1.1 Its 2017 and people still cannot think for themselves. Nobody fact checks anything, no one gets more involved, instead, they read something on the internet and just blindly trust that it's true and then start sharing to maybe get more likes, retweets, repost etc...  Take for instance the two below articles. The first one Exhibit A was produced by a CBS Sports Writer in New York, Jared Dubin and then the cleaned up version Exhibit C  after I called him and CBS out on their Hit Piece. 

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a. For all intents and purposes let it be known that Jared Durbin is a representative of CBS Sports. He is acting on behalf of CBS Sports and is an "Hired Writer" of CBS Sports. 

1.2 Jared is writing a piece for www.cbssports.com about Dallas Cowboys' David Irving Protest. What he doesn't realize is that I'm actually paying attention. People started sharing the CBS manufactured article, oh let's call it Exhibit A to freak people out at CBS, the only problem is it wasn't true.  

 

1.3 I discover this at approximately 4 PM on 10/22/2017. I go back and read the original article from Star-Telegram and realize my new buddy Jared Dubin left out a lot of key  elements and was vague on details. I call him out on it via my twitter account (See Tom Stokes Sports+Plus Tweet Here)  I write a short and somewhat nasty piece on my  Sports+PLUS website titled; "Dallas Cowboys David Irving will test Jerry Jones' national anthem policy... Maybe? Fake News running wild in Dallas Texas"  calling what CBS and Jared produced mostly fabricated  and a "Hit Piece" on The Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys Nation, David Irving, and Jerry Jones.

At approximately 5 PM Jared responds to my tweet and article about the Hit Piece he wrote with a tweet stating:

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1.4 Jared's Tweet:  "It's clearly a typo and has been fixed, but it takes a while to show up. 2. How is it a "hit piece"? 3. Who are you?”   

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a. I respond with a great clip from Rush Hour where Chris Tucker is arguing with a Chinese man name Yu. LINK: Stokes Respond with Rush Hour clip from Chris Tucker.  I’m done with this guy and moving on but I now see that a few other websites were picking up the Hit Piece on Irving, Cowboys and Jerry Jones.

b. I get a call from someone close to Irving after several left messages and they say Irving did not say anything like that and he will not be doing anything to protest or disrespect the flag or anthem. In the meantime, ole Jared decided to break down my article by taking a screenshot of it and making side notes with little red arrows (See Exhibit B)  smh ( BTW My phone number and email is on my website... like you can’t miss it) We're calling CBS response from Jared Durbin diagram Exhibit B Okay? Okay! 

c. So in Exhibit B in the tweet, he states: “Here are my responses to your concerns. Feel free to keep going with whatever this is, but that's it for me. Have a nice night.” He goes on to explain in Exhibit B that he never claimed he was writing for the Star-Telegram and that he was "just" citing their reporting and he doesn’t enjoy aggregation but it’s a large part of the writing business.

 

d. First of all, I never claimed he was writing for the Star-Telegram, I also do not care that he doesn't enjoy aggregation. There’s a right way and wrong way to aggregate data from others and Jared's way was the wrong way. He produced and manufactured his own interpretation of what Irving said without even attempting to reach out to Irving, Cowboys, or Irving's Agent. 

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2.    The next block in Exhibit B  states: “Yeah, typos are pretty embarrassing. Sorry we fixed it.”

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a.    He misspelled Fort Worth. I misspell a lot too but I am an independent nobody, he works for CBS Sports, but okay he can’t spell or write well either. 

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3.    The next block  in Exhibit B Jared states: “I highly doubt anything I say or write will affect Irving’s actions. But again it’s the Stars Telegrams report. We just wrote about it. And nowhere did we tell Irving to do or not do anything." 

a.    First of all if it was not a big deal and you were "Just" reporting what S-T reported then why did you revise the article several times after I called you out on it. I think he missed my point. It’s not "just" about Mr. Irving or Jerry, it’s about the people that read a hit piece like this one. The millions of Cowboys fans that see a hit piece like this and take it for what it reads and run with it. The people that tweet at David Irving and cowboys in anger at them for wanting to protest the Anthem and test Jerry’s National Anthem Policy. BTW Just for the record if you’re reading this first that couldn’t be further from the truth and the media has spun this out or tried to spin it out, in a way that makes Mr. Irving, Jerry Jones and The Dallas Cowboys Franchise including Cowboys Nation look really dysfunctional and to paint a picture how bad the Cowboys are.  This Cowboys Nation is FAKE NEWS and it’s called a “Hit Piece” in media.

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4.    Speaking of Hit Pieces; Jared states in the next block:  “How is this a hit piece?” (See Exhibit B)  Now pay attention boys and girls because this is important and at this point, if I was Jerry or even Irving I would be pissed beyond belief. 

a.    A Hit Piece in media is an attempt to turn public opinion against someone or something through the appearance of objective reporting or editorializing. It is real scummy business and you may be a little familiar with it from our Presidential election. This is usually produced right before a big event. 

b.    When Jared states “How is it a Hit Piece” I would state “How is it not” He cited only what he thought would be a juicy story from The Star-Telegram article, editing the title to spin it out to make it appear to you the general public and Cowboys Nation that Dallas Cowboys David Irving will be protesting the National Anthem by stating “I have made a call” (See Exhibit A Headline) and right under the title he carefully writes “Irving plans to demonstrate in some way as a protest against police brutality and racial injustice” SMH 

c.    If you were to look up “Hit Piece” the Exhibit A article would be a really good example of the definition. 

