In case you missed it in the FanShots, it appears Ken Schram is not a fan of Paul Wulff's decision to suspend Jason Stripling for only a quarter following his run-in with police over the weekend. Here is my response that I e-mailed to him. I didn't want to put it on the front page because I don't think it deserves that much attention, but I thought you all might be interested in it, so I put it over here in the FanPosts. If you want to send him your own thoughts, you can send it to kenschram@komo4news.com.

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Slow news day? Here's an idea: Take a cheap shot at the easiest target! You know, those "out-of-control" athletes who "think they're above the law" and their "win-at-all-costs" coaches! And, just for funsies, let's tweak WSU fans everywhere by using the term they hate the most in the headline!

Actually, I've got a better idea. Do some research and have a little bit of ethical integrity before you use your platform as a bully pulpit.

Simply stating that Jason Stripling is "facing the possibility of over a year in jail and several thousand dollars in fines" is just irresponsible. Any reporter -- and I use the term incredibly loosely with you -- worth his salt knows two things:

1) According to the state RCW, fourth degree assault is a catch-all for any "assault" amounting to less than the requirement for first, second or third degree assault. This could include something as simple as pushing someone, grabbing someone’s shirt or spitting on someone. It’s more or less an act that invades someone’s space — not an act that causes physical harm.

2) Being taken into custody is a far cry from being charged. This could just as easily be a case of a fight taking place and the cops arresting everyone in sight as it could be of the player actually doing something wrong. If -- and it's a big if -- he's actually charged, a guy such as Stripling with a clean record likely receives a minimal fine and maybe some community service, and the likelihood that this ever sees the light of day in a courtroom is something approaching zero. You should know as well as anyone that he's not actually facing a year in jail and thousands of dollars in fines. (As a side note, your statement is inaccurate, too -- he's not actually facing potential penalties until he's charged, which, as of yet, he hasn't been.) As I said, just insanely irresponsible.

Beyond that, you conveniently ignore the fact that the day before Stripling's punishment was announced, Paul Wulff suspended a starting defensive lineman for the remainder of the season for an unspecified violation of team rules -- it didn't even require a brush with the law. Your ill-conceived "commentary" (again, I use the term loosely) also fails to report the numerous players he's kicked off the team in the past two years -- many of whom would be helping this team play a lot better than it is -- for run-ins with the law and other discipline issues. (And before you go blaming that one on Wulff for poor recruiting, those guys were almost all holdovers from Bill Doba's recruiting classes. I figured I'd point that out to you since the likelihood you'd ever research that yourself seems small.)

I guess this is what disgusts me the most about your so-called "commentary." I'm a high school teacher and have advised student publications for going on a decade. I can tell you that my students would never let something this poorly done ever see the light of day in their publication. Too bad you and your editors can't live up to the journalistic standards of my teenagers.

And people in the media — specifically broadcast media — wonder why the public ridicules them and doesn’t trust them. It’s poorly researched, cheap shot garbage like this that gives us all a bad name.

Jeff Nusser

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