A Rant
ESPN’s ongoing symphony of rumors and hearsay about the NFL off-season came to a crescendo with this story written by the honorable Michael Smith on Jan. 14. Here’s the first paragraph for you.
— A source with knowledge of the team's thinking told ESPN's Michael Smith it has not been ruled out that Herm Edwards could return for the final year of his contract as coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.
This kind of flimsy, no-nothing article has become rampant in sports and it serves such little purpose. All we learn from this piece is that apparently Herm Edwards is still alive.
While we're railing ESPN, I’ve noticed that the bottom line -- which used to scroll scores and stats only -- now roll out every rumor available to them, sometimes at paragraph length.
Another Rant
Here’s a question: why do so many headlines need question marks? Will TO buy new car, used? Mangini to the Expos? Favre??? If you have more than two question-marked headlines on your homepage, you might want to look for better sources. I thought the reader was the one asking the questions. Unfortunately, people are systematically sheep-like and fall for certain tricks every time. Damn the question mark trick; we’re dying to find out and they know it!
A Third Rant
Today I read the new Bengals writer, Joe Reedy, and again, walked away grossly underwhelmed and unsatisfied. Mark Curnutte is a good guy – I don’t really know him that well; I shadowed him around PBS for day and we've exchanged a few emails -- but he wasn’t a football fan, and therefore, wasn’t a great football writer. I think he knew that and it’s probably why he moved back to writing metro stuff. The eventual point through this sizeable digression is that I missed Mark Curnutte on the first read of Joe Reedy. He's so boring. I had hoped for just a dash of personality with the new guy – and thought I had found some with the subhead that talked of “Growing a ground game” – but he interviewed dumb ol’ Bratkowski who gave him the same dumb ol’ spiel.
“With a run game, and a healthy Carson Palmer, we can take more shots downfield.”
Wow, defenses will never see that coming, dumass.
Reedy went on to write that the Bengals will look to use the running backs under contract, as well as sign Cedric Benson and maybe acquire an additional running back in free agency or the draft. Thanks, Joe. Now, give me your job.
Mojokong — in the cold.
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3 comments:
Now, Reedy will ask all the questions that Mark wrote in year 1 of the current Bengal regime and the re-tread of info is beginning.
Hopefully he at least reads Curnutte's old stuff on the team to guide his questioning, but I'm guessing this is asking too much which is unfortunate and lends some credibility to your argument that they put people in these jobs who have little knowledge of the organization.
Herm is coming back, IMO.
Aaron
Your first two rants are dead on. Even major news agencies seem to be full of zero content articles. I don't know much about the business models of news agencies/ websites, but can we assume that they are paid per click and have incentive to promise alot and deliver little? There are several websites, including the Enquirer, at which I regularly stop myself from clicking on interesting headlines, because I know it can only lead to inevitable dissapointment.
As far as the Reedy rant goes, isn't his performance run-of-the- mill for Cincinnati sports coverage? Wouldn't you assume someone with a press credential, access to players and coaches and 40 hours/week paid writing-time would write something that was not painfully obvious to casual fans?
Good post,
Craig
If they ask the tough questions, will they be called on next time to ask a question? Will they be given the interview?
We live an an age of "yes-men" careerists, in sports or otherwise, who know that agreeing with the powers at be will advance their careers.
What to do? I guess we will wait for the draft.
faisal
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