The room was packed full of loud, eager journalism students, but I heard none of them. Just daydreaming of the day, myself walking around Auburn in my #7 Noel Devine jersey, ready to play the Tigers. One of my favorite local sports personalities, Jim Dunaway, was the opening speaker at the event. I could not hear him either. My mind had left school, work, journalism, etc. It was time for football.
   The one person I did try to hear that day was Kevin Scarbinsky. He is a columnist for the Birmingham News and someone who at the time, I would not have minded replacing someday. He seemed very irritable, like someone spit in his coffee that morning. He described a lot of stuff about journalism, but also made a big deal about some of the people that read his stuff. He talked about being called out by fans for being Pro-Auburn and Pro-Alabama. He proceeded to allow everyone in the room to ask questions about anything they wanted to. I could not resist, I had to ask him about the game.
   I leaned over to my friend Tray and told him I was going to do it, but I was nervous.
    "Do it man! Do it!" Tray kept whispering, but it seemed like screams.
   So I did it.
 "Mr. Scarbinsky, I am a huge WVU fan, what is your prediction on the Auburn-West Virginia game this weekend?"
   He smiled like he was about to say something to tick me off. He immediately questioned the intelligence of West Virginia fans and picked Auburn to win the game, but would not give me a score.
   I could have shouted, "Hey Scar-BARN-sky, that sounds like a familiar pick you big homer!" or many combinations of words that would have gotten me kicked out of the workshop. But I did nothing. I sat there, listened to the laughter of the other students and cracked a smile at Scarbinsky that probably made him think, "Whoa, this kid hates me."
    Now, I guess I could attack him in a Harvey Updike-like rage, but that is just a little too crazy for my liking.
    Instead, I'll defend you, Kevin Scarbinsky.
    This guy takes so much crap from people that only have what ESPN says to their disposal and think they are insiders. For your information, fans: Listening to the Paul Finebaum Radio Network and refreshing Rivals.com every twenty seconds does not make you an insider on sports. Time after time, the paper he works for is bashed for being Pro-Auburn or Pro-Alabama, it is so stupid. Alabama fans, do you wonder why Auburn had more stories than you this year? Because they won the national championship, just like when Alabama owned the press in 2009 after their championship run.
   Another thing that irks me are people like this who think we should all just stop reading the Birmingham News entirely because of the sports section. It is such a joke. There is so much more that goes on in newspapers other than sports. Certain people need to stop whining about what he has to say. If you don't like him, don't read his stuff because I bet he could care less. 
   I feel like Toomer's Oaks being poisoned and the negativity that is aimed at people who write about sports shows us that maybe this state is a little too crazy about the southeast's most beloved sport. Let's take some time to think about how insane this all is and realize that at the end of it all, who cares what I, Scarbinsky or anyone else thinks. As humans we will always formulate our own opinions and Scarbinsky and other writers just get paid for it. It is alright to agree and disagree with him, but calling him names and attacking him through blog comments does not make too much sense.
   As for Kevin and I, we are cool. Writers got to stick together, right? That warm September day is far in the past. I would not mind an apology to my Mountaineer Maniacs though.