Category Archives: Sportswriters

Jeff Pearlman: Jason Whitlock has the absolute easiest job in sports media—and he knows it

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Couldn’t resist sharing this post from Jeff Pearlman

Writing on the Oklahoma State mess, Pearlman on his site did a terrific takedown of Jason Whitlock.

Pearlman admits he actually likes some of Whitlock’s work, but he said it wasn’t a good week for the future ESPNer, stemming from his comments about Thayer Evans and Sports Illustrated’s investigation of Oklahoma State.

Pearlman:

My favorite piece of the Whitlock diatribe comes here: “There are a brand of sports writers who love doing these investigative pieces. They are not hard to do these days in terms of so-and-so got this money under the table. We’re into this area where unnamed sources can say anything, any of these he-said, she-said stories. I don’t respect the entire brand of investigative journalism that is being done here.”

Jason Whitlock has the absolute easiest job in sports media—and he knows it. He opines. That’s it. He doesn’t report. He doesn’t dig. He doesn’t make calls or seek out information. He takes the reporting done by others, sits in front of his laptop and comes up with a take. That’s it. He’s a good writer. Is he one of the, oh, 200 most-talented sportswriters in America? Probably not. (For the record, I’m by no means placing myself on that list either) But—and this is the big part—he’s loud. And obnoxious. He presents himself as a tough guy unafraid to take a tough stand, and people buy it. They absorb his self-righteous diatribes, because—on the surface—it seems to be driven by a desire to seek out truth and justice.

Indeed, Whitlock’s comments on sports investigative reporters showed a remarkable lack of insight in the business. I’d like for him to work 10 months on an investigation and then tell me he has no respect for what they do.

Earlier in the piece, Pearlman notes that Whitlock has made bids to work for Sports Illustrated. Did that impact his view of the Oklahoma State story?

Furthermore, Whitlock talks about Evans’ loyalties, calling him a “huge, enormous, gigantic Oklahoma homer.” However, Whitlock’s past desperation to work for Sports Illustrated was no great secret. His dream of being handed the back-page column. He, of course, was never offered a job by the magazine—and was, we can assume, angry about it. Does this not (by Whitlock-think) make him the wrong guy to go off on the magazine? Is he not as biased as Evans is presumed to be?

Exactly.

 

T.J. Simers on leaving LA Times for Orange County Register: ‘Save newspapers as we remember them’

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Jason McIntyre of the Big Lead received an email from T.J. Simers explaining his decision:

I had the opportunity to remain at the Times as Page 2 columnist, including a recent offer of a guaranteed contract.

But I was overwhelmed by the excitement I felt at the Orange County Register and the crusader-like effort to prove newspapers still matter. In my initial meeting with the paper’s top editors they were aware of the best newspaper movie ever made: Deadline USA and wanted to talk about Mike Royko. I might’ve agreed to work for nothing, but they have decided to actually pay me.

Later he wrote:

The Register experiment to beef up the paper reminds me of the thrill I felt when I got into this business. As Sandy Koufax’s grandfather told him, “Time is the most important thing you have in life.” And I choose to spend it now with folks eager to still have some fun as newspaper men and women.

I would hope everyone would now start reading the Register—at the very least to save newspapers as we remember them.

 

King decides not to use ‘Washington team nickname’; Will let others decide for themselves

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Peter King has decided to make a statement. He writes at MMQB:

I’ve decided to stop using the Washington team nickname. It’s a name you won’t see me use anymore. The simple reason is that for the last two or three years, I’ve been uneasy when I sat down to write about the team and had to use the nickname. In some stories I’ve tried to use it sparingly. But this year, I decided to stop entirely because it offends too many people, and I don’t want to add to the offensiveness. Some people, and some Native American organizations—such as the highly respected American Indian Movement—think the nickname is a slur. Obviously, the team feels it isn’t a slur, and there are several prominent Native American leaders who agree. But I can do my job without using it, and I will. My 2,400-word story on Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and his unique approach to the read-option Thursday proved you can write about the team (insightfully, I hope) and not make a big deal about not using the nickname.

