Category Archives: Sportswriters

Heavy math: Sports on Earth NFL writer was Joe Flacco’s high school calculus teacher

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Mike Tanier is different than any other NFL writer covering the playoffs for two reasons

A. Tanier is the only sportswriter who was Joe Flacco’s high school calculus teacher.

B. Tanier likely is the only sportswriter who understands calculus.

“Wait a minute, you know calculus?” I said about a subject that still gives me the shakes 35 years after graduating high school.

Tanier, who covers the NFL for the new Sports on Earth site, definitely has a unique story and a unique perspective on this year’s playoffs.

It didn’t begin for Tanier in the conventional way. Instead of getting a position in journalism after graduating college, he became a teacher at Audubon (N.J.) High School, outside of Philadelphia. It was a job he held for 17 years, as he moonlighted on the side as a football writer.

Besides Flacco, Tanier also taught future Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne. He had the foundation of a nice backfield in his classes.

The Baltimore Ravens quarterback took calculus from Tanier during 2001-02 school year. “For some reason, I taught the lowest levels of math and the highest levels of math,” Tanier said.

OK, where did Flacco fall, said, fearing the worst.

“He was in the highest level,” Tanier said. “He was a really smart kid. There were 4 or 5 of his teammates in his class.” Also in his class was Flacco’s future wife.

Tanier described Flacco as “quiet, dedicated, and very serious.” Still, he showed his quarterback qualities in class.

“When we had a group project, he took on the leadership position,” Tanier said.

As a football player at Audubon, Tanier recalled Flacco as an gifted athlete playing with a lot of not-so-gifted athletes. He said Flacco was throwing to a bunch of 5-10, 160-pound kids and “none of them were named Danny Amendola.”

Flacco eventually went on to fame at Delaware and then with the Ravens. Tanier didn’t expect their lives to intersect again, but they did.

Tanier, 41, always had a passion for sportswriting. When blogs started to exploded in the early 2000s, he started writing for the Football Outsiders. “I think they liked that I was able to use my math knowledge and apply it to football,” he said.

Tanier, though, wasn’t just a bland math geek (not to stereotype or anything). He took an offbeat approach to his posts. His bio on Sports on Earth includes this line: “He strives to write game capsules for people who hate game capsules: funny, offbeat, informative and as cliché-free as possible.”

Tanier began to contribute NFL capsules to the New York Times in 2009. Yet he still kept his day job as a teacher.

Eventually, though, he hit a crossroads. In 2011, he walked away from teaching.

“The reality hit that if the New York Times was putting my work in the Sunday paper, maybe I should pursue this professionally,” Tanier said. “It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. I had tenure and I was well regarded as a teacher. I’m flabbergasted about how it turned out. There’s a million ways that this wouldn’t have happened.”

This year, Sports on Earth called. Now the former teacher has byline on the same home page as Joe Posnanski, Leigh Montville, Dave Kindred, Shaun Powell, Gwenn Knapp, among others.

This week, Tanier did a column on Flacco in advance of this week’s AFC title game. From reading it, you wouldn’t know that Tanier has a personal connection to the quarterback. He says he has criticized Flacco in the past and will in the future if events warrant.

Yet Tanier admits he isn’t completely objective when it comes to Flacco. He wants his former student to finally reach the Super Bowl.

“I absolutely root for him,” Tanier said. “I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m an Eagles fan. If they’re out of it, then I’m a Ravens fan.. This is a kid I used to see fool around with his buddies before class. It’s like any teacher. You want your former students to do well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laid-off Washington Times sportswriter: Hope have more tomorrows than yesterdays in my career

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Newspaper layoffs. We’ve become numb to it by now. They seem to happen almost daily.

Still, I was struck by an item at Romenesko.com last week. He ran a tweet from Patrick Stevens, a sportswriter who just found out he was being laid off by the Washington Times. The tweet said: “Can go ahead and cross ‘live tweeting while being fired’ off the bucket list.”

I found the tweet amusing, and it gave me the idea to contact Stevens. I told him I wanted to provide a snapshot of what it’s like for somebody to be going through this experience.

Stevens agreed. At the top, he said he is upbeat even though his future is uncertain.

Tellingly, he said, “I’m hoping I have more tomorrows than yesterdays in my career.”

His situation: Stevens was in his second stint with the Times. He worked there from 2002-2009. Then he was rehired in Feb., 2011. Stevens covered the DC college sports scene for the paper. “It’s a terrific beat,” he said. “Something always is happening.”

Stevens, though, got a bad feeling when the paper announced in November that it was going to have more layoffs.

“Let’s just put it this way,” Stevens said. “When they announced that, I felt it was time to update the resume.”

