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Username Post: Classic Yale "Sportsmanship" "Yale Hoops Online" and "Yale Hoops Bulletin"        (Topic#16400)
H78 
PhD Student
Posts: 1458
H78
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 01-06-11
03-07-14 10:53 PM - Post#166336    

Time for some unmasking.

Ivy Hoops Online = Yale Hoops Online
Ivy Hoops Bulletin = Yale Hoops Bulletin

See Twitter:
Retweeted by Ivy Hoops Bulletin
YDN Sports ‏@YDNsports · 4m
MBK: The government 1310 all-stars beat Yale, win ivy title #sometimescheaterswin

Folks, it's time to unmask the so-called "Ivy Hoops Bulletin" and "Ivy Hoops Online", which are clearly run by Yale alums who are lack a scintilla of objectivity.

Yalies masquerading as "Ivy Hoops"...Who's cheating now?

 
Bruno March 
Freshman
Posts: 10

Age: 36
Reg: 10-05-11
Re: Classic Yale "Sportsmanship" "Yale Hoops Online"
03-08-14 02:43 PM - Post#166420    
    In response to H78

H78,

I run IHO. It's something I started 3 seasons ago because I think the Ivy is a quickly improving and exciting league to follow and I have a lot of fun watching and writing about it.

There's no need for "unmasking" though. We have writers from all 8 schools. Doing good basketball analysis is our goal. Objectivity is not exactly our target-- we're more of a community of fans that strives to produce solid data-backed and qualitative basketball analysis. If you read the site much, you know that The Ancient Quaker, for example, doesn't hide his loyalties in his writing and I think that's fine. It keeps it entertaining and I try to make sure we get perspectives from all the Ancient Eight schools. I'm sorry if you feel that we've failed in that respect.

I run the Twitter account and I guess I may have unintentionally marginalized some Harvard fans by getting excited about Yale's success? I think we treat most upsets in league play with similar enthusiasm though. I'm not a Columbia grad, but we've written a lot about how nice it is to see that team succeed this year after such a long run of mediocrity. Yale's been the league's biggest surprise, so we've written articles about them. I don't see that as a problem.

For what it's worth, I have no agenda whatsoever to talk poorly about Harvard basketball. I think the success of non-Ps in recent years is great for the league, and what Tommy has built in Cambridge is clearly very special. When the tournament gets going next week, I will be rooting for Harvard to represent our league well, just like last year and the year before.

I'm happy to continue this conversation by e-mail if you want (tips@ivyhoopsonline.com).



 
H78 
PhD Student
Posts: 1458
H78
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 01-06-11
Re: Classic Yale "Sportsmanship" "Yale Hoops Online"
03-09-14 04:11 PM - Post#166541    
    In response to Bruno March

  • Bruno March Said:
I have no agenda whatsoever to talk poorly about Harvard basketball. I think the success of non-Ps in recent years is great for the league, and what Tommy has built in Cambridge is clearly very special.


Dear "Bruno March",

Thank you for your post and you kind words here. And thank you for your undertaking these websites. I think we all celebrate your enthusiasm for Ivy Basketball, and no one can probably understand the time, work and effort you've put into these. This is an important and worthwhile endeavor.

Here's where my concern comes from: When someone, let's say you in this example, decides to take on the mantle of "representing" the Ivy league, your credibility with your audience can only be enhanced by your objectivity. Also, if you're going to post with an "agenda", and we can agree or disagree whether your post(s) to which I refer show that agenda or not, you may want to disclose your name and affiliation. E.G., is calling yourself "Bruno March" or "Ivy Hoops Online", while having an apparently pro-Yale agenda serving you, IHO, and your credibility best? That's something you'll need to answer for yourself. My point of view, for what it's worth, is that you should say who you are, and if you're a Yalie, and not a Brown grad, call yourself "Ezra Stiles" or "Timothy Dwight" or "Elihu" or even "Handsome Dan".

If you take a look at two other recent grads who comment on Ivy League Basketball, Mike James and Kevin Whitaker, they disclose their names and their university affiliations, and their posts and comments clearly show an inclination toward even-handed opinion and analysis, while admitting their alumni affiliations.

Jonathan Tannenwald AKA @pretzel_logic and Andy Glockner AKA @AndyGlockner also ID themselves, and though they may be a little more "Penn-centric" toward their school than James or Whitaker are toward H/P, Penn guys often wear their hearts on their sleeves, and that's admirable in many ways.

