Locke, do you have a link or citation to where Bronco said he wouldn't recruit missionaries? Seems lots of radio hosts and newspaper writers are referring to such a quote, but as far as I can tell NO ONE has been able to give a proper reference. Yet there are SLTrib articles and Cougar Club meeting summaries available on the net where Bronco specifically says he WOULD recruit missionaries.

As I listened to this show yesterday, and Locke kept going on and on about how BYU fans cannot read...I decided to withhold judgment on the matter until more was written on the subject.

The tension appeared to be in what can be assumed from contexts versus what Bronco Mendenhall has said he would and would not do with missionaries. Most BYU fans believe Mendenhall to be a man of his word, and sure enough, most of his actions substantiate the fact that he is honest and credible in his most of his doings.

Based on today's articles by Brad Rock and Michael Lewis, I have concluded that it is that Locke cannot read - or that he is so antsy to jump to conclusions that he is in perpetual need of a parachute.

Do not get me wrong, I really appreciate Locke and the fine job he does of conducting his show. However, it is overreactions like this that give some members in sports media a reputation for being inflammatory, which ultimately ruins their credibility.

Does it make for entertaining jargon? Sure. Does it weaken the influence of their opinions? Absolutely.

Not sure I've listened to a more poorly defended argument than the one Locke presented yesterday...which is really saying something given the almost complete absence of any talent on local radio in this area.

- One catch word: hypocrisy. The claim of hypocrisy was supposedly based on a comment that Bronco supposedly made...and nobody in the media can provide a source to support the claim that Bronco made such a comment. Would seem that providing a citation would be a fairly obvious and basic concept for a talk show radio host using some random quote to present an argument. And there are some pretty easy quotes to find (including in today's SLTrib) that Bronco has said that he WILL recruit missionaries.

- Second catch word: dirty. Locke really tried to hammer this one home, that the practice of recruiting missionaries was dirty. He hammered caller after caller who couldn't present a decent counter-point for why it wasn't dirty. Yet I'm not sure we ever heard Locke explain why it was a dirty process. It certainly isn't dirty because the missionaries are being asked to consider scholarships offers; missionaries consider college and job opportunities all the time. Seemed very juvenile that callers who don't make a living of speaking on the radio and presenting point and counter point would get mocked while the radio host didn't even provide an initial idea to support his own point.

- The implication seemed to be made that BYU was somehow gaining an unfair advantage in this process. EVERY school can recruit missionaries once they become recruitable again. And many schools do. Austin Collie got contact from many schools. Utah is in contact with athletes committed to other schools all the time while they're on their missions...one call to Fui Vakapuna would confirm that. There is nothing BYU is doing that any other school doesn't or can't.

- At one point a caller gave his opinion that BYU went for Nelson after realizing James Lark might not be as good as previously thought. Locke then ran with that, portraying it as if that had been one of his underlying issues w/the topic all along. He kept repeating, to some effect, "NO OTHER PROGRAM in the country can miss on a recruit and then go get a replacement on a mission!" Why can't they? Again, any team can recruit a missionary. Any team in the country could have offered Nelson a scholarship once he became a recruitable athlete again. It was absurd to try to portray BYU as having an unfair advantage in that aspect. That wouldn't make any more sense than saying Kansas State gets an unfair advantage because they went after junior college kids heavily that may have committed to another school out of high school but then didn't qualify.

This was a case of a really small story getting way overblown, which is fine if public interest drives the radio discussion. But I think many parts of the media have done a pretty poor job of just presenting jaded opinions and not being accountable for having to provide actual quotes and/or proof to back up their assertions.