AJC Columnist Furman Bisher Dead at 93

[deliveryman35]

He had a long, distinguished career but was there ever a journalist that had it more in for Bama than him? I don't think so.

 

[AlexanderFan]

RIP, hope the rag you wrote for isn't far behind. Enough of the hate articles on Alabama.

 

[BamaFossil]

I would not have been the appropriate person to deliver the eulogy...

 

[TLIT]

This is a pretty remarkable read... a Sports Illustrated article written by Coach Bryant detailing the circumstances of the game fixing charge, engineered by Bisher, and the effect it had on Coach Bryant and his family.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/1/index.htm

 

[Black Warrior]

Wasn't Furman Bisher somehow involved in the paper scandal "The Story Of A Football Fix" that had to do with Coach Bryant and former UGA HC Wally Butts. I know it was the Saturday Evening Post that got sued and went out of business for printing it but Bisher and The AJC were somehow in the chain of events surrounding that. Any old timers have a better memory than mine?

 

[TLIT]

Wasn't Furman Bisher somehow involved in the paper scandal "The Story Of A Football Fix" that had to do with Coach Bryant and former UGA HC Wally Butts. I know it was the Saturday Evening Post that got sued and went out of business for printing it but Bisher and The AJC were somehow in the chain of events surrounding that. Any old timers have a better memory than mine?

Not to self-promote, but check the link in the post preceding yours. It points to the piece that Coach Bryant wrote about the scandal/Saturday Evening Post article and Bisher's involvement.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

can i go urinate Coach Bryant name on Bisher's tombstone?

 

[CrimsonProf]

Good Lord, y'all. Let the body get cold first...

 

[Special K]

Well, my mama raised me to refrain from speaking ill of the dead. She didn't say I had to speak well of them either though...

 

[selmaborntidefan]

.....................

 

[Alabama22]

Agreed, totally!

 

[BigEasyTider]

Guys like Bisher are why sportswriters -- and no, they are not now nor ever have been "journalists" -- typically have such a bad name. Unfortunately, the problem is that even when a guy like Bisher hangs it up, as he did a few years back, there are still countless others out there to take his place.

The good news is that most of the outright hacks these days are a lot more identifiable. Someone like Bisher in his prime had much more sway just because of the influence that the heading above their byline commanded. Now with traditional journalism being as dead as the trees it's printed on, you have much greater transparency and focus on the work product.

Fifty years ago a guy like Bisher would be revered as a sage. Today when you rake that kind of biased, hyperbole-driven muck, well, you're basically Clay Travis.

 

[TommyMac]

can i go urinate Coach Bryant name on Bisher's tombstone?

There will be a long line.

 

[Black Warrior]

Not to self-promote, but check the link in the post preceding yours. It points to the piece that Coach Bryant wrote about the scandal/Saturday Evening Post article and Bisher's involvement.

Thanks for the link. We must have posted simultaneously.... I hope someone thinks that instead of a tombstone, they should just erect a massive dog pile over his grave..

 

[GrayTide]

Those who can, teach, those who can't wind up as sportswriters and sports journalists.

 

[rtcjny]

I guess I am showing my age but who is Furman Bisher and why all of the hate?

 

[BigEasyTider]

I guess I am showing my age but who is Furman Bisher and why all of the hate?

If I were you I'd just not ask, not find out, and go on about my life. I'd take that route if I had the choice...

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Guys like Bisher are why sportswriters -- and no, they are not now nor ever have been "journalists" -- typically have such a bad name. Unfortunately, the problem is that even when a guy like Bisher hangs it up, as he did a few years back, there are still countless others out there to take his place.

The good news is that most of the outright hacks these days are a lot more identifiable. Someone like Bisher in his prime had much more sway just because of the influence that the heading above their byline commanded. Now with traditional journalism being as dead as the trees it's printed on, you have much greater transparency and focus on the work product.

Fifty years ago a guy like Bisher would be revered as a sage. Today when you rake that kind of biased, hyperbole-driven muck, well, you're basically Clay Travis.

Well said. It should be noted that Bisher never approached either Bryant or Butts regarding the upcoming story, something that any good journalist does out of courtesy for the subject.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports will always phone subjects before one of his investigative stories goes to press, giving them an opportunity to comment and give their side of the story.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Well said. It should be noted that Bisher never approached either Bryant or Butts regarding the upcoming story, something that any good journalist does out of courtesy for the subject.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports will always phone subjects before one of his investigative stories goes to press, giving them an opportunity to comment and give their side of the story.

The last thing on earth Bisher would want to do would be to give Bryant or Butts equal time. That would have interfered with his hatchet job...

 

[MOAN]

I suppose those dying oak trees on Toomers Corner will get rolled in his honor.