I have no idea if this is the right thing to do for the public, or the politically correct thing to do, and I’m not going to sit here and try to preach about it and tell you if you like the name you’re wrong or if you hate the name you’re wrong. I can just tell you how I feel: I’ve been increasingly bothered by using the word, and I don’t want to be a part of using a name that a cross-section of our society feels is insulting.

I’m not speaking for my staff at The MMQB, or at Sports Illustrated. I haven’t ordered anyone who works at our new website to not use the name; it will be up to each person to decide. We had some discussions as a staff about the nickname in August, and I said in those discussions I didn’t want our site to use it. But I felt after some thought that it’s not my place to order people who I work with to do something they may not be comfortable doing. So I decided to make my own decision, then allow the other writers and editors on the site to do what they want. Also, we won’t be changing quotes to eliminate the name in stories, or editing it out of pieces from outside contributors who choose to use it. It will also appear in web tools that categorize stories for searches.

King should be in for an interesting reception when he attends a Washington game this year.

Return of Jay Mariotti: Launches own site that includes M-F radio show

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He’s baaackkkkk.

After what he describes as a “much-needed” break that lasted three years, Jay Mariotti is jumping back in.

This morning, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist and member of ESPN’s Around The Horn launched Mariottishow.com. In an email, Mariotti writes:

“We’re launching a national multimedia site that we think is innovative because it wraps my three-hour national daily radio show around a site of my 24/7 content — columns, short opinion hits, videos, audience interaction via Twitter and email, a travelogue of sports and restaurants and who knows what.”

Mariotti writes that he is teaming with Genesis Communications, a Florida company that is “paying me for the content and the show.” The Genesis site has six channels with programming, featuring numerous shows.

Day 1 for Mariotti’s new site has columns on Alex Rodriguez (“tragic”), Johnny Manziel (“crashing”), and the upcoming battle between ESPN and Fox Sports 1 (“LOL”). It also has a video comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James (“please”). As usual, Mariotti has plenty to say.

The M-F radio show will begin Monday, running from noon-3 p.m. ET.

With a few exceptions, Mariotti has been mainly on the sidelines since a domestic violence incident with a woman in 2010. He lost gigs on Around The Horn and as lead columnist for AOL.

Mariotti writes that he has had discussions with several outlets, including ESPN and Fox Sports. Instead, he says he wants to be “fiercely independent,” building a personally-branded site that he hopes will include hiring other writers.

He writes:

“I should note I’ve had meetings with ESPN and Fox about joining their operations, and candidly, I think they’re too corporate, while they have their own opinions of me. Point being, I can’t be The Man if I’m working for The Man and The Man has a close business arrangement with the subjects of my commentaries.”

The above quote is part of an open letter to readers. It is 2,726 words, which will be 2,726 words more than many of his detractors will want to read from him.

Mariotti touches on his legal issues; what he has been doing with himself; his view of sports in 2013; and why his site is needed in the new media landscape.

Here are some of the highlights:

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Making the scene: I’m kind of bored in paradise. I’ve seen my sunsets in Santa Monica, eaten at every restaurant from Silver Lake to Malibu, spent nights on Abbot Kinney and Ocean Avenue, done the scenes and parties and museums, cruised my bike from Pacific Palisades to Palos Verdes, been to the Dodgers/Angels/Lakers/Clippers/Kings/USC/UCLA/Beckham. I’ve done the Hollywood Bowl. They got me to the Greek. I’ve chatted with Owen Wilson, talked sports with Pittsburgh homeboy Michael Keaton, viewed paintings by the Incubus singer at a gallery and watched the paparazzi harass poor Lohan in Venice. I’ve been to a holiday party in Orange County where President Obama’s face was a dartboard target. I stop everything when I see the Grilled Cheese Truck. I’ve been to Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Napa, Yountville, Santa Barbara, San Diego, La Jolla, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Carmel, Sausalito, Big Sur, Pebble Beach and the original In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park. I’ve done my California. Sharknado wasn’t real.

Time to work. With a portable studio — how I love 2013 — we’ll be doing the radio show from L.A., Florida, the Super Bowl, a Mexican bullfighting ring, anywhere and everywhere. I can’t wait to renew my fascination with the bigger planet.