Sure enough, Stevens wasn’t surprised when he received the news Friday. Earlier that morning, he found out the hard drive in his computer was dead.

“At least I didn’t round things off by getting in a car accident,” Stevens said.

What now?: Stevens is 32 and isn’t married. He said he might feel differently if he had a family to support.

“I’m in a much better spot because of my situation,” he said.

The first thing Stevens did was restart his website, D1scourse.com, which focuses on DC-Baltimore college sports.

“I launched it when I was in between jobs the first time,” Stevens said. “The worst thing that can happen is that you disappear. This will keep me busy.”

Stevens said he isn’t going to flood the market with resumes. With all his connections, Stevens hopes something will materialize in the DC area.

“Things have a way of presenting themselves,” Stevens said.

The future: The last time Stevens was out of work, he started thinking of what else he could do. He couldn’t think of anything else.

“It was a bit unnerving,” he said.

Stevens is a sportswriter. That’s what he wants to do. Yet the rug already has been pulled out from him twice. Given the volatility of the industry, how can he be sure about any kind of security if he does get another job?

“Regarding the state of the industry, it’s fair to say that the odds of me making it to the finish line, of doing this another 30 years, aren’t very good,” Stevens said. “Do I think the outlook is bleak? Yeah. You have to be blind not to think that. That’s knowledge that I will have to act upon at some point. I don’t know when.”

Now isn’t the time, Stevens said. Not at age 32. He stressed repeatedly that he is feeling confident about his prospects.

“I don’t think it will be impossible to find another job,” Stevens said. “I’m not going, ‘Woe is me.’ I figured it out before and I will do it again.”

If anything, Stevens said the support he received in the wake of his firing has given him a huge lift. There were numerous tweets, texts, emails and calls.

“It really meant a lot to me,” Stevens said. “The outpouring (of support) far outweighed how much that morning sucked. It made me more optimistic about where things are headed now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former NY Times baseball writer casts final Hall of Fame vote; says writers shouldn’t be involved

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Murray Chass, who started covering baseball in 1960, says he is opting out as a Hall of Fame voter.

The former New York Times baseball writer now writes a blog at murraychass.com. In a post, he says that he cast his 2013 vote for Tiger pitcher Jack Morris. Chass, winner of the 2003 Spink Award, said, “If Morris is not elected this time, I will vote for him next year in his final year of eligibility and then be done.”

Why? Chass writes:

Though I don’t believe there is a more qualified set of electors, certainly not the new-age stats guys who are envious of the writers and believe they should determine Hall of Famers, I don’t think reporters and columnists who cover and comment on baseball news should be making baseball news.

The steroids issue has made it impossible to conduct a rational vote and cast a reasonable ballot. No matter how a writer votes or on what he bases his decision whom to vote for or not to vote for, his reasoning has to be flawed and open to challenge.

Later, Chass writes:

Years ago, I introduced a motion at a national writers’ meeting that we withdraw from voting. Had the motion been voted on at that meeting, I think it would have had a good chance of passing. If it had passed, we wouldn’t be debating the steroids issue now. But a quick-thinking writer moved to table the vote until the entire national membership could vote by mail.

My motion easily lost so here we are today talking about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell among others.

I couldn’t agree more with Chass. As I said in a December post, sportswriters should report the news, not make the news.

With the steroids issue, the stakes now are so much higher for the Hall of Fame voters. This isn’t about batting averages or World Series records anymore. This is about making a verdict about an entire era of baseball. As I wrote earlier, name another situation where an editor allows a reporter to play judge and jury on a story that he/she then covers.

When the vote is announced Wednesday, many baseball writers will be, in effect, reporting on themselves.

Last week, current New York Times baseball writer Tyler Kepner noted his paper has a policy prohibiting him from voting. In a tweet, he said: ” There are so many inherent contradictions in the process, it’s almost a relief I can’t vote.”

Dave O’Brien, who covers baseball for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, responded in a tweet: “For 1st time, I feel same.”

I have a feeling many other writers feel the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long-time columnist to depart in Seattle: ‘Level of discourse has become so inane and nasty’

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Steve Kelley has decided he has had enough at the Seattle Times. At age 63, he said “the thrill is gone.”

From Rick Anderson of Seattle Weekly:

The repetition of sporting events had something to do with it –  the loopy Groundhog Day effect of look-alike games and legions of coaches and players droning on about “execution” and “taking them one game at a time.”

“I find myself at a lot more games thinking ‘I’ve written this story 411 times now. Isn’t that enough?'” says Kelley, who came to the Times in 1982 from The Oregonian, with earlier newspaper stops in Olympia, Centralia, and Pennsylvania. “It’s more and more a challenge to find a different way to write it.”

