February 13, 2007
Daily Bruin’s Ben “The Optimist” Azar Takes Shot At DumpDorrell.com And Dorrell Critics
We at DumpDorrell are critical of Karl Dorrell's coaching as passionate fans of any sport, team and/or coach are known at times to be. Ben Azar of the Daily Bruin is not pleased with our criticisms of Karl Dorrell's coaching but he crossed the line in reacting to our criticisms in his hit piece of DumpDorrell.com in today's Daily Bruin. It is out of bounds for Ben Azar to compare our musings to that of a fascist nazi criminal like Lyndon LaRouche. Ben Azar and the Daily Bruin editors should step back and take stock of what he is writing so as not to inflame sensitivities in the community or to equate the publishers and readers of DD, or anyone who is similarly critical of Karl Dorrell's coaching, with a known racist. If Ben Azar truly is a reporter, and "an optimist" as he states, then he should report on the facts and leave the vitriol and hate to the world outside the UCLA community. Ben Azar:
The dumpdorrell.com Web site has criticized Dorrell for every reason imaginable, including poor in-game coaching, failure to take responsibility, inability to recruit and insincerity. It makes some ridiculously baseless, LaRouche-like assertions that should serve as red flags to the people that actually put stock in the Web site. One assertion that really has me chuckling is that the assistant coaches that have left have mostly been forced out by Dorrell, who is using them as scapegoats to deflect responsibility from his “horrible†beginning as a head coach.
Lyndon LaRouche is a known anti-semite and fascist, and a convicted felon. Ben went too far with that even loose comparison of our crticisms of Dorrell's coaching to LaRouche. No one on the internet or in the sports world takes the Daily Bruin seriously and we certainly don't. But that doesn't release Ben Azar and the Daily Bruin staff from the obligation to report responsibly. Ben should be VERY careful to use hateful people like LaRouche to throw around criticisms of commentary he doesn't agree with or like. We at DD can take all the criticism Ben has to give us in his piece. We won't accept the hate. We have more to say about the piece, but this takes precedence.
Editors Note: If you are new to DumpDorrell as a result of the piece in the Daily Bruin this morning please note the About section on this site. We and our readers, and many loyal Bruin alums and fans, think Karl Dorrell the man is a stand-up guy. We all like him as a person. Our criticisms of Karl Dorrell, as with most critics, are with his coaching. Do not equate the two like Ben Azar does, in a grotesque way, in his piece.
3 Comments on Daily Bruin’s Ben “The Optimist” Azar Takes Shot At DumpDorrell.com And Dorrell Critics
February 14, 2007
Fred Olague @ 11:50 am:
That doesn’t even deserve a response. The “fabulous” coaching job that KD has done is nothing short of pathetic. Just because he managed not to get blown out by USC and pulled off an upset doesn’t wash away the rest of the mediocrity he has shown with our program. Great coaches get it done….period. They don’t change assistants like they change their underwear. Look at the programs at Rutgers, Boise State, Louisville…..etc. When UCLA and KD get consistantly ranked in the top 10 and actually win a PAC-10 title…..then idiots like this can tell us how great a job the coach is doing….but plodding along with one 10 win season in the last 4 or 5 years and another “Emerald Bowl” appearance (a blowout loss no less) doesn’t qualify as an outstanding season. If UCLA doesn’t win the PAC-10 and get into a BCS game next year then not only does KD need to go but the moron that hired him needs to be shown the door, also. Pull the trigger for goodness sake and stop settling for mediocrity.
Fox 71 @ 12:24 pm:
DD - I just sent an e-mail to Ben Azar and asked him if he would like to open a dialogue to discuss his article. I’ll let you know if he responds. (I’m betting that he won’t).
I already jotted down my thoughts about this youngster’s writing style at BN, which I’m sure you’ll see shortly if you haven’t already.
DumpDorrell @ 12:44 pm:
Fox .. thank you. We have been communicating with Ben today. We will let everyone know more later. We want to give him and the DB an opportunity to correct this. If you hear something please do report.