a reporter's reporter

John Canzano on public records - required reading

http://www.sportsmediaguide.com/11062006-JohnCanzano.html

 

Wow. That's great stuff...

I try to read Canzano as much as possible, but that interview made it clear I still don't read him nearly enough...

 

Does he have a book coming out? A movie? We seem to be hosting several thread's worth of hot Canzano on Canzano action this week.

 

I am boycotting the SportsMediaGuide until it changes its hard-to-read faux stationary background.

 

I concur.

 

Interesting interview.

The community watchdog. We know where the bodies are buried. And where the milkshakes are bought!


Especially enjoyed the logic that a sports columnist serves as a mouthpiece for prosecutors who don't have enough evidence for a trial. That approach worked so well in the first few months of the Duke lacrosse scandal and the entirety of the Kobe trial.

 

An interesting read, but the public records searches he talks about are pretty basic stuff. Anybody with half a brain and the right computer program would be able to track down that guys' daughter.


EDIT: but let me add that, as others have noted, he seems incredibly well-connected. Have never been to portland, but I imagine it is like other pro cities its size: an athlete can't sneeze in town without somebody noticing. Like Canzano said, they get tons of phone calls from people who simply saw players out for a drink.

 

I had a similar situation where I had spoken to a relative of an athlete and one of my editors said, "Wow, how'd you track him down?"

I just smiled and laughed.

I got the number from the phone book...

 

That's where you wink and smile and say "I have my ways."

 

I just want to get this right...a reporter's reporter is the guy who navigates his way through the grapevine to tell the story of Blonde Q. Slut's trip through revolving hotel doors...because that's what Joe Fan and kids demand!

Sorry, folks, but there is a chasm between what people want or need to know about sports, and what journalists feel compelled -for the community's sake, of course - to pursue as news.

 

there's a chasm between self-righteous fulminating and logic. the "twisted" behavior of athletes is a consumer issue and a community issue.