But also give some credit to his detractors – anyone who writes for a living has them – for driving him out.

“The reader comments section, it’s a free-for-all,” Kelley says. “The level of discourse has become so inane and nasty. And it’s not just at the Times, it’s ESPN, everywhere – people, anonymous people, take shots at the story, writers, each other. Whatever you’ve achieved in that story gets drowned out by this chorus of idiots.”

 

Best sportswriting of 2012 according to Quickish: From Urban Meyer to Tom Brady and more

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Michael Wilbon sparked considerable debate on this site when he critiqued the current state of sportswriting in an interview.

Wilbon, who edited Best American Sportswriting 2012, said:

“There’s not as much good stuff as there used to be. Don’t get me wrong. I turned down some good pieces. But I know what it used to be. There’s not enough stuff that compels me. The volume (of quality writing) is not close.

“We’re all chasing the same story. Most of it I don’t care about. Where’s LeBron going? Even the great writers aren’t as great as they used to be. They’re smarter. They may be good reporters. They may get information we care about, but they’re not as good at writing. I’m not as great as I used to be. You’re too busy trying to get it posted before Yahoo! does. It’s all a rush to get it posted, to be first.”

Several folks disagreed with Wilbon’s assessment. They include Dan Shanoff of Quickish.

In his compiling his list of the best sportswriting of 2012, Shanoff begins:

This  year re-affirmed that the 99th percentile of sportswriting has never been better.

Here’s the link to Shanoff’s list, which features “12 Best of 12” and “Also Receiving Votes”.

Among those that stood out for me:

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports  on Tom Brady after losing the Super Bowl.

Jonathan Abrams of Grantland using an oral history to retell the infamous NBA fight that spilled into the stands at Detroit.

Wright Thompson of ESPN The Magazine on Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.

And there’s much more. Definitely worth a look.

 

 

 

Sally Jenkins weighs in on Lance Armstrong: Why I’m not angry

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Sally Jenkins did two books with Lance Armstrong, chronicling his struggles and celebrating his triumphs. The Washington Post columnist hadn’t weighed in on revelations that the cyclist was less than honest about what he put in his body.

Until now.

The headline of her column read: “Why I’m not angry at Lance Armstrong.”

I’ve searched high and low for my anger at Lance, and I can’t find it. It’s just not there. I checked — looked in every corner, and I’m empty of it. I’ve tried for weeks now to summon the moral certitude and outrage that others seem to demand, and I don’t have it, maybe because he’s my friend and co-author of “It’s Not About the Bike,” but also because my opinion of him was never based on what he did in a bike race in France 10 years ago. And while we’re on that subject, there is no question in my mind he was the hardest-working cyclist in the world, and for the life of me, I can’t find the competitive injustice in his seven Tour de France victories.

And:

Maybe I’m not angry at Lance because I’ve decided that the smoldering wreckage of the bonfire that burned down Big Tex was wildly out of proportion to the offense. And because, much as I would have liked a personal or public confession from him, I suspect that he understood what the price of it would be, and found the stakes too high to call up his friend at The Washington Post and bring it all down on his head.

And:

Maybe I’m not angry at him because after reading the USADA report and the affidavits of the riders who spoke with USADA, I have some common-sense questions that preclude anger. Such as: Shouldn’t an organization with the initials U.S. in front of it have to follow due process? And: According to the affidavits, the U.S. Postal Team had a highly organized “doping” system in place long before Lance became a member of it, so why is he the target of this report? Or: The affidavits taken by USADA make it clear that while Lance refused to use HGH, Floyd Landis introduced it to younger riders, so why is the federal government considering giving Landis whistle-blower protection?

This is the way it goes throughout the column. Perhaps it is admirable that Jenkins didn’t throw her friend under the bus. All relationships are different, and as much as you and I think we would be hurt if somebody lied to us, you never know how you’re going to react until it happens to you.

Jenkins, though, faced some tough criticism. As of 10:30 a.m. ET, there were nearly 500 comments on her post, a number that surely will grow throughout the day. As you would expect, the reaction was extreme, mostly against her.

Maybe you are not angry with Lance because you would have to be angry with yourself for having defended a cheating bully. Maybe you are not angry with Lance because like so many of his colleagues, your fame as a journalist came from drafting on his rear wheel. Maybe if you repeat you are not angry with Lance enough, people will forget the fawning columns you wrote trying to suppress the truth that would eventually emerge. Maybe you are not angry with Lance because you would have to acknowledge that now you have to write columns in his defense to avoid feeling like you made a damn fool of yourself.

