Monday Morning Reading Room: The decline of Texas' football empire and one man's take on how social media has changed sports journalism for the worst

I've been mostly home-bound the last five days. I had a minor surgery (and yes, it's true, it's only minor when it's done to someone else) and I've not been doing much work. I hope that changes this week, and I expect it will.

However, you know by now that I like to pass on good and interesting material from other writers when I see it and it seems fitting here. And I came upon a story and a column in Sunday editions that I thought you might find interesting and relevant. There is so much nonsense and trivia on the Web -- I contribute my share -- so I'd like to help promote the still-alive arts of writing and reporting.

Chime in with your thoughts on either or both of these links in the comments section.

The first is this look at how Texas Longhorns football came undone in 2010, courtesy of Kirk Bohls and Randy Riggs of the Austin American-Statesman.

I think it's an interesting contrast to the disappointing season Iowa endured. Going 8-5 with wins over Michigan State, Penn State, Michigan and Missouri doesn't compare to Texas going 5-7, of course.

But the Hawkeyes' coaching staff has remained intact, not at all surprising given what we know about how Kirk Ferentz does business. Meanwhile, Mack Brown has done a major makeover to his staff, which had been mostly intact itself the last five years minus the occasional assistant coach leaving to improve his lot in life, a la Gene Chizik.

Almost no one spoke to Bohls and Riggs on the record. But they know their sources and were comfortable enough with them to assemble this interesting report. Excerpts%3A

It seems clear now that Brown's operation had become infected with a debilitating sense of entitlement that led to a lack of accountability with the starting lineup and wide dissension inside the locker room and coaching staff.

Some say the older members of a staff that averaged 25 years in the business - five of the 10 coaches had spent 31 or more years in coaching - grew stale in their approach, lazy, or at the least complacent.

More than one close observer pins the Longhorns' decline to poor evaluation in recruiting and the pattern that Texas has fallen into of extending scholarship offers before players' senior seasons, thus severely limiting the amount of data to evaluate.

The second piece I offer to you comes from Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard. It's about "old journalism" butting into and get run over by "new journalism."

Brett Favre's penis. The feet of Rex Ryan's wife. And last week we got a leer into Mark Sanchez's romping grounds courtesy of a 17-year-old girl who really didn't seem to want that published - soft porn dressed as hard news, a new publishing standard erected before our widened eyes. Deadspin.com keeps pushing sports journalism's boundaries, and keeps getting rewarded with clicks, exposure, money, growth, coverage and popularity.

The publishing industry decays all around Deadspin.com in books, newspapers and just about all magazines except those that traffic in gossip because young people allegedly don't want to read. But, no, they want to read. They just don't want to read what old people want them to read. You can point out, as Vanity Fair did, that Jersey Shore has now had a longer run on TV than Arrested Development. "Deeper we go, into the shallow!" you can wail as America gets dumber. But it is like selling the merits of the library while straining to be heard above the thump-thump-thump music in the nightclub.

The marketplace has spoken, so journalism shifts, by choice, by demand. Somebody will give the public what it craves, whether it is in politics or porn, because it is ultimately the journalism business, not the journalism charity. Young people and their word-of-mouth is what makes almost anything popular, so the choice for old people is to either follow or get left behind.

It's an excellent essay, in my opinion. Give it a click and read the whole thing.