Mike Vaccaro Interview
- Thread starter Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)
- Start date
henryhenry
Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2006
- Messages
- 849
casty33 said:
gosh. so maudlin. sportswriters are suckers for maudlin.
Maudlin, huh? Well, let me tell you something. I remember covering one winter meetings when another person named Henry Hecht -- the real one, by the way -- had to leave a card game for an hour because he desperately wanted to watch the MASH episode that had Radar leaving the show. When he came back, he told us it was such an emotional experience, he was crying.
So to you, Mr. (Phony) Henry, I say if you think reading an emotional obit written for a friend or relative is maudlin, all I can say is I feel sorry for you. If Mike Vaccaro is writing it, I'll take maudlin any day.
Carry on,
Dan Castellano
So to you, Mr. (Phony) Henry, I say if you think reading an emotional obit written for a friend or relative is maudlin, all I can say is I feel sorry for you. If Mike Vaccaro is writing it, I'll take maudlin any day.
Carry on,
Dan Castellano
P
PhilaYank36
Guest
I've always like Vaccaro when he was with the Ledger, but now my respect & admiration for him just jumped to a new level. The digs at Loopy and Philips didn't hurt, either. ;D
H
hockeybeat
Guest
If I can be half the writer, reporter and person Mike Vaccaro is, I think I'd be a success.
thebiglead
Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 533
henryhecht said:
Henry - sorry the interviews are not up to your standard.
If you have any questions about how the interviews are done, and why they are done that way, feel free to email me.
SF_Express
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2003
- Messages
- 9,166
When did HenryHecht go from a semi-respectable poster to a guy who goes out of his way to say nasty **** and tweak some of our most respected veterans? I'm trying to place the time.
Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2006
- Messages
- 8,068
SF_Express said:
I think it was the Ron Borges thread that put him over the top.
W
write then drink
Guest
thebiglead said:
can he call you instead?
JohnCanzano
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 2
Never miss a Vac column. He can hit a big-league fastball. Really solid person. This business is better because of him. Good interview. Thanks for posting that.
HejiraHenry
Well-Known Member
imjustagirl said:
Yes.
Frank_Ridgeway
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
- Messages
- 7,706
I think Henry has a very good point about e-mail interviews. They are better than nothing, but I have problems with them. A couple years ago, a kid from my old high school wanted to interview me and I kept trying to get the kid to do it by phone instead of by e-mail because, although it was to my advantage to do it by e-mail, I was trying to convey to him that it wasn't to his advantage to do it that way if he really was interested in finding out what it's like to be a journalist. Now since it wound up in the alumni quarterly and my classmates ended up seeing it, I am very glad we wound up doing it by e-mail because I write much better than I talk and I was able to get my points across very clearly. But there was certainly no give-and-take, no challenges, no provocation, no surprises. It's very much like a prepared statement, you've basically ceded control to the interviewee. We lose so much that way and the interviewer is working with one hand tied. There is a colleague of Vaccaro who has a rare gift for getting people to be themselves, for getting them to forget the recorder is on, for getting them to say things they normally wouldn't say. This is what should be the goal, rather than basically getting someone to write an essay for you -- eloquent but canned.
For instance, I'd want to challenge Vaccaro and say, "Well, you say your relationship with Lupica ended when you went to the Post. What kind of relationship did you have when you were in Newark? Did you interact at all when you were a young columnist in Middletown -- a writer's paper that allowed audacious, emotional writing that was sort of Lupica-esque -- and you were finally in a spot to introduce yourself at, say, a playoff game? Is he busting your balls now because you're at the Post and that's what the two papers do to each other all the time or because he considers you a threat? Have you and he talked about it?"
It's funny. A bunch of years ago two guys I knew way back got jobs as rival SEs in a town that was new to them both. They knew each other a tiny bit from conventions, that kind of thing. One of them said to me, geez I wanted to have lunch with him, he won't give me the time of day. I wanted to say, he liked you fine when you were a thousand miles away, now he wakes up in the morning wanting to beat your ****ing brains in, not be your lunch date.
For instance, I'd want to challenge Vaccaro and say, "Well, you say your relationship with Lupica ended when you went to the Post. What kind of relationship did you have when you were in Newark? Did you interact at all when you were a young columnist in Middletown -- a writer's paper that allowed audacious, emotional writing that was sort of Lupica-esque -- and you were finally in a spot to introduce yourself at, say, a playoff game? Is he busting your balls now because you're at the Post and that's what the two papers do to each other all the time or because he considers you a threat? Have you and he talked about it?"
It's funny. A bunch of years ago two guys I knew way back got jobs as rival SEs in a town that was new to them both. They knew each other a tiny bit from conventions, that kind of thing. One of them said to me, geez I wanted to have lunch with him, he won't give me the time of day. I wanted to say, he liked you fine when you were a thousand miles away, now he wakes up in the morning wanting to beat your ****ing brains in, not be your lunch date.
Frank, I hear what you're saying, but I flat-out guarantee that "interviews" with writers are better if they're written, like thebiglead's have been. I think it's the one situation where someone might be more open than they might be verbally, because writers are born wanting their words to entertain. And I'd much rather read someone's cogent, literate thoughts than the gumbled stammerings that most of us bleat out when we're talking.
Most of the time, I think you're absolutely correct: Chatting folks up is the ideal. Writers are the one exception.
Most of the time, I think you're absolutely correct: Chatting folks up is the ideal. Writers are the one exception.
Frank_Ridgeway
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
- Messages
- 7,706
Jones said:
To me it is the difference between a portrait photo and a candid one. It is not necessarily adversarial, but magic occurs only when unscripted by either party. The first famous writer I met was the late novelist John Gardner when he spoke at my college in 1978. Now he wrote a couple of books about writing and they are good books. But there was something about seeing his facial movements, hearing the tone in his voice, sitting close enough to know he didn't smell especially good, hearing him answer off-the-cuff and sometimes stupid questions, watching him do cold readings of students' writing samples from a pile (mine was one) and give instant critiques that gave us an insight that here was an academic, but not a chin-tugger, a down-and-dirty wit brilliant enough to take something apart and put it together at one glance. We could never get that from reading everything he wrote about writing.
jason_whitlock
Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2002
- Messages
- 731
why can't this BLOG do e-mail interviews and the rest of us do something else? i'm not sure i'll ever consent to another phone interview because the comments are often taken out of context and butchered. i'd rather stick with what i write.
oops. great interview, biglead. it was nice to hear from vac and see such a slim photo of him, an inspiration.
oops. great interview, biglead. it was nice to hear from vac and see such a slim photo of him, an inspiration.
Frank_Ridgeway
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
- Messages
- 7,706
He can. I just thought there was some validity to the post by "Henry." A posed photo can be good, I just personally prefer candid.
