Saban Leaves the Dolphins for 'Bama

Another public figure lies to the public. Nick Saban, now the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has left his post to assume the head coaching job at the University of Alabama.

The reasons I'm writing about this are the following: 1) To highlight the fact that you can not always believe what people say (including scientists/physicians/hacks) regardless of their position and 2) to demonstrate discrepancies in journalism today (which bears impact on science and medicine).

First, that for the weeks leading up to Saban's decision to leave the Dolphins, he was adamantly denying that he had any interest in Alabama. This was after he had made the mistake to say that he had "given it some consideration." He did such a good job of looking right into the camera and saying no, that even I started to believe him. Silly me. Turns out he was just deflecting attention so as to not upset his Miami employers and employees. He joins the line up of yet another public figure who, when necessary, will lie to cover his own ass.

Which brings me to my next point and perhaps the most illuminating topic, which is the press coverage surrounding Saban's departure. I was blown away by the constant questioning and skepticism about Saban's feelings since it was first announced. Poor Saban couldn't get away from the lines of questioning and the periodicals written about his interest in Alabama. Even more shocking was the cover story of ESPN.com when Saban officially announced his decision, titled "Liar Liar" by Pat Forde.

Where did these reporters come from!? Where was the same intense scrutiny in the lead up to the war in Iraq? Why have so few journalists and journalism organizations been so explicit in their disbelief and condemnation of President Bush and his abomination of a invasion based on WMD? I wonder if sports writers have more "cojones" to call someone out when they screw up or if the press turns in their journalistic license when they enter the White House press room. I really think that this is an example of the disparity that exists between our coverage of the government and all other affairs (even celeb gossip can be more scathing than the latest review of our politicians).

I hope that the journalists covering the war and politics take a page from their own print, the sports page that is, to be more critical and dogged in their reporting. Moreover, I hope they start to investigate the other areas in which this administration has gone awry, including redirecting funding away from scientific research towards defense spending. This already happened before the President committed us to a war that is costing us billions of dollars on a strained economy. Keep in mind that since Nixon declared his "War on Cancer" campaign, the US has spent roughly $200 billion on cancer research, which is less than we have already spent on the current war, with no end in sight and escalating violence. I say that again: more for war in three years than over thirty years on cancer. We now spend about $5 billion a year on cancer research, which is about the amount spent on a single month in Iraq. Think of all the milestone breakthroughs in apoptosis, angiogenesis, chemotherapy, etc. that we have generated from the money we have spent on research. That money is now being spent on trying to subdue a civil war.

So, yeah, our journalists (and politicians), who are supposed to represent the voice of the people really dropped the ball on this one big time.