the 4th star

There was a clear winner in the media battle on Black Blue Thursday, and I’m not talking about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ fan or the club’s media relations department.

Lost in all this Mike Kelly/Lyle Bauer circus was the fact that Gary Lawless, he of the Winnipeg Free Press, absolutely killed it yesterday. His partner on the Hustler & Lawless show threw some praise to the intrepid-ness (is that a word?) of the “Big Head” but I thought it deserved mention in a forum like this. Before highlighting his day of reporting, some full disclosure is required:

“Lawless” is a good friend of the blog. I have appeared on the radio show. So snicker if you want, but that relationship doesn’t take away from that fact that he won the Thursday hands-down. Try to make a case against that. No? Exactly.

In the morning edition, he led off his day in the broadsheets with Bauer possibly leaving. It wasn’t the safe play. It was a sharp contrast to what the national reports on TSN and the Globe and Mail had, both suggesting that Kelly’s job was secure and that the Bombers press conference was to shore up details on that item. On the strength of those reports, the local outlets went in that direction, too. Lawless mentioned the Kelly report further down in his hard copy, but leading with Bauer and the implication that it was his time was the sweet stroke of the a.m.

Everyone was now in catch-up mode, searching for their ball in the tall grass. While they figured out their next play, Lawless’ second shot landed just inches from the cup. With the help of the reporters on the news side, he broke the story that Kelly had been arrested and charged with assault and harrassment following an alleged domestic dispute with a former girlfriend in Pennsylvania. Far as I can tell, all outlets followed his lead on that one, too.

Ugh. I need a shower now.