Verducci rails on cranky old blogger Chass

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Count how many times Verducci refers to Chass as a blogger in this column.

Very sharp rhetorical sword here by Verducci, who obviously reveled in writing this. It's almost satire with the way he dismisses Chass as a blogger.

Given Chass' rep, I'm sure he's getting a lot backslaps in Orlando.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/12/07/marvin.miller.hof/index.html

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

The way he spits out "The blogger" reminded me of Murrow saying "The Junior senator" when referring to McCarthy in Good Night and Good Luck.

So much disdain attached to that term here, and knowing how much it will bother the person being described. Chass' bile deserved no less.

The blog:

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=2700

 

[DanOregon]

A lot of pissiness all the way around.

 

[imjustagirl]

I don't read, never did read, Chass. Did he used to be better? Those first two grafs weren't even written well. I'd heard his name, and assumed he was good at what he did.

Was I wrong?

 

[slappy4428]

A lot of pissiness all the way around.

I enjoyed the pissyness... thought it a nice smackdown by Verducci

 

[Azrael]

A great deal of energy here being expended on bad information and hurt feelings. Jesus. Baseball, and the apparatus of nostalgia-making used to sell baseball, continues to embarrass everyone it touches.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

A lot of pissiness all the way around.

I enjoyed the pissyness... thought it a nice smackdown by Verducci

Is pissyness/pissiness supposed to be spelled with an i or a y?

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

A lot of pissiness all the way around.

I enjoyed the pissyness... thought it a nice smackdown by Verducci

Is pissyness/pissiness supposed to be spelled with an i or a y?

The pursuit of (how to spell) pissyness.

 

[Drip]

This vendetta goes back to when Verducci was at Newsday and Chass was at The Times.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

That's OK. Someday Verducci will be put out to pasture and someone will come along and blast him for doing something stupid.

Hey, Verducci, Roger Clemens still eating spinach to get in shape?

 

[AreaMan]

Well, that was a couple minutes of my life I won't get back.

 

[shockey]

i know and respect(ed?) both combatants here. and i'm thoroughly disappointed and repulsed that they have been reduced to this... but then baseball writers (in general) have always been the most egotistical, self-important pompous asses in this profession.

that said, i expect little more than bitter blog rantings from murray, whose stellar career at the times did not end pretty. i am more disappointed in tom, still on top of the heap at s.i. he should have more discipline/self-control than to go after a guy who's been reduced to being a total non-entity to the general public after a loooong career as the no. 1 baseball writer for the no. 1 paper in the country. for shame...

 

[accguy]

Murray Chass is a bitter, cranky human who previously used his position as baseball columnist at the NYT to crush people -- including other writers.

I loved that Verducci put him on blast.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Writers fighting with writers in print (or pixel) about sports is OK. Writers fighting with writers about writing makes both writers look bad and sports journalism look worse. And I too know both Tom and Murray, and wish things were different.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Writers fighting with writers in print (or pixel) about sports is OK. Writers fighting with writers about writing makes both writers look bad and sports journalism look worse. And I too know both Tom and Murray, and wish things were different.

Chass reported something about Verducci that absolutely wasn't true.

 

[cranberry]

I don't read, never did read, Chass. Did he used to be better? Those first two grafs weren't even written well. I'd heard his name, and assumed he was good at what he did.

Was I wrong?

Murray was never a great writer. However, before his brain cancer and subsequent surgery and before getting pushed out at the Times and becoming a cranky old guy, he was unmatched in terms of covering the business side of baseball. He was not just a good reporter but a great reporter.

Personally, I wish for his own sake he'd just put it away for good and just retire. Easy for me to say, I guess.

 

[LongTimeListener]

He had brain cancer? Honestly that makes me see him in a completely different light. He might just be processing thoughts and moods differently now. Yeah, probably for the preservation of his rep he should stop writing. But if it keeps him going and gives him some fulfillment and an outlet, it seems worthwhile.

 

[Bubbler]

Any virtriol on here for Marvin Miller himself?

I know he's in his 90s, but he apparently passed on to Chass the names of two people (Verducci, Jim Palmer) whom he thought had an agenda against him, but apparently voted for him.

Miller called Palmer "an anti-union sonuvabitch" according to Verducci.

Sounds like Chass was guilty of being Miller's mouthpiece as well as being inaccurate as well as being a prick in his blog entry. A pox on both of their houses as far as I'm concerned.

 

[cranberry]

He had brain cancer? Honestly that makes me see him in a completely different light. He might just be processing thoughts and moods differently now. Yeah, probably for the preservation of his rep he should stop writing. But if it keeps him going and gives him some fulfillment and an outlet, it seems worthwhile.

This is basically the way I feel about it, too. But he's a fun target for a whole generation of amateur Internet writers, 99 percent of whom will never have half of Murray's resume.

 

[Dick Whitman]

He had brain cancer? Honestly that makes me see him in a completely different light. He might just be processing thoughts and moods differently now. Yeah, probably for the preservation of his rep he should stop writing. But if it keeps him going and gives him some fulfillment and an outlet, it seems worthwhile.

This is basically the way I feel about it, too. But he's a fun target for a whole generation of amateur Internet writers, 99 percent of whom will never have half of Murray's resume.

This is irrelevant. Wrong is wrong.