Milwaukee J-S's editors take to the mound

That's a bit idealistic -- even a bit myopic -- but I like it. It seems our main job/goal these days is survival.
That's why I like your notion better.

I've known Garry for more than 12 years. Been part of panels and contests with him...too many to count.
I've never worked with him or for him.
That said:

I've never worn a jersey to one of our pro games (even though I grew up a fan of one of them). Never took a free throw at a basketball game, never took batting practice, never kicked a field goal, never worn a team polo, never taken a notebook, never asked or an autograph (even though I have three children), never accepted a ticket without paying for it.
That's not what I was there for. I was there to work. To tell a story (or manage one). To inform. To be critical, if necessary.
(My idealism now poking through, I suppose).

 

Wow.
You're an idiot.
Dude.

 

When great, great sections across the country like Atlanta and Dallas fall apart because of ineptness and stupidity, it's great to see Milwaukee keep on course. If anything, that paper is UNDER-rated. I have always enjoyed MJS when in Wisconsin.

 

It's never been OUR mission to provide a fun outlet for people to forget about their troubles. That's the job of the teams we cover. THEY'RE the ones who provide the distraction from an illegal war in Iraq, a botched war in Afghanistan, a crumbled economy and all the various problems we face in this world and in this nation.

Our job is to report what happens, be it last night's ballgame or an expose into a culture of rules violations by the athletes and the teams we cover. If people want distraction from the bad news of the day, let them pick up the comics or the kids' page.

 

That explains why I didn't know that, only pro baseball I've covered is at the Double-A level. Why do MLB teams charge?

 

I don't know the answer to that, but I know the spread at an MLB park is better than what the bush leagues put out.

 

Just to clarify: Are we talking about the food in the press box at baseball and football games, or the food in the media dining rooms at any of the sports? My experience is, baseball, basketball and hockey charge for the dining room food, generally consumed during pregame period, but the press box grub (hot dogs, popcorn) in ballparks still is free.

Not that I understand what any of this has to do with a couple of homers videotaping themselves looking like rubes, doing something they have no business doing, somewhere they have no business being, as alleged journalists (and taking a personalized Brewers jersey for the big boss to go with the sports editor's personalized Bucks jersey).

 

MLB teams most definitely charge for the press box grub.

As for the JS editor -- there is no way you can defend it. If the Brewers really want to have someone from the paper throw out the first pitch, put the publisher out there, or anybody who does not work in editorial.

But this is a glaring conflict of interest. Kind of makes you wonder how neutral the paper's coverage was when the Brewers were getting hundreds of millions of dollars of public financing for Miller Park.

 

If I were a publisher, I wouldn't go throw the first pitch at games played by the teams my paper covers. I'd also explicitly forbid any of my staff (including advertising) from doing so.

If you go to a game my paper DOESN'T cover and you want to throw out the first pitch, prepare to hear me lecture about journalism ethics, particularly the "real or perceived" conflict of interest piece. But if it's your hometown team and we don't cover it, I'm not going to *stop* you from doing it.

 

I'm with F_B on this one. Did you forget the blue font, jambalaya? Any point you were making about Howard is lost by your seeming insistence that we should be ... what ... society page editors?

I guess I'll call Teri Thompson at the N.Y. Daily News and tell her to disband her investigative team. Talk about a bunch a buzzkills. They're out there reporting all that steroid stuff when they should be covering the dog show, right?

 

Somebody made the point earlier that a lot of newsroom employees are discouraged from even voting or at least posting yard signs at election time. So a publisher at least ought to recuse himself from throwing a first pitch at the game of a team his journalists cover. A no-brainer conflict for a newsroom denizen.

 

Many NFL teams charge for the pre-game food in media rooms. Ditto for NBA.

During the game, they'll often put hot dogs and chips (free) in the media room or press box.

Some baseball teams have been charging $8 or so for years for food in press box.