News Blackout???

Asleep at the wheel, or just "playing ball?"

Lyle Marsh, one of the key players in Penn’s championship run who was 100% expected to return this season for his 5^th year, was removed from the team last week.

And yet, we STILL don’t have any explanation for this and there’s only one very brief mention of Marsh in just one of three season preview articles in the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Here’s the first article about the Penn football team, there is NO mention of Marsh at all.

Here’s the second article about the Penn football team and again, NO mention of Marsh at all.

And here’s the third article about the Penn team and there is just the most fleeting mention of Marsh not being on the team. That’s it.

The DP is usually a very good Ivy sports paper and website. The fact that it’s basically ignoring this big story is unforgivable. Again, after more than a week to chew on this news I have to think the DP’s silence on this story is not an oversight.

If Penn Head Coach Al Bagnoli or the athletic department at Penn is pressuring the DP to keep the story quiet, that's pathetic. If I were a DP reporter being pressured that way, I'd go public right away.

Now if Marsh has been forced off the team for a sensitive personal reason, I can understand the student reporters wanting to be delicate about all this. But that still does not excuse them for basically pretending that not having Marsh on the roster is a non-lead story.

And when you consider the league-wide scrutiny and reporting on Columbia’s Twitter and other issues last season, (the DP joined in that reporting and discussion with vigor, see this article for proof ), the double-standard here is particularly galling.

If there is some personal, private issue Marsh is dealing with, I am NOT… repeat NOT, insisting that it be made public for everyone to scoff at.

But I DO think the general fact that Marsh is surprisingly off the roster should be dealt with in some way.

And burying the story, while keeping your powder dry for another round of beating up on Columbia, is just not okay.

So to recap: the usually good Ivy sports section that couldn't wait to, (prematurely as it turns out), dance on Chad Washington's grave, has almost completely ignored the story of one of its top three players leaving the team!