Matt Barnes UNLOADS on Shady McCoy, Jemele Hill & Sports Media for Attacking Reporter

A Jaguars reporter showed emotion after a playoff moment... and legacy media LOST ITS MIND.

Matt Barnes breaks down why the backlash to Lynn Jones Turpin's postgame interaction with Liam Coen missed the point, how athletes see moments like this differently, and why letting someone show love for 30 seconds shouldn’t be controversial.

If you’ve ever wondered who actually understands the pressure of playoff sports, players or pundits, this one’s for you.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Unplugged. In the midst of a crazy
first round wildcard weekend where my nighters went into Philly
and handled business, there was a heartwarming moment between Lynn
Jones Turpin of the Jacksonville Free Press and the head
coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Cohen.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Take a listen to this, Lyn Jones, Jacksonville Free Press News.
I just want to tell you congratulations on your success,
young man. You hold your head up, all right. You
guys have had a most magnificent season. He did a
great job out there today. So you just hold your
head up, okay. And ladies and gentlemen, duvall you the one,
all right and keep it going. We got another season, okay.
I appreciate take care of much continued success to you

(00:37):
and the entire team. Thank you man.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Immediately after this legacy media started taking shots and Miss Jones,
Jeff Pearlman, Shady McCoy, Jamel Hill all took shots at
journalistic etiquette. Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News said, awesome,
are you serious? That's not a reporter that shouldn't even

(01:00):
have her credential. Mark Long, who covers the Jacksonville Jaguars
for the Associated Press. Nothing awesome about fans slash fake
media doing stuff like this. It should be embarrassing for
the people who credentialed her and her organization, and it
is a waste of time for those who actually are
working twenty seven seconds. Huh. Jamel Hill, someone who is

(01:21):
a dear friend of the show and a good friend
of mine, said that can't be a reporter, because if so,
I would not have used the term awesome. Jeff Pearlman,
someone who I sat down not too long ago with
the TUPAC book. He said, lovely, Yes against the media role. Yes,

(01:41):
let fans cheer. Jeff. I'm not singling you out because
I want to go off on everyone, but I've been
looking at you lately since we sat down, and all
I'm seeing is just negativity. Every post is literally the
worst person in baseball. This guy was the biggest asshole.
Have you ever thought about the reciprocated energy they may
just be giving you. Maybe they don't like your entitlement

(02:02):
and the energy you give, so instead of them being
an assholes, maybe they're just giving you back the energy
you give them. Maybe they just don't like you. It
doesn't make them assholes. They just don't like you. So
look in the mirror sometimes because, like I said, every
time I look at you, you're telling the world who
is the biggest assholes and who's this and who's that,
instead of owning up to how you act. And maybe
that's the energy they just gave you back. Shady McCoy

(02:25):
another friend of the program, somebody come get they mom
at the Saint the Little League where we all get
appreciation trophies. And finally my guy Pat McAfee stepped up
and has something to say about all this negative drama,
negative energy.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Hey yeah, good stuff. And then you know, everybody in
the sports journalism world say, this is our line. That's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Can't do it, can't have it.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
What are we doing here? We got deadlines? What's your deadline?
A tweet? What are we even talking about now? In
twenty twenty six about a deadline? Ever, everybody's on a deadline.
First tweet out wins in everything. We are all trying
to post stuff now at the same exact time. Now,
I know, you got to write an entire article, and
those twenty seven seconds can certainly change, especially if those
twenty seven seconds are supposed to be meant on miserable

(03:14):
terrible things. Okay, if they're supposed to be miserable terrible things,
those twenty seven seconds aren't wasted. If those are dumb
questions about things that you don't have right that happened
on a football field that you just thought were happening,
those twenty seven seconds are okay, but a positive Hey,
you did good for us this year. We appreciate you
for twenty seven seconds. Can't have it, no, no, wait

(03:36):
for it, can't happen. It's like, what a weird thing
to come out publicly and say this is disgusting.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Who do you think you are to say that?

Speaker 3 (03:47):
You think that's disgusting in the matter, It's like that
is a crazy thing about the sports media people.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
So that's my brother Pat mckieve right there. Finally someone
stepping up and saying what is wrong with showing some love?
What is wrong with showing some positivity? I think we
live in such a brainwashed world and media cycle now
where only negativity is allowed. I mean, let's keep it real.
This is the team's second best record in franchise history,

(04:12):
most wins since nineteen ninety nine, nineteen hundred and ninety nine.
That was the most win since nineteen hundred and ninety nine,
and all of a sudden, a thirty second almost verbal,
let me give you a hug because you were a
first year coach. You guys did a good job. Although
you fell short, you still had a very solid season.
And I think what bothers me more about this is

(04:33):
nine and a half. I'll only say nine and a
half out of ten because Shady definitely did his thing
on the field nine and a half at a ten.
Of these people who critique or or felt this is
out of line, or people who couldn't fucking chew gum
and tie the shoe at the same time, people who
couldn't have doesn't have any athletic background at all. But
it's okay to always spout negative bullshit towards people not

(04:56):
understanding what it takes to be a professional athlete, not
understanding what it takes to get thirteen wins in the NFL,
not understanding what it takes to make the playoffs. But
let someone show some love for thirty seconds, and it's
the end of the world. Thankfully, our girl, Lynn Jones
was very unbothered as she appeared on a local Jacksonville

(05:17):
Network this morning, and this was her reaction.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
So Adam Schefner wrote, this is an awesome post game
exchange between a reporter and Jack's head coach. But then
Mark Long, who's an AP reporter, kind of went in
on this and he said nothing awesome about this, called
you fake media, said that you shouldn't even have been
up there asking those kind of questions. So when you
are that, how did that make you feel?

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I don't take no fence to it. Listen, I've been
in this business morning twenty five years. I've been reviewed
from Barack Obama to Terry Bradshaw Toll. What's my guy name,
Tiger Wood? So you can say whatever you've worn about
fake news. I am a member of the Black Press
n NPA, the National Newspaper Association that's been around more

(06:00):
than one hundred years. I'm the associate editor of the
Jacksonville Free Press, one of the more than two hundred
and thirty African American newspapers still printing in this country today.
In Jacksonville, you have the Florida Star since nineteen fifty five.
We've been around since nineteen eighty six. In Philadelphia, the Tribune,
The Philly Tribune has been printing since eighteen eighty four. Yeah,

(06:21):
the Michigan Chronicle has been printed since nineteen thirty five.
So support the black press. So he can call me fake,
Oh you want two, honey, I've been doing this. People
know me.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Do you think, miss Jones? We appreciate the love and
the type of energy. Obviously, you know, journalism is supposed
to be straight down the middle. It's supposed to be objective,
and you're not supposed to show favorites. But keep in mind,
this is also a local paper, a Jacksonville paper, and
all she was doing was just showing some love. This
is the most second most wins they've had in franchise history.

(06:51):
Did they win the Super Bowl? No? Did they make
out the first round?

Speaker 3 (06:54):
No?

Speaker 1 (06:55):
But in a day and age where we're just filled
constantly on our feeds with so much naked negative, real
life shit, sports shit, it was refreshing to see what
Lynn had to say to first year head coach and
to the team as a whole. I think they did
a great job as well. Obviously fell short to a
tough Josh Allen Buffalo Bills team, but I see nothing
wrong with what she did, and everyone who has a

(07:16):
problem with it fuck off. See y'all next week.