The news of the rally staged at Raiders headquarters to greet Charles Woodson upon his arrival to meet with the team has been widely reported. Every news outlet, including NFL.com, has recognized the Raiders fans as mobilizing to show Charles Woodson they wanted him back. But not Trey Wingo and ESPN.
On NFL Live on Tuesday - the day he was to visit --Wingo said that he sees this as an inside job.
"Raiders put out a social media campaign to have all the fans show up at the facility welcoming him back," said Wingo.
In response, ESPN's Adam Schefter echoed the statement, saying "Reggie McKenzie knows just the buttons to push with Charles Woodson."
The next day on the show, it was more of the same from Wingo.
"Raiders put the full home court press on him including having fans lining up at the facility to greet him and stayed there until he officially signed the deal," said Wingo. "The Raiders obviously pulling at his heart strings, GM Reggie McKenzie knew him from their days in Green Bay."
The Raiders weren't "having the fans" do anything. The Raiders organization had nothing to do with it. It wouldn't take much research to figure out the Raiders didn't put out a single tweet or any such social media statement asking for fans to show up. This was all done by the fans.
This was chronicled on S&BP in which the event page and the first such tweet was posted asking fans to show up at the facility. The story was picked up by NFL.com as well as several other media organizations -- who were also retweeting fan requests to generate a presence to welcome Woodson.
Here is what NFL.com's Marc Sessler said of the fan generated gathering:
"Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit: Oakland Raiders fans have passion. They're hoping it will make a difference in the pursuit of Charles Woodson... the free-agent defensive back is scheduled to meet with Oakland on Tuesday, per Woodson's agent, Carl Poston. In anticipation of that visit, Raiders faithful have started an online campaign to gather en masse at team headquarters."
None of this convinced Wingo and his cohorts.
Either Trey Wingo and ESPN don't know what Google is or they are suggesting the "fans" who were working hard to spread the word are somehow actually people within the Raiders organization posing as fans.
I would suggest the Raider Nation take to social media once again to get Wingo to acknowledge his mistake (respectfully). His Twitter handle is @Wingoz. That's seems the most appropriate way for him to get the idea.
UPDATE:
Raiders fans once again took to social media to get something done. Trey Wingo appeared on the Raiders flagship radio station, 95.7 The Game and apologized for his gaffe.
Re #raiders fans, @wingoz says he meant to credit them, but didn't. Just a bobble. "We brought it up b/c we thought it was cool."
— Mark Kreidler (@MarkKreidler) May 24, 2013
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