Griscom: A big test off the field

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Last week a reader sent a message about the three freshman football players who were charged with attempted armed robbery.

His point: The story of the 2 a.m. misadventures of these University of Tennessee Volunteers did not deserve the front page. And the headline -- "Orange Crushed" -- was in poor taste.

When it comes to football, particularly UT Big Orange football, fairness goes out the window and the value of the news, one assumes, is based on interceptions and yards returned, not on personal behavior.

For the Southeastern Conference, the season began by hand wrestling over access to news, pictures and other information produced by member schools. At one time it was suggested that fans could be summarily removed from the stadium for taking cell phone photos and sharing them with others. The commissioner of the SEC talks about his premier conference, the removal of "asterisks" and the amount of money that flows to the SEC from lucrative television and Internet contracts.

Griscom is publisher and executive editor of the Chattanooga Times Free-Press. Continue reading at the Chattanooga Times Free-Press.