However, there were a few that supported Jenkins.

Thank you for your column. I find your points very well taken, and agree with your comments about the great good Mr. Armstrong has done for people with his Lance Armstrong Foundation, as it was formerly known. I have received a great deal of useful information from livestrong.com. I am sure that Mr. Armstrong will appreciate your kind words, as I do. They brought tears to my eyes. That said, as someone who has taken steroids for medical issues, I believe that taking steroids is like making a deal with the devil. You cannot win. The side effects are myriad. Having experienced them, I would rather never do it again. But, I agree with you that it should be a personal choice.

 

 

 

Sporting News columnist responds; two adopted African-American daughters would be disappointed to learn I’m a racist

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David Whitley was out most of yesterday. So he didn’t find out this morning that he is being labeled “a racist” and worse throughout the blog and Twitter world.

This is the first line of a post by Jason McIntyre of Big Lead: “David Whitley, a columnist at AOL Fanhouse – which, I guess, is still a website – is a racist.”

Whitley, a columnist for SportingNews.com, responded in an email this morning:

“If they were old enough to read, my two adopted African-American daughters would certainly be disappointed to find out I’m a racist.”

To catch everyone up, Whitley is under fire for a column he wrote Wednesday on Colin Kaepernick. He noted that the San Francisco 49ers quarterback has many tatoos, a rarity for players at that position.

Whitley wrote:

San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick is going to be a big-time NFL quarterback. That must make the guys in San Quentin happy.

Approximately 98.7 percent of the inmates at California’s state prison have tattoos. I don’t know that as fact, but I’ve watched enough “Lockup” to know it’s close to accurate.

I’m also pretty sure less than 1.3 percent of NFL quarterbacks have tattoos. There’s a reason for that.

NFL quarterback is the ultimate position of influence and responsibility. He is the CEO of a high-profile organization, and you don’t want your CEO to look like he just got paroled.

The response was intense to say the least. AOL even added a tagline: “David Whitley’s opinion is not reflective of the opinion of AOL, Inc.”

I’ve known Whitley for a long time, and he’s a funny guy. You can debate whether he pulled off this column, but calling him a racist is off base. People need to stop throwing around labels like that so freely.

Here is Whitley’s email to me:

The opinion I was trying to reflect was that NFL quarterbacks have been largely tattoo free. Having a humble, hard-working, scandal-free QB potentially would be a breakthrough. And old farts like me who don’t fancy tattoos will just have to sigh and accept it.

It didn’t occur to me that admitting I’m not a fan of body art would be admitting I don’t like African-Americans. I’m pretty sure the middle-aged women at the gym with barbed-wire tats that I referenced are white. So is Jeremy Shockey. If they were old enough to read, my two adopted African-American daughters would certainly be disappointed to find out I’m a racist.

On the bright side, Tattoo-gate II is apparently good for my social media standing. I’m not much on Twitter, but I picked up about 75 new followers yesterday. I hope they’re not all from San Quentin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are Vitale, Berman, Reilly Hall of Famers? Nominees for NSSA’s top honors

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Some interesting names on the upcoming ballot for the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Beginning Dec. 1, members will vote on Hall of Fame honors for sportscaster and sportswriter and national sportscaster and sportswriter of the year. Also, voting will take place for top sportscaster and sportswriter in individual states.

Last year, Bob Costas and John Feinstein were named to the Hall in their respective categories. Below are this year’s nominees.

In the sportscaster category, Dick Vitale and Chris Berman’s names stand out. Vitale is getting to the point in his career where he is accumulating Hall of Fame plaques. Considering how polarizing Berman has become, it probably will be a while before he gets into the Hall.

Even though he has no chance, it still is great to see Dan Kelly’s name on the list. What a great hockey announcer. I still remember listening to those Blues games on KMOX as a kid.

I have several friends and long-time colleagues on the sportswriting side. Rick Reilly has won a zillion sportswriter of the year awards. So you figure at some point he’ll get in.

Dick “Hoops” Weiss of the New York Daily News has enjoyed an extraordinary career as a college football and basketball reporter. And anyone who has been around the great Art Spander from San Francisco knows how much the award would mean to him. It would be quite a speech.

As for the best of the year category, the usual suspects are there for top national sportscasters. There’s considerable talent on the writers side. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports deserves recognition for his piercing accounts of the Penn State saga.

