Kindred on Albom receiving this year's Red Smith Award

No need to snipe at Jim for his defense of Albom. The last thing Jim Carty is is an apologist for anyone.
We shall agree to disagree; and that is someone defending a friend.

 

No snipe intended.

But given Mitch's established blind spots and selective homerism,
it's difficult to defend him as a day-to-day metro sports columnist,
in my mind.

Hey, as an established generator of treacle the market laps up, the guy's a money machine. More power to him. He's mining a lucrative vein, and I'm not going to turn my nose up at making good money by any legal means possible.

 

I admire loyalty, and the defense of a friend. But if this

is our threshold for awarding the highest accolade in the field, we're sunk.

 

To clarify, Carty wasn't sticking up for Albom as a friend. As a friend, I was defending Carty's right to defend Albom.

 

That was understood. And yes, he has the right to defend Albom.

I'm criticizing that defense.

 

The thing is, Azrael, Kindred never even comes out and simply says Albom shouldn't get the award. He implies it, but he doesn't say it. He says the APSE "did a curious thing." He says Albom is "an unlikely guardian of journalist values." He says Albom's denial of ego "made him a little itchy." He writes that what Albom did with the Michigan State column "is known as fiction. It can get you expelled."

It's really weak sauce, a passive aggressive mix of inside baseball and re-hashing of old news. Does Kindred think Albom should have received the award or not? He never really says. He implies, but he never says it. He had a vote on the award - he tells us that, but he doesn't say how he voted.

Kindred knew Albom was up for this award. It would have been a lot more interesting and ballsy if he had written this column before Albom received it and said why he wasn't voting for him.

And I don't mind getting ripped for this stance. That's what message boards are for. But please, rip me for the stance, not for defending a friend. I have no relationship with Albom. None. Again, he probably wouldn't know me if he passed me on the street, and I've said in the past that he probably should have been fired for the Michigan State column.

 

It is certainly a good lesson for young aspiring journalists which is the forum where Kindred wrote his column.

 

that is very funny

and bravo, dave kindred

 

Not to mention Red . . . and Fridays . . .

Most lifts by deft lifters aren't quite so obvious.

 

Couldn't disagree more, Jim.

Understand that I don't know a fraction as much about Mitch Albom as those who have been around Michigan. But if the characater of a person can be determined by not only the action, but also subsequent reaction of said person during a time of crisis, then I KNOW Albom failed. Badly.

He was never upfront about what he did, choosing only to react well after the fact. Worse, when he made an apology on-air a few days later, he made a point to throw editors and the desk in front of the train during his "apology," which came off as "I'm not the least bit sorry. I'm just sorry I got caught."

Keep in mind that - according to what I read and heard - two people lost their jobs over that mess. One of those was not Albom, which is all I ever need to know about Carole Leigh Hutton.

That Albom could spout that epic crap to anyone at any meeting is the highest form of hypocrisy. And I suspect that Dave Kindred was also trying to make that point in addition to the obvious blunder which sank Albom in the first place.

Sorry, Jim. Cannot go with you on this one. And nice work, Mr. Kindred.

 

Having worked with Mitch very early in his career -- and I suppose early in mine -- and having once somewhat infamously remarked that I didn't know how he'd play as a daily columnist (the length thing concerned me), I also like Mitch and have never had the problem with his success that others have had. And the guy can certainly write.

(Some of the criticisms are valid -- including the obvious Big One -- but no matter what anybody says to me -- so don't bother here -- I'll always believe at least some of the flak he catches is simply because he's a huge success and made a pile of money, and yes, there's some jealousy at play.)

That said, it's hard to argue with much of Kindred's column, or not cringe at the "people don't like me because I'm a loner out there fighting the good journalism fight outside of hospitality rooms" in Mitch's quotes.

 

A piece on the National Sports Journalism Center's website about another columnist is going to be inside baseball no matter how you slice it, which is fine considering the audience.