Albom re-runs 22-year-old column

Felt deceived, pontificated in a column. Collected a paycheck.

 

Self-serving disingenuousness.

How often have we been down THIS road?

Most NOT wearing maize-and-blue glasses had a pretty good idea of what was going on in Ann Arbor, prior to the subsequent official revelations

The program STILL hasn't recovered.

To not notice the stench, you had to be trying really, really hard.

 

I've never said Mitch didn't deserve criticism for his Michigan State column, but let's be real: His bashing went on long before that scandal surfaced.

As for the Fab Five book, using the same logic, everyone who covered the Great Home Run chase of 98 should've broken the steroids scandal.

No one is above criticism, but the venom directed at Albom and Lupica goes beyond professionalism and reflects poorly on this board. Makes us look like a bunch of amateurs. And for the record, I bet I've read 10 Lupica columns in my life. Not a huge fan.

I just never have understood the joy others get at attacking others in this business, as if we all dont have enough to worry about.

 

Sometimes, the emperor needs to know he's not wearing clothes.

 

Defending the Fab Five book reflects ignorance of the people and circumstances which drove the subject(s) to such notoriety.

I, for one, would have been embarassed about having conceived such crap, knowing what I knew then -- and still know, now.

And the guys who've canonized Wooden are no less guilty.

 

I've read Albom for years and I've always enjoyed his work. No matter what you may or may not think of him, good, bad or otherwise, the man has talent. Narrow-minded view, I know. Not saying anything about journalistic ethics, impartiality, or any of that, you draw your own conclusions.
I never worked at the Free Press, but I do know several who have (deskers, stringers, part timers mostly), and I have worked in the Detroit media for years, frequently ending up at the same press conference, pressbox, clubhouse, locker room as Albom.
From what I see with my own two eyes, and from what I draw from those who have worked directly with Albom is that he is indeed an arrogant egomaniac who gives off a very strong "I'm Mitch Albom and You're Not" impression.
There are others in Detroit who act similarly (Frank Beckmann, for one), so Mitch certainly isn't alone. But he is a big target, and when you have carried yourself that way for years, and treated others around you that way for years, you're going to get nailed -- HARD -- when the opportunity presents itself.
Maybe Albom's "Meet me in St. Louie" column was not, on a grand scale, as bad as some transgressions that I've seen in the media in these parts (don't EVEN get me started on some of the TV folk around here). But when you take it into the context of who Albom is, how he regularly patronizes callers to his radio show who might have the nerve to disagree with him, his smirky holier-than-thou attitude on Sports Reporters, the fact that he has treated others in his own office and in the Detroit media with such roll-his-eyes dismissive contempt, then you can see the whys of the venom and hate directed his way.
To me, it was warranted. And yet I'll continue to read his work, and respect it. But if people are wondering why Mitch will never win a popularity contest among his contemporaries in Detroit, this, in my view, is why.

 

Now that, I'll accept.

 

Kumbaya, big fella.

 

You know, there was a time when I honestly liked his work to. It was new, fresh and different.
Now, 22-years-later, it's formulaic; a sappy version of "We got highlights."

 

Thank you.

 

Well, yeah, with one exception: Sam Gilbert, from all reports, did not build his entire fortune from running an illegal gambling operation.