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His legal issues: While the Internet paves new avenues of media creativity, it also enables the irresponsibility of hacks. I know this too well, having come off a legal case filled with countless lies and accompanied by lazy, reckless, inaccurate, incomplete news coverage. As the father of two wonderful, successful daughters, I abhor domestic abuse and never have or would strike a woman. The hard lesson I’ve learned is not to let another person’s problems become mine and to be careful about my associations, particularly as a figure in the public eye.

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The landscape: Fox ended up downsizing its digital effort into a silly-season site, featuring such nonsense as a National Enquirer report that Lindsey Vonn is worried Tiger Woods will sleep with his ex-wife. It’s a bizarre approach as Fox Sports 1 launches in an attempt to compete with the ESPN empire. Wouldn’t you want a strong news site to support your fledgling network? Consider it another example of why independent sites can thrive today. Other than ESPN.com, which is pumped with enough resources and care to remain the gold standard, and the New York Times, which has monetized an elaborate site and features a deep roster of skilled writers, the digital sports landscape is teetering.

Consider the estimable Yahoo Sports, filled with meaningful content but always dependent on the whims of whoever is running the company today. Or USA Today, which has committed to a revamped sports division but also is facing a clock in which profits must be turned. A lot of companies and entrepreneurs are investing in sports media, but too many sites are hiring inexperienced writers cheaply or aggregating news from other sites — what happened to competing instead of giving each other credit for shared story links? It’s still difficult to monetize news and commentary digitally, but by 2015, it’s estimated that 85 percent of media revenue will be digital-based. The sites positioned for advertising’s eventual full-blown shift to digital will succeed in the end.

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And finally: Evolution is what’s fun about this business. The Mariotti Show is a site firmly planted in 2013 yet detached from the government-like climates of corporate media. I can tell the truth about any subject I want, anytime I want, and no one can summarily spike content because your boss is friendly with a commissioner or owner, your company is in business with a league or team, your newspaper has a comped suite at the ballpark or your network has a rights deal through 2082 with a major college conference.

Hope you enjoy our venture. I’m enjoying it already.

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So will you enjoy it?

This is a man who once performed on the biggest platforms in sports media. Now he is looking to make a comeback, starting from if not the ground floor, a much, much lower floor.

Mariotti may be back, but he still has a long way to go.

More to come.

 

 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

Change-up: Cubs player interviews departing beat reporter

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One of the great guys in the business, or any business, Paul Sullivan, is leaving the Cubs beat at the Chicago Tribune. His long tenure eclipsed the definition of cruel and unusual punishment when it came to being subjected to bad baseball on almost a daily basis.

The good news for Sullivan fans is that he will be doing enterprise reporting on the Cubs and White Sox for his new assignment.

In a twist, Cubs second-baseman Darwin Barney performed the exit interview with Sullivan prior to his last game Sunday:

DB: Are you still at the Sun-Times after this? What’s the title of your new job?

PS: I’m at the Tribune. My title is Chicago baseball writer.

DB: So you’re going to the dark side? The Tribune side? Hey, what’s up, Hanley?

Hanley Ramirez: “Barneeeeey …”

DB: Sorry. So this is almost like getting traded from the Cubs to the White Sox?

PS: Yeah, it’s going to be a big adjustment, but I’m very excited about it.

And there was this:

DB: That’s your fondest memory?

PS: No. actually my favorite moment was during the playoffs in ’84 when I climbed a tree out there (on Waveland Avenue) to interview someone watching the game in the tree. My press pass fell down and a guy picked it up and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it here for you when I get down. Can you get me in with you?” I said, “I’ll be down in a minute.” I get down and he was gone with my press pass and got into the park.

DB: So you’re saying you climbed a tree in the ’80s to do an interview?

PS: Yes. People were in the trees watching the game. This was before all the rooftops got big.

Good luck, Paulie.

 

 

Bob Ryan on Red Sox owner buying Boston Globe: ‘It’s scary for all’

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Dan Shaughnessy had this opener to a notes column Saturday:

Picked-up pieces while reminding all of you that John Henry’s greatness has been vastly underappreciated.

