Desmond Conner is a Grumpy Old Man

[Husky25]

Hey, what's up with DC on the Courant.com? He's got a real attitude problem. I used to like and respect his articles.
Why would any writer in their right mind turn a reader off on purpose? Maybe he's trying to have the "Howard Stern" effect and be such an ass that people want to see what he says next.
I just take him for a chump now, and i'd say that to his face. Not internet muscles here.
I personally have no interest in his services anymore after reading his rude followups to peoples comments.

I like reading your posts, Cody, but respectfully decline to answer the poll. I don't think Mr. Connor is a loser (I don't know him personally, just his work), but I don't think he should be able to say anything to anybody...No one should have that absolute right. At the same time, and its been said, I think people try to bait him sometimes into doing something outside his job parameters.

 

[PRHusky]

IMO Des is not doing as good a job as he was doing back in 2009 and 2010. Part of the problem is that he loves Pasqualoni and Deleone and will defend them to no end. Obviously, that is not a very popular thing to be doing at this moment.

 

[UConnPete]

Agreed, this guy is a baby. I've had issues with him in the past and he hasn't posted my comments on the Courant for over a year. I used to check there everyday for updates, now maybe once a week.

 

[whaler11]

Des is a Syracuse fan. I'd prefer he drop the church and Obama stuff from his twitter feed. Following him on Twitter was so brutal I had to stop.

If Silver reads this far get the SNY blog to have separate RSS feeds for football and women's basketball - I'm already sick of it.

 

[junglehusky]

Usually Dez does try to laugh it off, though I can understand how when he does it comes off as putting the person down sometimes. Once in a while (like when the team is doing poorly and the fanbase is gathering pitchforks and torches) his fuse is shorter and he isn't able to laugh it off as easily. I think those times are when it is best to ignore the rabble rather than lash out... but i guess it's human nature.

For those who missed it, I do want to remind that Dez did a Q&A with DeLeone where he did bring up the issue of being too conservative. I mean, he didn't word it like "Hey dumb@ss, why were you playing prevent offense, running up the middle on first down all the time... I mean my grandmother knew what play you were going to call" but this was clearly based on some of the things the fanbase were saying about that game.

 

[sdhusky]

Well, so far 41% so far think he has an attitude problem. It's not his own private website where he can do whatever he wants.

If I am in a restaurant and I hear some server bitching out the table next to me I'd walk out.
If 41% of the customers at that restaurant thought that their servers had attitude problems they'd be out of business.

He needs to fix his head and get right. I spend money on the HC and see their advertisements. Check your head boss

You have to admit that husky66 was a total , right?

 

[Montaleno]

There is alot of debate on this board about how hard it is to ask tough questions to the HCP or write critical articles, because they cover the team etc...that's nonsense, a good journalist or beat writer's job, is to be objective and report what they see and write about it. Ed Daigneault of Republican-American, covers UCONN football and basketball, and does a good job with this.
See today's article about UCONN's woes on offense.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2012/10/08/sports/uconn/675146.txt

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

This whole thing seems like a non-issue.

 

[UC990411]

My favorite Dez moments are when he responds to his "mailbag" questions with one word answers. What's the point? Why do you feel the way you do about topics Dez?

http://courantblogs.com/uconn-footb...would-rate-oc-george-deleone-on-the-hot-seat/

http://courantblogs.com/uconn-footb...ree-passing-by-both-qbs-would-open-things-up/

 

[huskymedic]

There is alot of debate on this board about how hard it is to ask tough questions to the HCP or write critical articles, because they cover the team etc...that's nonsense, a good journalist or beat writer's job, is to be objective and report what they see and write about it. Ed Daigneault of Republican-American, covers UCONN football and basketball, and does a good job with this.
See today's article about UCONN's woes on offense.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2012/10/08/sports/uconn/675146.txt

Would love to... but blocked w/o subscription.

