Surprised this didn't show up earlier

Erie columnist blasts native son Bob Sanders

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100228/SPORTS0509/302289912/-1/sports0509

Community blasts back

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100228/SPORTS0509/302289912/-1/sports0509

70-some letters telling columnist not to dare question a pro athlete who is magnanimous enough to donate stuff

 

The link to the letters just went to the column.

One thing is for sure, though. The people of northwest Pennsylvania treat the natives who made it to the NFL like gods. That won't be the end of the letters.

 

Your links are the same.

 

It pains me to say this as a journalist, but I'm going to say it anyway.

Does it matter how much the computers he donated cost? No, not really. If you give a number as to how many computers he donated, a reasonably intelligent human being can figure it out.

Does he need to grant interviews at the football camp? Again, no, not really. If he's doing it to do it, and not seek publicity for it (that part is uncertain), he doesn't need to speak to reporters.

Does he need to share his wife's name, wedding date, etc.? Probably not, because I can't imagine that would be a good idea if he's trying to keep that information private or have a small ceremony.

I do take an issue with the questions being pre-approved through the Colts, but that might not be him. I've dealt with their PR folks in the past and not had pleasant experiences for out-of-town folks.

Is it worth writing a column blasting the guy? It's the columnist's prerogative, I guess, but nobody wants to read about columnists crying afoul of their situations. He's going to feel the wrath here.

 

Try this link for the letters...
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100307/OPINION02/303079991/-1/opinion02

And while Dudley raises many valid points, it did come across as a little pissy. I thought if anyone had the right to bitch, it was the TV anchor who did Sanders a favor, then shut him out of an interview.

 

Sounds like Sanders is a jerk — to the media and no one else.

Seems like he always does the right things for everyone but the media.

If he was a jerk to everyone (students, fans, citizens alike) then maybe a column blasting him is warranted. But not in this case. Not in the least.

The columnist comes off as a whiner.

What Sanders has done and said has nothing to do with the fans/readers/community and everything to do with the columnist's — not Sanders' — need for control.

The only thing — and I mean the only thing — I think Sanders owes the public is talk of or answers about his injuries.

Other than that, the contract never changes, so what's to ask about a second or third time?

I know this will sound like sour grapes from scorned media types — indeed it does.

 

I don't get it. What's the point of that column? I couldn't care less about Erie, PA despite having several friends from there who love the place. I find nothing compelling about that article. Seems like he took a lot of words to say, "I don't like Bob Sanders."

 

WFW.

No one cares that Sanders hates the media if he's a darling to everyone else. I'm surprised more athletes don't play that card, actually.

 

Exactly.

No cares about our trials and tribulations as a journalist. They can about stories that affect them, or provide them insight into something that affects them.

We have a guy who is constantly writing about himself and his job and its daily grind. No one in readershipland cares. They can't possibly care.

 

We had an editor once who wrote a day-in-the life type column about himself. It was set during playoff time and ran about 2k words long. It was unbelievably bad, to the point where our sister papers refused to run it (we usually share most of our work when we need help filling space).

Unsurprisingly, he thought it was great and wanted to make it a yearly feature...thank god he eventually forgot about it...

 

This column is awful. I understand what Dudley is going through. Some of these guys are jerks to reporters. That's the life. But, if Bob Sanders doesn't want to talk, then don't do stories on him.

He doesn't have to be nice to the media, and while I don't find the questions that out of bounds, I don't find his attitude ridiculous either.

I was reading the letters, the letters had some good points. The one about the Mercyhurst hockey player and then the Sanders article ring true.

Erie seems to be acting like it's the NY Post and forgetting it's a local paper.