What They're Saying: Renee Gork Gator Hat Controversy Predictably Leads To National Commentary On Arkansas
8/19/2010 at 10:20am
It might be worth taking an extra look at yourself in the mirror each day before you head out to work. Why?
Because one bad wardrobe choice could lead to a firing, message board stalking and national headlines.
Such is the case with Renee Gork, formerly of Hog Sports Radio in Northwest Arkansas. Gork wore a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas press conference, drew the ire of Bobby Petrino [video can be found here], ignited the volatile Razorbacks fan base and then found herself as the subject of local, regional and national attention.
Gork told the T.J. Carpenter Show on Monday [audio can be heard here] she just grabbed a hat on the way out the door because it was raining. She had no idea the reaction that would follow.
Dan Patrick featured the general manager of Hog Sports Radio, Dan Storrs, on his nationally syndicated talk-show on Monday, where Storrs added that Gork had also been making posts to her Twitter account while at Razorback practices.
Patrick also gave Gork time on his show to explain her side of the story. She says that she had two Twitter accounts, one for Hog Sports and a personal page set up for friends. Her personal Twitter account appears to have been deleted.
Gork isn’t getting her job back, but she’s becoming the sympathetic figure in all this.
Know who isn’t? Bobby Petrino and the UA fanbase.
What I’m saying is, I think Petrino was worried if he was exposed to another team’s logo for 15 more seconds, he might not be able to fight the urge to abscond in the middle of the night.
Was it a dumb thing for Gork to do? Oh, you’d better believe it. You’ve got to know your situation. She’s a Florida alum and a Florida fan, and so she should know most of all that this is the SEC she’s in. These people aren’t kidding around. They’re insane. But they’re not kidding around.
But, come on. OK, it was a dumb move, wearing opposing-team gear to a team function, especially being in the media. That’s a big, big no-no. But is this really a fireable offense?
In Arkansas? In the SEC? Yes, apparently it is.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday that Dan Storrs, general manager of Hog Sports Radio, said Gork was not fired because she wore a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas football practice and subsequent press conference with coach Bobby Petrino. Rather, Storrs said there were other factors at play.
"There were some other things she made public via tweeting and Facebook that went against some of the things that she had to do with this radio station," Storrs said. "She's phenomenal, she really is. I hired her because of her resume. She is very good at her job. Unfortunately, she couldn't continue to do her job here."
Storrs vigorously denied suggestions that Petrino or any member of the Arkansas athletic department ordered Gork's firing, though the school acknowledged in a press release that representatives asked Gork not to attend Monday's practice.
“Oh my God! If radio employees are fans of other sports teams in Arkansas you know what comes next, right? Gay marriage (and maybe not back-to-back Liberty Bowls).”
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“Sorry, I can't get that worked up about Renee Gork's Florida hat because I think her hat tells us a whole lot more about Bobby Petrino, the man whose reaction to a hat made this a national story. I think it says an awful lot more about Petrino than it does about her.
In fact, you can tell a lot by who a person picks his fights with. Say this for the pugilistic Petrino, we know he can outscore a woman wearing a Florida hat in the court of Arkansas Razorback public opinion. If only he could manage it on the field against an actual football team from the Sunshine state. Man, that would be really something.
Until then, if anyone needs to apologize for this mess, it's Petrino for causing it all.”
“The bizarro-world kindergarten soccer team that is the Arkansas fan base took it from there, and with a flurry of a thousand tiny kicks in tightly bunched formation, Gork was brought low.”
Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal Constitution
There are a few things that generally come natural to members of the sports media, and by sports media I mean people who actually took a journalism class at some point in their life, can put together complete thoughts without the aid of 64 Crayolas and did not hone their craft after guzzling a six-pack of Old Milwaukee at 2 a.m. by posting anonymous nonsensical ramblings under such screen names as GODZILLADOGG74!!!! Anyway, one thing a media type shouldn’t do is wear a hat or shirt representing an opposing team (or any sports team, for that matter). Now, that said: Is it a fireable offense? No. Which leads to reason No. 879 why Bobby Petrino is a dirt bag.
NPR Morning Edition (Audio link)
“So that’s a lesson for independent media. Don’t show bias against the home team. You must be biased in favor.”
Unfortunately, due to Gork's sloppiness, Arkansas partisans have at last stumbled upon the dirty secret of sports reporting – of all reporting, really, regardless of the subject – which is that literally every single person chronicling your team, school, family, religion, business, political persuasion, community organization or personal artistic taste in any medium secretly hates all you hold dear and is actively seeking to undermine your values at every opportunity. Yes, your suspicions have been correct all along. I've been to journalism school (twice), where you learn the most sacred rule of the trade: Slow, subtle, spurious sabotage. The whole "objectivity" thing is just a front disguise the reporter's obligatory loathing and sense of superiority to all people, ideas and institutions on her given beat. You figured it out, Hog fans. Congratulations. The jig is up.
Breaking news: the sun rose in the east this morning, the sky remains blue, and the hyper-intense fringe of Razorback fans has embarrassed the rest of us by demonstrating a general lack of perspective on the importance of college football vs real life.
This is one of those classic "walk a moment in her shoes" situations: Everyone makes mistakes at work, and this relatively minor one (in a more sane universe) got this woman fired. The only person who deserves to be out of a job in this case is whoever was stupid enough to fire her.
In the hierarchy of SEC fan insanity, you'd probably put Alabama first since they do have this vaunted cult of cultishness surrounding Crimson Tide football. (I.e, Alabama fans no longer just worship the god they go to church to worship, but also worship the church and the trappings of the church itself.)You would be close, but the connoisseur recognizes the most actively and disproportionately insane fanbase of all is Arkansas.
Don't test the evidence, reader. They may be a small fanbase, they were the first fanbase to use the Freedom of Information Act to request the cell phone records of their coach, and like a team of Navy Seals will through sheer noise and disorientation convince you a thousand of them are angry at you when there are only 25 of them are actively outraged. Force multiplication is the word we're looking for, and the Razorbacks as a fanbase have it by the Sam's Club forkliftful.
And the sports editor for the only statewide daily newspaper in Arkansas began his Gork-filled column with the simile, "It was like an Arizona brush fire in a windstorm..." Snoopy couldn't have written one better.
See, kids? The importance of professionalism and looking your best can never be overrated.
Tagged: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, National Public Radio, Renee Gork, Every Day Should Be Saturday, Dr. Saturday, Team Speed Kills, Florida Gators, ArkansasExpats.com, Clay Travis, Hog Sports Radio, Arkansas Razorbacks
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