You're right about your IHO staff:
  • Ancient Quaker posts as a pro-Penn guy.
  • Toothless Tiger posts as a pro-Princeton guy.
  • Wolfgang Evans posts as a Columbia grad.
  • Jake Mastbaum posts for Cornell.
  • Jonathan Gault posts for Cornell.
  • C. River Banks posts for Harvard.


And then there's Bruno March, who posts for Brown, Yale and "Ivy Hoops Online". And there's another anonymous screen persona, "Ivy Hoops Bulletin" which seems to be Yale person, based on the tweet below:

    Retweeted by Ivy Hoops Bulletin
    YDN Sports ‏@YDNsports • 4m
    MBK: The government 1310 all-stars beat Yale, win ivy title #sometimescheaterswin


Whether "Ivy Hoops Bulletin" is you or another Yale grad, you might question whether this person has "no agenda whatsoever to talk poorly about Harvard basketball."

And I get it, for college students to chant "cheater" at Kyle or Brandon is on some level "college hijinks" even though I'd say it's in poor taste. But when this tweet comes from a highly regarded student newspaper (YDN), and a "theoretically" unbiased online information/analysis source (Ivy BBall Bulletin), does this add to their credibility or confirm they have no agenda? As Mike might say, "not so much".

I'm not going to trot out some of the Ivy Hoops Online tweets from the past that show bias, because I'll respect your stated intent to have "no agenda".

We all want you to succeed (well, at least I do). Your venture is an important one in support of all those hard-working athletes and coaches and what they do.

And, if you're going to be "Ivy Hoops Online" publicly, you may want to tell people who you really are, because this can enhance your credibility, or if you're going to remain anonymous, try to follow objectively in the footsteps of the other guys I've mentioned here.

And as to whether an Eli should call himself "Bruno" well, that's up to you, but come on, you're a Son of Eli. I know you can come up with something more inventive, prideful and Yale-centric.

Boola Boola!

 
Old Bear 
Postdoc
Posts: 3988

Reg: 11-23-04
03-09-14 05:26 PM - Post#166545    
    In response to H78

I believe that Bruno, a regular Brown poster, has also posted on IHO, but he is not Bruno March.

 
H78 
PhD Student
Posts: 1458
H78
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 01-06-11
Re: Classic Yale "Sportsmanship" "Yale Hoops Online"
03-09-14 06:37 PM - Post#166554    
    In response to H78

Oops. •Jonathan Gault posts for Dartmouth.

 
Bruno March 
Freshman
Posts: 10

Age: 36
Reg: 10-05-11
03-09-14 10:26 PM - Post#166572    
    In response to H78

H78,

Thanks for the response. Like most things in life, my loyalties are not black and white! My brother is a former Brown basketball player and so I do have dual rooting interests within the league. That's actually one reason why I started IHO-- I found myself watching four Ivy games each weekend, following my alma mater and my brother's team and I felt like I had a lot to say about what I was watching. Three years ago when I was just starting the site, I chose a Brown-related pseudonym because my allegiances were to that program (family first).

To be honest, I never considered that someone might view my coverage of Yale on IHO under "Bruno March" to be misleading or disingenuous. I certainly have nothing to hide-- the pseudonym thing was simply meant to be in good fun. I've written guest posts on a number of different basketball sites with my real name, so I'm not hiding or anything. I think you bring up some fair points about credibility though, so I'm happy to introduce myself.

My name is Ian Halpern and, as you guessed, I'm a 2010 Yale graduate. With my brother no longer playing for the Bears, I suppose my allegiances have reverted back to Yale but I still know many of the guys at Brown and root for them to do well too. In fact, living in NYC, I watch more Columbia basketball than any other team these days, so you could say that a part of me pulls for the Lions too.

I have no affiliation or relationship with Ivy Hoops Bulletin-- a completely separate site-- and I have no idea if it's run by a Yale grad. I think whoever it is does a great job of aggregating Ivy news though.

Old Bear, I have no affiliation with the Bruno on this board but from reading his posts, I can say I appreciate his basketball knowledge and enthusiasm for the Bears.

I'm still not sure what IHO material you found to be biased, H78, or if you just thought I was affiliated with IvyHB. I'm curious as to what it was though, because as I said, it's important to me that we try to stay fair and balanced and not alienate people coming to the site.

Thanks for the feedback.

 
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