Jason Whitlock decides that Yahoo! Sports investigation into Miami is dumb
In former Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock’s world, a reporter only uses a paper trail and documents out of “desperation” to make a story look credible. Oh, boy.
Whitlock, who left Kansas City last summer in either a blaze of glory or a tragic, self-indulgent implosion, depending on whether you like him or not, took to his Fox Sports column yesterday to personally attack Yahoo! Sports writer Charles Robinson. Yahoo! recently published a massive story Robinson wrote about former University of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro’s claims that he gave Hurricane players all kinds of improper benefits, including paying for sexual favors, giving players cash, and taking players for rides on his yacht. Shapiro is in prison for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme.
Robinson spent 11 months researching the story, which included more than 100 hours of jailhouse interviews with Shapiro. Robinson called dozens of players Shapiro claimed to have assisted. He tracked down a forest’s worth of documents and receipts, and he even got some players to admit receiving cash or perks from Shapiro. He systematically outlined the benefits that each accused player allegedly received from Shaprio, and Yahoo! broke the player profiles into separate Web pages, like this one for current K-State player Arthur Brown (he transferred from Miami).
