I didn’t think there was anything necessarily wrong with the article. It does generalize, but I don’t think it does so in an irresponsible or “click bait” sort of way.
I think a less incendiary way he could’ve framed his point would be to point out how difficult it can be for kids to move across the country. I remember when I moved to the bay area, it was an adjustment, but one that I looked forward to. I remember a lot of my classmates, and I recall several specifically from more rural areas, like the farmlands in central California, were more home sick. Several worried about their families back home who were struggling economically, and they felt guilty about being students and investing in their future when they thought they could help their families immediately.
I think one advantage Stanford has is that being around kids with similar values and goals can feel like home even if they’re moving far away. I’ve seen a lot of recruits talk about how excited they were to meet other kids like them. Which is to say, a bright, ambitious student in Texas or Georgia may feel more belonging and more in common with other Stanford students than back home, even if the food is different, the accents are different, and the economies are different. I remember Andrew Luck saying how he missed Stanford after he went to the NFL, even though Indianapolis is probably more like his home state of Texas than the bay area.
Wilner also didn’t mention the pretty great weather which much of the pac 12 enjoys and which permits year-round training and enjoyment of the outdoors without floods, or brutal humidity, or alligators.
But Wilner did call the schedule perfectly last year. He seems to write proportionately more about TV contracts and scheduling and conferences than about X’s and O’s, but I think he is a close, experienced observer and he raises interesting points.
In terms of a click bait test, do I think he is trying to raise an interesting point in a limited amount of space under a deadline, or do I think he is intentionally writing a bunch of BS just to get people pissed off and to get attention? I think he is a sincere writer, and that it’s the former.
I should probably disclose that my wife previously worked at the Mercury News, and I know some remaining staff members (after numerous layoffs), though I have never met Wilner.
I think a less incendiary way he could’ve framed his point would be to point out how difficult it can be for kids to move across the country. I remember when I moved to the bay area, it was an adjustment, but one that I looked forward to. I remember a lot of my classmates, and I recall several specifically from more rural areas, like the farmlands in central California, were more home sick. Several worried about their families back home who were struggling economically, and they felt guilty about being students and investing in their future when they thought they could help their families immediately.
I think one advantage Stanford has is that being around kids with similar values and goals can feel like home even if they’re moving far away. I’ve seen a lot of recruits talk about how excited they were to meet other kids like them. Which is to say, a bright, ambitious student in Texas or Georgia may feel more belonging and more in common with other Stanford students than back home, even if the food is different, the accents are different, and the economies are different. I remember Andrew Luck saying how he missed Stanford after he went to the NFL, even though Indianapolis is probably more like his home state of Texas than the bay area.
Wilner also didn’t mention the pretty great weather which much of the pac 12 enjoys and which permits year-round training and enjoyment of the outdoors without floods, or brutal humidity, or alligators.
But Wilner did call the schedule perfectly last year. He seems to write proportionately more about TV contracts and scheduling and conferences than about X’s and O’s, but I think he is a close, experienced observer and he raises interesting points.
In terms of a click bait test, do I think he is trying to raise an interesting point in a limited amount of space under a deadline, or do I think he is intentionally writing a bunch of BS just to get people pissed off and to get attention? I think he is a sincere writer, and that it’s the former.
I should probably disclose that my wife previously worked at the Mercury News, and I know some remaining staff members (after numerous layoffs), though I have never met Wilner.