Many people have thrown flak at Eric Francis, (sports columnist for the Calgary Sun and radio talk show host in the mornings for Jack FM,) saying he's neither a reporter nor a morning personality. One thing is for sure, he's not making friends in Calgary after his latest ploy. Typically media types from the city work to protect the local teams especially against the opposition--and especially when they're in an important playoff game.

Not so for Francis. For reasons only he can answer, Francis published a column 2 weeks ago calling a story originally placed in the Calgary Herald months earlier his own and directly starting a wild fire of controversy that consumed the media in the days leading up to what would be the final playoff game for the Calgary Stampeders.

Coaching Change Circus Caused by Francis and the Sun

Not only did he rip off a news story but he hurt our local team while simultaneously throwing a low blow to outgoing coach Tom Higgins. How so? By running this story not two weeks before the Stamps would play Saskatchewan. Francis reused this story that was posted in the Herald four months earlier! (See how Mike Petrie from Stamps Insider called the Calgary Sun a 'tabloid'--which it is.)

So not only does he have no reporting integrity, but he also changed the focus for the team and the media during the crucial weeks leading up to the big game? Did he cause a loss? Heck no. Did he embarrass Tom Higgins by starting a spark that lead to a wild fire? Yes. Does anybody trust anything from the Calgary Sun or Eric Francis? The former went down a peg. The latter? One has to re-think the credibility of what he says/writes surrounding anything sports.

Note: In today's Sun Francis carefully chose his words and said the Sun, "broke the news of the signing of Hufnagel," and not necessarily the first with the story. Thanks for the disclosure.

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