d.    He further leads with: "I have made a call. You'll just have to wait till Sunday”  this is from the original article from Star-Telegram Further, “Irving raised his fist in a display of protest against policy brutality ( I think Jared meant Police Brutality, I’m telling you this CBS “Sports Writer” is a hack) and racial injustice after the national anthem was played prior to the Cowboys’ Week 5 game”  

e.    Jared is painting a picture that Irving is a troublemaker and that Jerry Jones has no control over any players and he and The Star-Telegram and many others were spinning this out right before a Cowboys game with… guess who?  Yep, The 0-6 The San Francisco 49ers where it all began. If Irving wasn't planning on protesting maybe the media can guilt him into protesting. 

f.    Ladies and Gentleman Exhibit A is a HIT PIECE from CBS  and for what it's worth, The Star-Telegram. Maybe they were trying to  push Irving to the point of no return. Luckily for us, he’s a smart player on and off the field. I would recommend Irving use a press release in the future when he wants to talk about sensitive issues like “Protesting at NFL Games” that way it’s in black and white without any confusion but I have a feeling the media wouldn’t run it because it wouldn’t fit their narrative.

 

1. Ask yourself these questions: What is the Media's narrative? Why did CBS allow Jared to run a hit piece? Why is the Star-Telegram pushing the issue with Irving? Why doesn’t the media want players and owners to come together for progress instead of protest? 

g.    I know why but do you? Yes its a great headline grabber, will help them and that sell papers or clicks but you must go deeper much deeper than that, much, much deeper to the root cause the core problem. But you’re not ready for the truth, you can’t handle the truth. You do not want to believe anything but what these goofball wannabe sports writers like Jared spin out. 

5.    Further, Jared states in the next little red block: “Noooope. I’m a Cowboys fan. The Giants are 1-5 after besting Denver, though.” 

a.    Jared, I think it’s safe to say on behalf of Cowboys Nation we will have to pass and your Cowboy’s Bandwagon Card is hereby revoked.  

6.    Furthermore, Jared writes: “If the S-T’s report (which is linked and cited in my post – that’s how you know it’s not my reporting) feel free to report that and, if it’s confirmed that the original report was incorrect, we’ll write about that, too.”  (See Exhibit B) 

a.    Okay, Jared, I get you didn’t write the original story (By the way I have issues with that one too but they were at least clear about what Irving was trying to do just very vague about how he was going to go about doing it.)

 

b. We are not talking about where you cited from we are talking about how you cited and reproduced the original article from Star-Telegram Let me put it to you in real plain simple terms; You lifted what you wanted out of the Star-Telegram piece (That piece wasn't very accurate either) and was trying to spin it out to make Irving look like he is going up against Jerry Jones's Anthem policy.

 

C. By the way the Media keeps reporting that President Trump is fueling the fire. Trump isn't the one that is pinning players against owners,  it is Fake News Articles and Hit Pieces like CBS reproduced. Jared and a few hundred other hacks out there live for clicks, likes, retweets, repost, views ad infinitum.  Jared was acting on behalf of CBS and probably a call or email from Star-Telegram and  pushed it to the edge. The edge, in this case, is borderline libel but I'm not an attorney. I'm not saying everyone reporting on Cowboys or Protest are hacks but you know who you are and you know what you're doing. There are some very fair reporters but few and far between. Fair reporting doesn't pay the bills people. 

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7.    At approximately 8 PM I received a Twitter DM from Jared… He states: “Hi Tom. This is likely futile, but I'm here hoping to settle this misunderstanding outside of that string of tweets. As mentioned, our post at CBS was merely an aggregation and analysis of another outlet's report. It was not my report, nor did I represent it as such. (Hence a linked citation and the phrase "per the Star-Telegram.") I don't mind your not being a fan of my work, but impugning my reputation by implying that I made up a report (i.e. fake news, as you put it) is something I obviously cannot take likely. Thanks for your time.”

a.    Well, that seemed like a threat to me so to protect myself I screenshot everything and documented it right here for everyone’s viewing pleasure. If you’re reading this Jared, I know you are, the best thing you can do is apologize to Mr. Irving for the Hit Piece and then pray that Jerry Jones doesn’t take action. You do know that Tony Romo is on CBS for a reason and I hope you also realize that KTVT Dallas is CBS and the home to the Dallas Cowboys, Americas Team. 

b.    Consider this a warning shot, a wakeup call if you will. Always trust but verify. Not one time did Jared try and reach out to Mr. Irving, Cowboys, Jerry Jones, NO ONE before running the hit piece nor did he call his agent.  I wonder if he even read the whole story.  It’s amazing that he finally got around to reading Mr. Irving’s tweet since I see he has now highlighted it in the revised Hit Piece (See Exhibit C) and it looks like he keeps changing things every few minutes. Good for you, way to go, you actually had to think about what you were writing and reproducing. 

In closing I would like to say that it was never my intention exposed Jared or any one entity and although several media outlets cleaned the article up, the damage was already done.  What damage, Tom? Oh well thank you for asking, I’m glad you did. 

At the end of the day, everyone loses when players protest the National Anthem, Flag or whatever players are doing besides focusing on football. Besides robbing a moment that we Honor our Men, Women, and Families of our military it creates individual hostility towards one another. The years I have been in business I have never been able to advance solutions to problems with people pissed off. 

So here’s my question to you all. Players, Fans, Owners everyone. How do we fix it moving forward? Because I’m tired of living in the problem and I want to do nothing but enjoy a good football game. 

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Go Cowboys beat the 49ers, hut hut! 

What're your thoughts? Comments 

PS: Please read my message to all NFL Players on why Protesting the Anthem and Flag is not a good idea.