Esquire writer vs. "The Whore of Akron"

So there's an interesting story that's unfolded this week in Miami, where an Esquire writer from Cleveland went and got himself banned from the Miami arena. Scott Raab was writing occasional website pieces, (I'd assume) a magazine piece down the road, and a book about LeBron ditching Cleveland for Miami.

Here's the link to the site's "LeBron Watch" ... http://www.esquire.com/the-side/lebron-james/

And here's Scott Raab's Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/Scott_Raab

The whole thing is just odd.

 

When I saw the subject line, I thought for sure it was going to be about LeBron's mom.

Obviously, it's their right to credential whomever they please but the Heat are being complete babies about this. And the pissy one-line email is completely unprofessional.

I can never decide how I feel about Raab as a writer. If you don't like first-person, for example, don't read something like his Philip Roth piece a few months ago. Guy gets to wander around the neighborhoods where a famously reclusive literary lion grew up, with said literary lion, and the story is as much about Scott Raab's process of writing the story as it is about Philip Roth.

But I think he might have pulled it off. I'm not sure.

 

Raab is from Cleveland but has lived in NYC for years and years. He still writes quite a bit about Cleveland and probably visits quite often. Yet I find it slightly disingenuous when so many people who have left Cleveland are so angry about LeBron leaving Cleveland.

 

Raab spent last season back in Cleveland for his book.

Since the preseason, or even going back to the playoffs, he's been out-ranting Buzz Bissinger on LeBron on Twitter, though he admits he's hamming it up for fun, with the Whore of Akron stuff.

Raab's a diehard Cleveland fan. He has a tat of Chief Wahoo on his arm. (Also a Star of David, I'm told, which is awesome) So I think his cred is not an issue.

And he's got a mag story on Wade in this issue.

 

LeBron obviously is mentally ill for leaving Cleveland voluntarily and should be pitied and medicated, not ridiculed.

 

And here's more from SportsBusinessDaily.com. I'm posting it because you have to be a member to read the link.

The NBA and the Heat will not grant writer Scott Raab a media credential to cover games at AmericanAirlines Arena after he posted a series of profanity-laced messages Sunday about Heat F LeBron James on his Twitter account, including calling James the “Whore of Akron.” NBA Senior VP/Marketing Communications Michael Bass said, "There is an expectation of professionalism on both sides of the team-media relationship. The posts on Mr. Raab's Twitter account clearly fall short of that standard." Raab had obtained a credential for last Saturday's Raptors-Heat game as part of a plan to cover the team for the entire week. He runs the "LeBron Watch" blog on Esquire.com, where he is described as a "heartsick Clevelander." He plans to release a book about Cleveland sports in early ’12. NBA Senior VP/Basketball Communications Tim Frank noted the league typically does not credential media members for the purposes of writing a book, and the league typically issues season credentials to writers who cover 40-50 games per year. Frank also noted the Heat do not traditionally credential bloggers. "I think because of Scott's history as a writer, they tried to work with him and tried to credential him for a game," he said. Raab yesterday on the Esquire blog noted he received an e-mail from Heat VP/Sports Media Relations Tim Donovan Monday that read, “Scott: You are no longer welcome at our building and will not be credentialed moving forward. Tim.” Raab wrote, “I've profiled NBA players for national magazines for more than twenty years. … Still, I can't get an NBA credential because -- well, I don't know." He noted he plans to attend both tonight's Suns-Heat game and Friday's Bobcats-Heat game as a fan “with a ticket in hand."

 

My dream, and it will always be an unfulfilled one, is to be involved with an entity that's so big and so important and so impervious to the needs of everybody else (even readers) that when somebody pulls some pissy deal like this, I say, "No problem, you need us more than we need you," and have the sports organization say, "Oh, sorry, we didn't mean it, please come back." Donovan's one-line e-mail is at least one of the unprofessional aspects of this whole thing.

Of course, this will remain only a dream, which I'm aware of.

 

I'd have yanked his credential, too. Let him buy a ticket.

 

So, basically, Raab's rationale is: "I've been around, so I can do and say what I want without consequence."

He's a gifted writer. He can do without the pointless, hammy jabs at LeBron, and now he's paying for it.

Let's be blunt: This doesn't really help the business, does it? It helps Scott Raab. It's selfish.

 

Well, isn't commentary part of the business?

I'm not sure how LeBron is harmed by Scott Raab's grumpy (though in my opinion funny) tweets. I think if I were the Heat PR person, I'd say, essentially, who gives a shit?

 

His criticism of the Browns on his Twitter feed is amateur hour stupidity.

 

So if a writer Tweeted "LeBron is The *expletive* Whore of Akron," that would be OK?

Obviously, at some point, the choice of words - and the images that choice provokes - works against the effectiveness of the commentary and pisses people off. Whaddya gonna do? Deny people their ability to be offended? It's a constant negotiation of life. You got the Heat, handing out 200 credentials per or whatever, and they don't want some snark skulking around making a stink. Even if I don't agree with it, I know the game and he does too. Don't use your Twitter account to undercut your mission of writing about LeBron James, especially when you're as good as he is, and don't need to waste your time on overused, dumb words like "whore." Talent is not a blank check to write and say whatever you please.

An example: A friend of mine once got smoked for using the phrase "gutless wonders" in a piece. And although I listened, I told him at the end, hey, the team was a championship-caliber squad that lost a lead down the stretch. That doesn't make them gutless. They didn't <i>quit</i>. They missed some open shots.