Esquire writer vs. "The Whore of Akron"

OK, even conceding all of that, I think that the Heat SID could have been more professional about pulling the credential. The one-sentence email comes off as pissy and childish. If you feel that you have a legitimate reason to pull a credential, then own it.

 

I guess one problem I have with it is what happens the next time someone else wants to rip LeBron or the Heat? Do they think twice about it for fear of having their credential pulled? Hell, every time a columnist is critical of a team, the fan bois on the message boards howl about how their credential should be pulled. If the SID didn't owe Raab anything, didn't he owe it to the rest of the working journalists to explain why this credential is being pulled? Otherwise, it can be interpreted as: "Criticize LeBron, and risk getting your credential pulled."

 

Unprofessional on Raab's part. At least as I see it, for this reason:

Just because anybody can now be a "journalist" doesn't mean that journalism itself no longer has standards. One of the most basic, IMO, when dealing with mainstream stuff (like pro sports leagues) is that gratuitous use of profanity -- typed out profanity, real words in print or in pixels -- is going to put you (pardon the expression) on someone's s*** list.

Just because Rolling Stone made it cool to use the "f" word and just because most civil behavior has fallen to the lowest common denominator doesn't mean that rants filled with curse words are respected, accepted or tolerated.

I'd be on Raab's side a lot more if he had kept the vocabulary clean -- "The Whore of Akron" shouldn't have been enough to yank a credential -- and lofty, rather than veering into the sewer where the largely ignored and way too shrill wannabes work.

Someone slicing and dicing with legit, interesting words is a lot more fun to read anyway. Surely there are ways to write anger without resorting to f***, s*** and p***.

Just because so many of us these days can get away with using naughty words doesn't mean that everyone has to put up with that. There still are some grown-ups running things.

 

Great unused band name No. 742.

I wonder if Esquire gets credentials to The Masters.

 

In 99.999 percent of credential-pulling instances, I feel like the team is wrong. Here? you lost me at the word motherfu**er. I don't see how anyone could argue a journalist writing that (print, Twitter, whatever) about a player is just another day at the office.

 

Unprofessional, vile, childish, whatever. "Whore of Akron" is still a fine little twisted Biblical reference.

 

Dead-nuts awesome.

 

dead-nuts?

 

Caught it right on the screws.

 

Did the Whore of Akron's team really lose at Memphis last night?

 

Without Dwyane Wade.

 

That certainly excuses a loss to the Griz.