Scott Agness Talks Fever Revoking His Credentials

**Nigel Jason Hammer** (0:00)
My name is Nigel Jason Hammer, right over there with a very special guest on the hotline.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
To quote the great Vince Lombardi, what the hell is going on out here? Scott Agness joins us, a reporter, Fieldhouse Files, probably the best known resource for Scott's work. You hear him on our sister station, The Fan, all the time, talking about the pacers and the fever.
Scott, welcome to the show here. Scott, let's start from the beginning. You had your media pass, your credential revoked by the Indiana Fever. Why?

**Scott Agness** (0:40)
Yeah. Good afternoon, guys. Good to be talking with you. Wish it was in a better light here. But no, it all stemmed back going to that May 20th game, where all of a sudden they had a clean injury report, and 100 minutes before the game, Caitlin Clark not just was on it, but was ruled out then.
And I knew right away, fans are going to freak out. It's here we go again. Is this another new injury? Is she going to miss a lot of time?
And I knew as I reached out, it's look, there's no new injury. She is healthy. They just want to make sure she's entirely right. And there's a lot that goes into the return to play situation from her after being limited to 13 games last year. So as I documented in my post yesterday at fieldhousefiles.com, I tried to calm everyone's darkest fears. And right now, there are so many conspiracy theories and thoughts and speculation about a variety of things that are surrounding the franchise. I tried to provide that clarity. And ultimately, they disagreed and said what I had to share was directly as it relates to talking about the strategic management plan that I referenced in a tweet.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:55)
So Caitlin Clark, who was not on any sort of injury report, because that's how it normally works. Even if somebody is planning to play, if they're banged up in any way, they appear on the injury report unless something happens last minute. Caitlin appeared healthy.
You noticed this, you talked about it, and yet somehow you who have been covering this team for years, maybe since the inception, they made you the bad guy out of this?

**Scott Agness** (2:25)
Yeah, I have been around almost from the beginning, but I have not been covering them not nearly that long. I'm not that old, though I am the longest tendered person on the beat for the fever as well as the Pacers. Yeah, that was the scenario there is I tried to provide this additional context, which by the way was sourced. I stand by that reporting as well and in the intent behind trying to get a wrangle on all these conspiracy theories and everything. Just caution. Hey guys, she is fine. She'll be ready for the next game. And then on top of that, guys, the other thing I tried to emphasize to them, and your audience may not know the head coach of both teams talks before every game, what we would hear from Stephanie White, I think it was in like 25, 30 minutes. So I told her, hey, whatever is said there, I post video of everything over there. So I said, I will record that video, I'll embed that in my story and update it to reflect those comments as well in addition to my reporting.

**Nigel Jason Hammer** (3:23)
So what is there anything you're, what information were you confident about versus what parts may still be uncertain? Maybe just walk us through the moment you published the article to the moment you learned that your credentials were revoked.

**Scott Agness** (3:40)
Yeah, so that was probably, that was less than a 24-hour span. I think that was a Wednesday night when that happened. And I got the news from a trusted source that has been very reliable, and which is why I absolutely stand by it. And I think what they have said after the fact goes along with what I said, right? Stephanie White at the podium, she's healthy. Well, that's what I said. Caitlin Clark several days later saying, I don't think this is of any concern with my back. It's just something I'm dealing with and we'll have to get through. Right.
This is all part of a player's trying to return from an injury. They specifically cited, they didn't like the reference of strategic management plan that I passed along within that tweet. And I want to take notice.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:24)
The head coach told you and you recorded it. Like, this is bizarre to me that they're trying to backtrack here, Scott.

**Scott Agness** (4:31)