Tuesday, May 20, 2008

When is a Compliment really a Compliment?

Kudos to Bill Dwyre on his heart-warming article today about Haley Scott DeMaria, the Notre Dame swimmer who survived a fatal bus crash, overcame paralysis and had two children, against all odds. This is journalism at its best!

Contrast Bill Dwyre's sincere, complimentary article to David Wharton's "This year's school of choice" article on Monday 5/19/08. At first glance it was complimentary to the seven Trojans who went in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Then, the article digressed to a "back-handed compliment"...Quotes from the article are as follows: "The talk about USC on draft day included murmurs of doubt"; "The concern is that too many of the players who emerge from the Trojan program love the SoCal lifestyle more than they love football"; "pedigree and success in college don't always translate to the next level." I wonder why the (UC)LA Times doesn't write a truly complimentary article about UCLA?...then I realized that no Bruin was drafted in the first two rounds. What's to compliment?

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