Bad Guys vs Good Guys

How come our industry keeps propping up and giving notoriety to so many pricks and fools?
How come we keep overlooking or underrating so many smarter, nicer souls?
(Maybe the answer to this is obvious.)

Pricks and fools:
Mitch Albom, Tony Kornheiser, Jason Whitlock, Jay Mariotti, Rick Reilly, Mike Lupica, Skip Bayless, Mike Wise.

Smarter and nicer: Harvey Araton, John McGrath, Joe Posanski, Art Thiel, John Canzano, Rich Hoffman, Norman Chad, Sally Jenkins.

I was hoping the once-and-always great Dave Kindred could provide some insight on this one.

 

The day someone doesn't lump Loopy in with the pricks/fools is the day SJ collapses upon itself.

 

To answer your question, our industry is run by pricks and fools. They all like to hang out with their own kind.

Also, the pricks and fools you've listed are guys who are totally content with climbing and clawing over anything and anybody to grab the brass ring. They're selfish bastards who only care about their bank accounts and their egos (unfortunately, both tend to be large).

Luckily, there's this thing called karma that sometimes kicks the shit out of a prick/fool.

 

Different styles for different folks, like Moddy said. On OPs list, I like Kornheiser and Wise, but don't like Jenkins.

 

Don't like what they produce/act professionally or don't like them as people?

 

How was Stephen A. Smith left off the pricks and fools listing?

I agree with SockPuppet: The people on that list have oversized egos and ambitions that have no bounds. Kornheiser wakes up every day wondering who he needs to trample to get to the next rung in the ladder, which makes no sense because he happens to be on the top rung.

 

Those "pricks and fools" are interesting. They're unique, a brand to themselves. From the inside of every industry, the "rock stars" probably draw as much spittle as we sprinkle on Albom and Lupica. The industry doesn't prop them up. Readers do. Because readers like their work, no matter how many dirty looks they get from their peers.

You don't become a nationally recognized niche writer (and yes, sports is a niche) by writing balanced, even-handed commentary. You've got to make the impossible leap from "Sean Taylor murdered" to "Black KKK" by deadline.

And no matter how you label Lupica, Whitlock, Albom, Reilly, Bayless, Mariotti, Wise and Kornheiser, to say they're not smart is an insult to a lot of smart people out there who are dumber than they are.

 

I don't think it is a coincedence that most of the former have/had a presence on TV and/or radio. At some point the electronic branch of the media decided that it didn't matter whether you loved or hated someone - as long as you tuned in.
I'm sure at some point the first group realized acting like a clown and being provoctative was more rewarding.
It is no different on the news side.

 

We call that point Howard Cosell's era.

 

To be fair, most of those guys you listed on the "pricks and fools" list are/were extremely talented writers. There was a point in life where I couldn't wait to read Reilly's SI column every week. Even if I think Mitch Albom is a crappy author (Tuesdays with Morrie is and always will be one of the worst books I've ever read), there was a time when his column was a must-read.

 

If Kornheiser and Wise had been placed on opposite sides of the divide, that would've been a dead giveaway to sixthstjoe's agenda.

Instead, we're left guessing, aren't we, Joe?