It's not hard to ask hard questions (and be a pro doing it) - it's hard to get direct answers to the questions @ times. I think all the usual suspects have been critical of our offense and coaching decisions but alot is also opinion not direct quotes. There is enough info out there to draw one's own conclusions. No one source has it all anymore.

 

[UC990411]

Did anyone else email Dez asking why when he grades the team each week,he doesn't grade the coaching staff? I did yesterday but didn't get a response

 

[huskymedic]

Did anyone else email Dez asking why when he grades the team each week,he doesn't grade the coaching staff? I did yesterday but didn't get a response

Sean Mulcahy from SNY did - F

 

[Mr Blueskin]

Des is a Syracuse fan. I'd prefer he drop the church and Obama stuff from his twitter feed. Following him on Twitter was so brutal I had to stop.

If Silver reads this far get the SNY blog to have separate RSS feeds for football and women's basketball - I'm already sick of it.

I agree, he's a sports beat writer who's starting to sound like a whiny Hollywood actress with his tweets. As soon as you start tweeting about your political preferences you split your followers directly in half... And much like those Hollywood actresses, does Dez actually think anyone cares what he thinks about that stuff? Stick to asking these inept coaches some tougher questions.

 

[jbdphi]

You would think that after several years of being a "public figure" that Des would have adjusted his style to accommodate the online / interactive nature of his job but he obviously has not yet. In today's age, anyone with a twitter account of e-mail address thinks that they have the right to call you whatever they want with no fear of reprisal. To be a public figure in that kind of environment just plain sucks and you need to have a decently thick skin and learn to ignore the stuff that should not even be responded to.

My brother is a professor and writer for a foreign policy magazine. You should see the vitriol he receives in his twitter account and elsewhere from anonymous posters. It's kind of disturbing but he has learned to shrug it off and keep doing his job and writing his pieces.

That is what Des needs to do and I would also agree that the chats should probably stop and Des should stop responding to comments on his blog. Both are invitations for conflict with his readers which is something that Des cannot seem to avoid.

 

[jbdphi]

One other thing. I wish the Courant (and other employers) clearly distinguish between a reporter's Twitter feed for professional purposes and personal purposes. ESPN already does this with their Big East blog and with others. That way, we can avoid the religious tweets and political tweets that we have no interest in and just stick with football.

 

[ruskin]

One other thing. I wish the Courant (and other employers) clearly distinguish between a reporter's Twitter feed for professional purposes and personal purposes. ESPN already does this with their Big East blog and with others. That way, we can avoid the religious tweets and political tweets that we have no interest in and just stick with football.

Agree 100 percent jb.

 

[whaler11]

I agree, he's a sports beat writer who's starting to sound like a whiny Hollywood actress with his tweets. As soon as you start tweeting about your political preferences you split your followers directly in half... And much like those Hollywood actresses, does Dez actually think anyone cares what he thinks about that stuff? Stick to asking these inept coaches some tougher questions.

And I'm not saying that as someone on either side of the political debate. His political tweets are just pathetic.

 

[Montaleno]

Sorry for those who cant get to article...I'll cut and paste a few lines..below is the headline of his article. This is todays paper

Daigneault: Predictable offense disturbing

First-down runs are almost a guarantee. Second-down runs are pretty good bets, too. On third down the Huskies are forced to pass and might convert some of the time. When defenses can safely load up against the run and take their chances with the pass, that is a sure sign things need to change.
The predictability has made quarterback Chandler Whitmer look worse than he is. Yes, the amount of interceptions he has thrown is alarming. He doesn't always make the best decisions. But he's also under tons of pressure most days and the Huskies have played from behind so much that Whitmer feels the need to make plays on his own.

UConn displays offensive urgency only when it is necessary. Showing urgency when nobody expects it would certainly shake things up a bit. Don't bet on that happening.

Even when the Huskies catch defenses off guard, something seems to go wrong. UConn had first-and-goal at the 7-yard line Saturday while facing a 6-0 deficit. Two straight running plays from McCombs put the ball at the 2 for third down.

