Murray Chass' grudge against the NYTimes knows no limits

[Smasher_Sloan]

You can make the case that Murray was unfairly pushed out the door and deserved better. You can make the case that the Times isn't what it used to be.

But when you start picking nits like this, you're just the crazy uncle who sits on the porch and randomly yells at passing cars.

From His blog:

<i>"In a recent column about the plan of The New York Times to make its venerable Sports of the Times column obsolete, I noted that the Times planned to have its beat reporters write columns instead. That’s great for the reporters, but the practice is undermining some of the most inviolable tenets of journalism.

An “One Baseball” column last week by Tyler Kepner, the Times’ Yankees beat writer, confirmed the newspaper’s new journalism. In a previous analysis, Kepner had used the unusable (for reporters) word “I.” In his more recent column he confirmed that the Times was no longer playing by its long valued standards.

Kepner seemed to go out of his way to use “I” to show that he could. In his first sentence, he wrote parenthetically, “I wish I remembered who.” The sentence added nothing to the column; the column would not have suffered without it.

At least two editors read that sentence and left it in the column, demonstrating the freedom Times reporters now have in the decline and fall of a once great newspaper.</i>

 

[BYH]

Get off his lawn.

 

[Boom_70]

I am speechless.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I am speechless.

No, that should be <b>this poster</b> is speechless.

 

[dooley_womack1]

A hypothetical: If Murray Chass' grandson had sex with a female teacher, who would post it first, Smasher or Poin?

 

[Boom_70]

I am speechless.

No, that should be <b>this poster</b> is speechless.

or " a reporter close to the situation was left speechless."

 

[spnited]

Since you're not a reporter Boom, maybe it should be "someone with knowledge of the situation was speechless."
Or "someone familiar with Chass' thinking was speechless."

 

[SF_Express]

"These old eyes are speechless."

 

[21]

How does Murray account for the incessant use of 'I' in his blog rants?

Just pulled this one randomly. I have no idea what he's actually talking about. Here's the first two grafs:

It is a popular game with baseball writers. It is an easy game to play. All it requires is a telephone; the number of calls is up to the writer/player. An Internet column I came across last week epitomized the practice.

I won’t identify the column, the Web site or the writer because if I did, I would be singling out someone for an industry-wide practice, and that might not be fair. Suffice it to say, however, that the columnist is not a rookie and the Web site for which he writes is not an obscure site. In other words, this is not a piece by someone who doesn’t know any better writing for a site you would stumble across only by accident.

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=967

 

[fishwrapper]

Thanks, 21. I just rubbed Cayenne pepper in my eyes.

 

[21]

You're welcome. I was going to post the whole thing.

 

[SF_Express]

How does Murray account for the incessant use of 'I' in his blog rants?

Just pulled this one randomly. I have no idea what he's actually talking about. Here's the first two grafs:

It is a popular game with baseball writers. It is an easy game to play. All it requires is a telephone; the number of calls is up to the writer/player. An Internet column I came across last week epitomized the practice.

I won’t identify the column, the Web site or the writer because if I did, I would be singling out someone for an industry-wide practice, and that might not be fair. Suffice it to say, however, that the columnist is not a rookie and the Web site for which he writes is not an obscure site. In other words, this is not a piece by someone who doesn’t know any better writing for a site you would stumble across only by accident.

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=967

I guess he figures he's no longer bound by "the inviolable tenets of journalism."

 

[Football_Bat]

A hypothetical: If Murray Chass' grandson had sex with a female teacher while roiding on Balco products, who would post it first, Smasher, Poin or Cremora?

I just made your head explode.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

A hypothetical: If Murray Chass' grandson had sex with a female teacher, who would post it first, Smasher or Poin?

Remember, kids: You don't get to 41,000+ posts by making sense.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Yeah, a look at BYH's posting history will tell you that.

 

[BYH]

I agree.

 

[jlee]

Ay yi yi

 

[The Big Ragu]

Get off his lawn.

If I remember the story correctly. ... isn't it get out of his seat, Selena Roberts?

 

[cranberry]

Well, Murray's old and cranky. How about that? I'm just happy he's still energetic and working more than five years after a major heart attack and subsequent brain surgery.

And I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of 28-year-old, stat-head bloggers falling over themselves to criticize a 71-year-old baseball writer who hasn't embraced statistics like VORP and WAR.

If you want to judge Murray by his work the past five years, knock yourself out. I'm sure it's great fodder for yet another snarky Web post. But be aware that people familiar with Murray's work from the previous 40 years are laughing at your ignorance.

 

[Boom_70]

Well, Murray's old and cranky. How about that? I'm just happy he's still energetic and working more than five years after a major heart attack and subsequent brain surgery.

And I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of 28-year-old, stat-head bloggers falling over themselves to criticize a 71-year-old baseball writer who hasn't embraced statistics like VORP and WAR.

If you want to judge Murray by his work the past five years, knock yourself out. I'm sure it's great fodder for yet another snarky Web post. But be aware that people familiar with Murray's work from the previous 40 years are laughing at your ignorance.

Abridged version of Murray's past 40 years work:

Players union good , MLB team owners bad.
Marvin Miller good, Bud Selig bad.