Credentialed access to cover professional sports teams is not a right. It's a privilege. Franchises grant media access to those who actively cover the team or league in a professional manner and have an audience to serve. They have every right to grant access, just as they have the right to pull it. Yesterday, the Tennessee ***** ans decided to pull social commentator Jared Stillman's credential, literally a day after Stillman said on his program that the organization was "not that stupid" to do so.
Whether you agree or disagree with the ***** ans' decision is irrelevant. What matters most in situations like this is transparency.
This isn't about whether Stillman should be credentialed. The ***** ans had already made that decision long ago. They granted him access after his departure from 102.5 The Game and his move to an independent platform. The question now is simple: Why specifically was Stillman's credential pulled?
Because without transparency, the result is distrust and uncertainty.
Make no mistake about it, there haven't been many great things to say about the Tennessee ***** ans over the past four seasons. Because of the team's lack of success, there also isn't much positivity surrounding the franchise at the moment. Stillman's commentary serves as Exhibit A.

#right #tennessee #credentialed #cover

Following a Thursday night preseason opener tie, the Indianapolis Colts were back in action indoors during otherwise a soggy late Saturday afternoon—for what was a rather uneventful training camp practice, with the team primarily focusing on end zone work.
I was actually able to attend this one as a credentialed member of the media, so I'll change the format up a bit:
For another training camp practice, it looked like the Colts secondary got the better of the Indianapolis wide receivers, especially with Alec Pierce still out (who we'll get to in a bit here). That seems to have been a common theme so far this training camp, and when the trio of Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward, and Justin Walley are all fully healthy, the Colts project to have one of the best cornerback rooms atop their depth chart in the entire league.
In particular, starting cornerback Justin Walley, who was playing on the outside in place of Ward in this one, had at least a few deflections of note. Oftentimes, Jones was forced to hold the football in the passing pocket until a Colts receiver could finally free up from tight coverage. That may not happen in a real game, where the pass rush will get to him a lot quicker and not let up, likely seeing more 'coverage sacks.'
That being said, while the Colts secondary did stifle Jones for much of the afternoon, he connected on at least a few touchdowns passes in 11-on-11 red zone work, including to Josh Downs, who came up gingerly after the acrobatic touchdown catch but was able to walk off the field and be attended to by trainers. Downs did later return to practice. Ashton Dulin, Seth McGowan, Laquon Treadwell, and Tyler Warren, who also had an acrobatic dandy, caught the other touchdown receptions from Jones on the afternoon from what I saw.

#ward #justin

The Seattle Seahawks have made the big, if not controversial decision to sign former Detroit Lions first-round cornerback Terrion Arnold, who's currently facing several felony robbery and kidnapping charges. When Arnold was arrested earlier this summer, the Lions wasted little time in releasing the former Alabama star. However, Arnold drew interest from several teams once he was cleared to work (and travel domestically without an ankle monitor), and the Seahawks were among those teams whose initial interest turned into something much more than that.
Even though Arnold's contract is expected to be incredibly cheap, the issue is whether or not he'll be allowed to play in the regular season. The best case scenario is the charges are dropped and the NFL decides not to take further action by suspending him anyway. Either way, Seattle clearly believes Arnold can help a cornerback room that is far from settled with Riq Woolen gone.
It's only sensible to focus on the football side of the Arnold story. What kind of player are the Seahawks getting? Are his penalty issues correctable? What are his strengths? This is where we hit the emergency **** on and paged Ryan Mathews, who's the Senior Editor for Pride of Detroit, the excellent Detroit Lions SB Nation site. They're plugged into the Lions 100 percent of the way, with Jeremy Reisman doing fantastic work as a credentialed Lions reporter.
In a special 5 Qs and 5 As, I asked Ryan about Arnold's time in Detroit, and whether or not the Seahawks made a good acquisition from a football standpoint. All embedded tweets were inserted by us, not by Ryan.
1.) I've harped on this for a bit given how Seahawks fans viewed Riq Woolen's penalty issues before he left for Philadelphia: Terrion Arnold has been flagged 17 times when you count offsetting/declined penalties. He's only played 24 games total. What gives?

#lions #cornerback

A new lightweight contender has arrived.
Quillan Salkilld (13-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) had to eat a punch or two, but mostly tore right through Mateusz Gamrot (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 284 main event at a newly refurbished Meta APEX in Las Vegas. And now that more fans can take in a show like Saturday's, they got a treat out of the gate.
A Salkilld win by submission over a credentialed wrestler and grappler like Gamrot was one of the least likely predicted outcomes in the headliner. But afterward, Salkilld said his rear-naked choke with 35 seconds left in the first is just the type of performance lightweights can expect – and he has his sights set on the top five.
"I just proved I'm the real f*cking deal now. These top five (lightweights) better (watch out)," Salkilld said on the microphone with Daniel Cormier. "I believe I can get it done within the first minute or the last minute. ... I think I deserve someone who's in the top five or close to it."
Salkilld tried to get a quick start and took the center quickly. In some tight exchanges early, Salkilld landed and forced Gamrot to look for a takedown – not at all unexpected. He got a single-leg briefly, but also appeared to be hurt.

#salkilld #first #lightweights #quillan

I need the WNBA players to not think they have any power over the degenerate and evil **** they’re being subjugated to because they play sports. Especially when it comes to media. These people actually aren’t credentialed enough to speak to/on you. You deserve more.