Wyoming media: "Knock knock."
UW fooball coach Dave Christensen: "Who's there?
Wyoming media: "The media."
UW football coach Dave Christensen: "The media who?"
Wyoming media: "The media who want to watch a whole practice and talk to your freshmen quarterbacks."
Somehow, I thought there was going to be a better punch line.
Or how about this: "I think I'll go drive by the Wyoming football practice today."
I know what you're thinking, don't quit your day job just yet.
For many, Christensen's lockout of the media for a majority of the Cowboys' practices is no joke. There's only so much you can report on during stretching exercises and warming up.
In this modern sports reporting world, Twitter reports of every good play and every injury in practice are going to have to wait at UW football practice. Therein lies the problem for the modern sports reporter; if there's not 30 Twitter posts a day, the reporter is not doing his/her job. Damn you Twitter, anyway.
The media can come back after the practice to talk to Christensen, his coaches and most of his players (other than the freshmen quarterbacks).
That was the case about halfway through last season, during spring ball and late Thursday afternoon for the Cowboys first official practice of this season. Just what did the media learn from the first practice that they couldn't see?
"I think our athleticism really showed up today," said Christensen. "We obviously have a long way to go, but I was pleased with the tempo we practiced at today. I got a chance to see a lot of the young guys for the first time, and there is a lot of promise there.
"Our veterans have had a tremendous off season, and I think their leadership showed in their practice habits today. We are a relative young team, I think we have 60 or so kids who are sophomores or younger, so we have a number of young players -- not just freshmen -- who we need to have good camps.
"My first impressions for the first day, were positive, but it's certainly easier to see where players are at when you start putting on pads. We will be able to tell a lot more after Monday."
And what about the two freshmen QB's -- Adam Pittser and Brett Smith? We'll get to find out at the first scrimmage on Tuesday, which is completely open to the public and the media. Well, mostly.
For many in the media and of those in the new media such as bloggers and fan message boards writers (pretend media), not having full access to watching a full practice is difficult. Members of the media don't like restrictions on how to do their job. Nobody really does. That is understandable. There's also some arrogance on our part as well.
Let's face it, we in the media like to pat ourselves on the back now and then. I think it might have something to do with the lack of monetary compensation. Or maybe we're just arrogant.
Regardless, as the saying goes, it is what it is. Christensen has his reasons for the closed practices and such and he is entitled to them. It was apparent when he was hired to take over for the jovial Joe Glenn, that he was not Joe Glenn. He'll do it his way and there is nothing wrong with that, despite the grumbling from the media and some fans.
So, the Wyoming media and fans will just have to be patient. We'll watch the first 20-30 minutes of practice, go take a nap or whatever, and (the media) will come back to talk to whomever we can talk to. We'll watch the scrimmages, report on what happened and move on to the actual game competition.
If the Cowboys start showing more wins than losses, can eventually contend for the title and go to bowl games, the discomfort and complaining of not being able to watch every play in practice will be eased just a bit.
Or not.
To borrow a line from Joe Walsh's song "Life's Been Good," "I can't complain but sometimes I still do ..." I think we can all relate.
And besides, I've got more jokes. Did you hear about the duck who went into the bar? ...
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