Scott McCummings was actually called upon to throw the ball out of the Wildcat, an extreme rarity, and had Martin Hyppolite alone in the end zone. McCummings threw the ball a split-second too late and Hyppolite caught it out of bounds.

The Huskies settled for a field goal.

On the opening drive of the game, tight end Ryan Griffin was alone down the middle. Whitmer overthrew him on what looked to be a sure touchdown. Those things are killers and they are things the Huskies can't afford to do when they meander 90 percent of the game with an offense that nearly broadcasts everything it is going to do.

If the Huskies find some imagination in the offense, they might put themselves in a decent position. If they continue to make the opposing defensive coordinator's game planning an easy task, they will continue on this up-and-down track.

 

[huskymedic]

One other thing. I wish the Courant (and other employers) clearly distinguish between a reporter's Twitter feed for professional purposes and personal purposes. ESPN already does this with their Big East blog and with others. That way, we can avoid the religious tweets and political tweets that we have no interest in and just stick with football.

His bio is - Husband, Father and Too Blessed To Be Stressed. Bats right. Votes left. UConn football Beat Writer, Hartford Courant. My opinions are ...my opinions

He also lists the Courant UConn Football website address below his bio.

I guess he needs to have multiple twitter accounts if I hear what you are saying? There is a lot of gray areas btwn personal and professional in these venues. I'm not in the media but the industry clearly is evolving. Seems people want info delivered in multiple mediums (chats, twitter, blogs, Facebook, web pages) but want clear and distinct separation. It's not so black and white anymore and clearly not simple.

 

[whaler11]

His bio is - Husband, Father and Too Blessed To Be Stressed. Bats right. Votes left. UConn football Beat Writer, Hartford Courant. My opinions are ...my opinions

He also lists the Courant UConn Football website address below his bio.

I guess he needs to have multiple twitter accounts if I hear what you are saying? There is a lot of gray areas btwn personal and professional in these venues. I'm not in the media but the industry clearly is evolving. Seems people want info delivered in multiple mediums (chats, twitter, blogs, Facebook, web pages) but want clear and distinct separation. It's not so black and white anymore and clearly not simple.

Yeah he hardly seemed stressed today.

Yes, he should have a personal twitter feed for the God and Obama crap and keep the football feed to UConn.

No one is following his football stuff because of his church and political stuff but there are people not following his football stuff because of the church and political stuff. Pretty simple business for his employers.

 

[junglehusky]

I don't know... I'm following 100+ people on twitter, so everything gets buried really fast. Annoying stuff is less annoying if you don't see it all the time, I guess.

 

[whaler11]

 

[huskymedic]

Yeah he hardly seemed stressed today.

Yes, he should have a personal twitter feed for the God and Obama crap and keep the football feed to UConn.

No one is following his football stuff because of his church and political stuff but there are people not following his football stuff because of the church and political stuff. Pretty simple business for his employers.

To JBDPHI's point - there should be a formal separation if he's getting directly compensated for doing a Twitter feed, but Des is not the only one mixing business w/pleasure so to say... Erin Andrews is a good example of work/play co-mingled. Then you also have to deal w/ all the re-tweets of others opinions. The whole world is a mess (non- political statement).

 

[Buffett10]

Cody- I actually felt the same exact way with the way he responded to people last year. He does talk like hes better then everyone. He has the information that us fans want to know. But when you ask him you get a smart ass remark, or a run around answer. Ive met Dez a couple times in person hes a great guy. Big smile on his face and laughing. But on the blog it seems like he gets really annoyed with having to answer questions. No one is trying to tell him how to do his job, but as fans I think we should have answers to why the offensive line is so terrible? Or why GDL is terrible at play calling? Or how against Western Mich i believe 9 out of our first 10 1st down play calls were a running play? 90% of the time, yeah i think the D knows what is coming on the next first down.

 

[HuskyNan]

Are people really attacking Dez's politics now? If you don't like the guy's blog, don't read it.

This thread should have ended at Fishy's post.