Posted by djsunyc:

what gives one credibility? must they be former players? former coaches or gm's? or graduate bball journalism with an A+?

Posted by misterearl:


djsu - the point is that there is no "credibility" standard for beat writers, other than having the opportunity and the blessing of a decision-maker. Your "Live From Section 404" reports are more creative, engaging, insightful and entertaining than 95% of the stuff that masquerades as journalism.

one more thing

if tomverve sez David Lee desrves and A then goshdarnit David Lee deserves an A.

but wouldn't it be more a directive from their editors than the writers themselves? unless they have carte blanche for their respective articles. i think anybody that writes any article for any paper has some personal agenda. to report on sports is virtually impossible to be objective b/c there's a human element. you can be like hollinger and regurgitate #'s till you're blue in the face but that makes for totally boring dialogue and doesn't sell. people read the papers to get some emotion. they want to read something they agree with or disagree with. the majority of people aren't reading sports pages at a higher level where they're trying to learn something. some may...but that makes up <1% (most likely). the sports reporting in ny is a result of the evolution (or de-volution) of the ny sports fan. it's more of a cultural thing than anything else. it is of my opinion that the sports writers in ny don't dictate change, but are a reflection of change in the makeup of ny sports fans.

sports is a primal activity. it's "me tarzan, you jane." that's the audience it's catering to.

you know, it's funny but you could almost correlate the level of play in the league to the level of reporting in ny sports section.

[Edited by - djsunyc on 04-19-2007 7:42 PM]

Posted by misterearl:

>>you know, it's funny but you could almost correlate the level of play in the league to the level of reporting in ny sports section.

don't agree. I think most basketball writers don't have a clue as to the intricacy and skill set that is required to do half the things that players do,

if you never picked up a ball, can you fully appreciate (or respect) what is going on, on the floor?

Posted by misterearl:

here's the problem dj, sportswriters come from such a homogenous and inbred culture that the content can't help but be redundant. Until the editors expand their criteria to include better creative writing, or open opportunities beyond the "good old boy" network, there will be the same ol' repotage next season.

and some people will even believe them as gospel.

sheesh

Medical staff – You get the feeling that if Thomas is going to use injuries as an excuse, someone from the medical staff is going to take the fall. And this goes above trainers Roger Hinds and Antony Goenaga, who handled themselves like pros. Crawford’s injury wasn’t diagnosed until two months after he originally got hurt. And someone has to explain how Lee said that doctors told him his injury would take “days, not weeks” to heal, only to have him miss the final two months. D