My print column is up.

UPDATE: From a friend who actually heard part of Buzz Bissinger's remarks to me last Sunday morning:

"Was that a negative reaction to your column? Or a particularly acute attack of Tourette's Syndrome? 

I believe it was the former.

UPDATE II: Here a letter from someone purporting to be Buzz Bissinger's attorney. We ran it in today's newspaper. Given the purple prose and outlandish allegations, it occurred to me that it could be a prank. But it was emailed to me on real lawyer-type letterhead and from an address that seemed to check out so I guess it's not.

I might also point out that the signatory does not advertise himself as expert on Free Speech and First Amendment issues. For what its worth, he advertises himself as a "sex abuse lawyer."
Enjoy...
         Dear Mr. Spencer:

Kindly note that I represent Mr. Bissinger in connection with your column of July 29, 2012. Please direct any further inquiries to my attention.

Notwithstanding its rhetorical pretense, your column unquestionably alleged that Mr. Bissinger deliberately refused to publicly address the Scott Ward matter. Beyond falsely implying that Mr. Bissinger acted intentionally, your article further suggested that he was motivated by allegiance to the University of Pennsylvania. These false allegations undermine Mr. Bissinger’s well-deserved reputation for honesty and journalistic integrity. More outrageously, your column falsely implied that Mr. Bissinger was a participant in some conspiracy to conceal to Mr. Ward’s criminal exploits. The implications of your column are as distasteful as they are unsubstantiated.

You reached your ill-founded conclusions by employing fundamentally flawed logic. You concluded that Mr. Bissinger’s “failure” to write about Scott Ward was deliberate, when, in fact, he simply knew nothing about Mr. Ward, and nothing about the events that led to his criminal charges. Without any basis beyond your apparently very vivid imagination, you imputed to Mr. Bissinger motives that have unnecessarily subjected him to undeserved ridicule and unwarranted attacks.

You have compounded your initial lapse in journalistic integrity by baiting Mr. Bissinger, responding to his requests to remove the column with unprofessional mockery, and by demanding that he respond to criticisms that were not even justified in the first place. For that reason, Mr. Bissinger will not be attending the meeting that had been arranged for this evening as it is clear to me that your goal is to simply self-servingly trade upon his good name and needlessly malign him. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Bissinger should not be forced to “respond” to a controversy that you have invented.

I am asking you to write a retraction, and to acknowledge publicly that you had no basis whatsoever to suggest that Mr. Bissinger deliberately refrained from writing about the Scott Ward matter. As Mr. Bissinger considers his legal options, I am urging you, quite respectfully, to remove from the paper’s website the column at issue.

PAUL A. LAURICELLA