HALL OF FAME SPORTSCASTER 

Dick Vitale, ESPN/.ABC

Ken Squier, CBS Auto Racing

Skip Caray, Atlanta Braves TV

Woody Durham, Unv. of North Carolina Radio Network

John Ward, Univ. of Tennessee Radio Network

Chris Economaki, ABC Auto Racing

Chris Berman, ESPN

Milo Hamilton, Astros, Braves Radio

Al McCoy, Phoenix Suns Radio/TV

Dan Kelly, NHL on CBS, St. Louis Blues

HALL OF FAME SPORTSWRITER

Art Spander, Oakland Tribune/The Sporting News

Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated, ESPN

Dick Weiss, Philadelphia Daily News/New York Daily News

Hal McCoy, Dayton Daily News

Joe Gilmartin, Phoenix Republic/Gazette

Sam Lacy, Baltimore Afro-American newspaper

Lesley Visser, Boston Globe/Sports Illustrated

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press/Author

Wendell Smith, Pittsburgh Courier newspaper

Thomas Boswell, Washington Post

NATIONAL SPORTSCASTER

Al Michaels, NBC

Bob Costas, NBC/MLB Network

Dan Patrick, NBC/”The Dan Patrick Show”

Dan Shulman, ESPN

Brad Nessler, ABC/ESPN/NFL Network

Jim Nantz, CBS

Joe Buck, Fox

Mike Tirico, ESPN/ABC

Mike Emrick, NBC

Kevin Harlan, CBS/TNT

NATIONAL SPORTSWRITER

Peter King, Sports Illustrated

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports

Joe Posnanski, Sports Illustrated

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com/Grantland

Rick Reilly, ESPN.com

Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated

Mike Lopresti, USA Today

Lisa Olson wins AWSM pioneer award

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A big honor for the Sporting News on AOL columnist.

From the AWSM newsletter:

“I had no idea and was obviously incredibly, incredibly honored,” said Olson, who was coping with the after-effects of colossal storm Sandy when notified. “I emailed (my mom) to tell her not that I didn’t have power or anything, but to tell her I won the Pioneer Award.”

“Few people in the world have resumes as illustrious and international as the one Lisa Olson has compiled over the course of her career,” said Stef Loh, AWSM president. “Lisa started her career at a time when sports media was a very different, much less welcoming environment for women, and her longevity in the industry and body of work is testament to the impact she’s had in the field of sports journalism. As all our past winners have done, she paved the way for women in sports, and for that, we say thank you. The sports world would be a different place without her.”

Of course, for all the stories and columns that she has written, Olson always will be remembered for the harrassment incident in the New England Patriots locker room in 1990, which became a major national story.

“Lisa’s body of work speaks for itself,” said one AWSM member who nominated her, “and her battle for access in the locker room to cover the Patriots forced the … NFL to make changes. Her life changed because of what she had to go through. Mary Garber has been honored with APSE’s highest lifetime achievement, the Red Smith Award. I can’t think of another print/web journalist who would be deserving of being honored with an award named after Mary Garber.”

 

Problem solving: Sports editors to meet with NCAA over coverage issues

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It hasn’t been an easy year for a reporter covering college football in the Pac 12. The USC beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News was banned from practice and had a game credential revoked for reporting on a player injury.

The Seattle Times has had run-ins with Washington and Washington State.

ASPE President Gerry Ahern said he wants to address these issues and more with the NCAA. In a post on the ASPE site, he said:

“There have been a lot of brushfires this year that are new, and these issues will continue to happen unless we as sports editors and sports management step up,” said Ahern, who is director of news content for USA Today Sports Media Group. “They want to control the information at universities not just for traffic, but as competitors. “We have to ensure as best we can the access that our reporters need to do their jobs.”

Seattle Times sports editor Don Shelton talked about his paper’s difficulties with Washington.

Shelton said his paper is dealing with similar issues in his department’s coverage of the University of Washington and Washington State, both of which only have a few practices a week, for only a few hours at a time, and have strict policies preventing reporting on strategy or injuries.

“You get certain players on certain days, and if they invite the right person, you might get the player you want, but it’s hard to plan stories out in advance,” he said.

Additionally, “if someone gets taken off the field in an ambulance, you can’t report it, which basically forces a reporter to break a rule to do his job.”

His newspaper also ran into problems with its live game coverage, and the Seattle Times often found itself at odds with the Husky media department.

“We started doing live chats almost every day at noon and had beat reporters do it, and the University of Washington liked it, so they did it themselves then stopped the Seattle Times, [saying] it infringed on broadcasting rights,” Shelton said. “It’s not a partnership at all; it’s definitely an antagonistic relationship.”

It’s a good move for Ahern and APSE to meet with NCAA officials about these issues. However, I’m not sure how much will be accomplished since unlike the NFL, the NCAA doesn’t dictate media policies for schools and conferences. But it still should be good to have the discussion.