privileged sportswriters

I think Drew really nails this

BLOGS

http://deadspin.com/378253/ricky-reilly-billy-simmons-and-the-follies-of-privileged-sportswriting

 

I admit. I chuckled.

 

What this guy fails to recognize is that access gives you insight. You get a sense of who a guy is - a leader or a follower? Who's the jackass in the room? Who's the guy in the corner doing the crossword? It's not always the guy you would expect if you watched the games on TV, and those details help when analyzing what happened in an important moment or why a trade was made.

The basic point seemed to be that I like to read what my friends (sometimes, imaginary) are thinking about the game. That's fine. Good for you. But it's not journalism. It's writing. And, as Bob Knight said, any second-grader can do that.

 

You nailed it on your last point. There is more to the job than -gasp!- watching games for free.

 

And in a lot of cases, second-rate and self absorbed.

For further information, see Simmons, Bill.

 

You know I just enjoy reading sports commentary so much more when people talk about dicks and vaginas! If you don't have access, at least you have Balls (registered trademark). That, and smugness.

 

Completely assanine, and of course spurred on by Rick Reilly daring to criticize bloggers. Every time someone says something akin to Reilly's comment, they take it on the chin from these clowns. It's like clockwork. Bob Costas was victimized a couple weeks ago, too.

I just love shit like the following:

Most sportswriters get around this by mixing and matching. They're effusive in their praise for the handful of guys that give them decent quotes. They save their most gleeful invective for the handful that don't.

He's starting from a premise that he doesn't bother to back up. "Most sportswriters." He states it as fact. And people lap it up. But he doesn't back it up whatsoever.

 

And let me add, for the 1,000,000th time.

Going to events and interviewing people is not a "privilege."

It's our fucking job.

 

If bloggers want the "privilege" of sports writing, they need to go through the same pain-staking process we did. Get your journalism (or something like it) degree and then send out hundreds of resumes to attempt to land that first job. When you get a call back from that job, don't be upset that you didn't get it, just send out 100 more resumes. Once you do get one, work your ass off to get where you can have the "privilege" of going to events, interviewing people and getting that insight. Until then, don't criticize those people making your job hobby easier as a blogger.

 

They're talking about sports WITH me, rather than trying to lecture me about whatever unique, enlightened perspective they discovered watching from their privileged viewing platform. Sometimes I need the latter. Other times, I don't. The whole reason people like sports blogs is because it's regular fans shooting the breeze with other regular fans. It's a viewpoint some columnist with unlimited clubhouse access can't share, and often looks down upon, as Reilly does, because it's "uninformed."


Shorter BDD: I am an intellectually insecure foof with a keyboard.

 

Yeah. That's what I found so initially fascinating. I was young enough when I first entered a pro locker room that I had watched some of them on TV since I was 8 or 9. And some of them turned out to be completely different people than I'd imagined. I don't think you can get that by watching from a distance or relying on the observations of other people. Access means almost everything.

 

Bill Simmons is America's most prominent sportswriter? When did that happen? I haven't been out of the country and I quit binge drinking long ago. How did I miss this?