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Erik Bedard = worst interview ever?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by the_lorax, Mar 11, 2008.

  1. Beyond whether readers give a shit, it's just not the way you treat people. It's bullshit. I wouldn't call him out for it in print, because readers don't care, but I think it's bullying, junior-high bullshit and I think he's a dickhead for acting like this.
     
  2. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    and i call bullshit, jr. if a guy's having a kickass season, fans want to know what makes that person tick, esp. if they're playing for a new team.
     
  3. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Pulitzer

    Well, it depends. If he's rude, condescending or arrogant, then yeah, it's no way to treat people.

    But if he says, matter of factly, "Four questions" without being smarmy, I don't have a problem with that.

    Particularly with his response to "Why just four?".

    C'mon, now that's funny.
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    We should put that at the end of every correction we run
     
  5. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Tom,
    Look, 99.9% of athletes don't say anything insightful. I mean, c'mon, what do readers ever learn? That his fastball was working? That it set up the change-up nicely.That he was pitching within himself?
     
  6. the_lorax

    the_lorax Member

    He's the key component to a team that is (supposedly) gearing up for a playoff run. People want to hear what he has to say. Just look at some of the threads on that blog.
    I'm not saying he has to like talking to the press. But be a man and answer a few (preferably more than four) questions, even if you had a bad day. It's part of your job.
     
  7. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    jr. all i'm saying is a lot of fans want to know about the guys on their team, esp. the stars or the guys that are doing extremely shitty. if a player can't come up with something insightful even if he was a part of the freakin' moon landing, then it's up to the writer to find an angle to create an interesting story.

    it's what we do.
     
  8. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    OK, I'm the exception, then and I'll beg off.

    In my opinion,most athletes have NO insights and very little interesting to say

    It's all soundbites and cliches.

    It's not their fault.

    I mean, look at The Baby Jesus. He's always interviewed and he's about as interesting as a loaf of Wonderbread. He's smooth, he's polite, he's been well-trained but lord, the kid's 20 and he talks to the media like he's done if for thirty years in Parliament.

    They're dull and boring and for the most part, I don't care.
     
  9. The SI piece last year did make it sound like he still chit chats with writers around the clubhouse. Just doesn't like to go on record. So I don't know. Never met him.
     
  10. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    He's never been a good quote. After feeling like he was burned by some reporters in Baltimore, he's now a not-good talker who doesn't care if he antagonizes. Some of it is on purpose, but at least he'll occassionally warm up if he trust you not to burn him. No one in Seattle should think anything is going to change though.
     
  11. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    It sounds like you're just reading a buncha bad writers. Good reporters know how to make their subjects interesting most of the time. Sure, there are going to be some dullards who are as boring as a brick wall, but if you NEVER read anything insightful or interesting from players in your newspaper, you're reading a bad newspaper.
     
  12. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Well, I actually said "most athletes" , not "all" and I was talking about game-related quotes, usually picked up in the post game scrums.

    And I read on average about five papers a day.

    Are there interesting athletes? Yup.

    Dominic Moore of the Toronto Maple Leafs is a Harvard grad and speaks in complete paragraphs and has a pretty analytical mind when he talks about hockey situations.

    I could run through the rest of that roster and well, nope, can't think of anybody else.

    The best quote is the coach, Paul Maurice.

    Best interview with the Raptors is Sam Mitchell.

    Best interview with the Jays is that dickhead GM Ricciardi.

    Most athletes don't strike me as very interesting people, that's all. In a lot of cases, they're just young men who have done one and only one thing since they were five. There's not a lot of introspection going on.
     
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