Friday, June 20, 2008

Hank Kissinger, didn't he catch for the Braves?

Time was -- talking about way back in 2005 or '06 -- there would have been great glee at seeing an out-of-town NHL writer call an Ottawa hockey writer a "gas bag" and a top hockey blog issue a similar smackdown.

(For readers in the capital ... three guesses which hockey writer at which paper -- don't click through before you guess!)

There's just a little glee, the kind that comes from the self-satisfaction one only gets from dutifully passing along links to the audience and then trying to act all aloof and above the fray. Seriously, though, reading that just does lend proof that to the Boston Phoenix's theory that, paraphrasing Hank Kissinger, the reason there's so much mudslinging in the sports media is because stakes are so low.

Not that anyone needs another navel-gazey piece about the sports media, but the Phoenix piece is worth a read. Bill Simmons sounds like a sage compared to Buzz Bissinger.

Related:
Bad sports; While old and new media are mending many fences, they’re still squaring off in jockland (Adam Reilly, The Boston Phoenix)
The Garrioch Effect (KuklasKorner)
Keep your Malkin jersey (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

2 comments:

Dennis Prouse said...

Printing garbage trade rumours is a standard way to juice up reader interest, but that doesn't make it any more palatable. A 21 year old Hart Trophy candidate for Camillieri and a lottery ticket, and LA allegedly turned it down? Eklund would have been embarrassed to print this for crying out loud. Next time someone from the mainstream media gets up on their high horse about blogs, remember this laugher.

sager said...

That's why you the commenter of the fortnight, D.P., for having the wontons to say what some of us can't/won't/shouldn't.