Ah yes, it is a new day for Shaughnessy and the Boston Globe sports staff upon the news that Red Sox owner John Henry is buying the paper. And think about this: Henry spent more on signing on one player, Dustin Pedroia ($100 million), than he did to purchase one of the top publications in the country ($70 million). And unlike Pedroia’s contract, the Globe deal doesn’t expire in seven years.

If that isn’t a sobering statement about the state of newspapers, nothing is.

Naturally, Globe sports staffers aren’t thrilled about the situation. The New York Times’ Peter May got their reaction over the weekend.

“This was the last circumstance anyone would want,” Ryan said Saturday of Henry’s purchase of The Globe and other media properties from The New York Times Company for $70 million. “It’s nothing anyone would wish. It’s scary, to say the least, for all involved.”

This is what scares Ryan:

The team’s stunning collapse in September 2011 was followed by a Globe investigative piece by Bob Hohler, revealing that pitchers John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester had been eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games. Hohler also wrote that management had concerns that Francona’s deteriorating marriage and his use of painkillers may have affected his performance.

In a radio interview at the time, Henry said of the article, “It’s reprehensible that it was written about in the first place.”

Henry would now be in a position to kill such an article, which concerns Ryan, who retired from The Globe in 2012 but who has a verbal agreement to write up to 40 columns in 2013.

“Anyone in this situation has to look at it with a great deal of trepidation,” Ryan said. “It’s uncomfortable and it puts the Globe sports department, especially the Red Sox writers, in a potentially uncompromising position.”

Then there was this from Shaughnessy:

Dan Shaughnessy, The Globe’s lead sports columnist, has written critically about Henry since he became the principal owner of the Red Sox in 2002.

“There’s an inherent conflict of interest which no one can do anything about,” Shaughnessy said. “All we can hope for is that everyone is allowed to do his job professionally and that we are able to keep our independence.”

Shaughnessy and the former Red Sox manager Terry Francona wrote a book, “Francona: The Red Sox Years,” which detailed Francona’s ugly exit from the team after its collapse in September 2011. The book was highly critical of the Red Sox ownership group, and Shaughnessy said it was “not exactly a party-starter” for Henry.

Globe sports editor Joe Sullivan hopes it will be business as usual with the new owner:

“We don’t know what the new situation is going to be in terms of hierarchy, but I would hope to be able to continue to cover the Red Sox the way we always have, “ the sports editor, Joe Sullivan, said.

Good luck, Joe, Bob and Dan.

Check back for more of my views on this development. After all, I used to work at the Chicago Tribune, which to own majority interest in a certain baseball team.

 

 

 

Mike Freeman signs on at Bleacher Report: Expect him to talk sports on CNN

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It is official. Mike Freeman is joining Bleacher Report.

The details are below. In addition to his duties, expect Freeman, who will be based in New York, to get plenty of air time on CNN whenever there is a big sports issue. Turner Sports owns Bleacher Report.

Freeman will have plenty to say on all his platforms.

Here is the rundown from Turner Sports.

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Bleacher Report, a leading digital destination for team-specific sports content and real-time event coverage, announced today the hiring of veteran sports writer Mike Freeman. In his new role, Freeman will be a lead national voice for the site, providing in-depth coverage of the NFL as a reporter and columnist. He will also be Bleacher Report’s lead NFL video analyst offering weekly previews of upcoming games and insightful reaction to news around the league. Freeman officially joins Bleacher Report on Monday, Aug. 12, and he will be based in New York.

“Mike Freeman is a well-respected, veteran reporter who is a major addition to our editorial team as we look to build on our comprehensive coverage of the NFL and its teams and topics,” said Joe Yanarella, editor-in-chief of Bleacher Report. “His expertise and experience will enhance our NFL content and add to our growing lineup of leading voices.”

An industry veteran with more than two decades of experience, Freeman comes to Bleacher Report from CBSSports.com, where he was a national columnist and national NFL Insider covering the NFL since 2007. Prior to that, he worked for the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe, among other media outlets. He is also the author of seven books including ESPN: The Uncensored History and most recently Undefeated: Inside the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ Perfect Season.

Freeman is one of only a handful of writers to win multiple awards in one year in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest. In 2005 Freeman won the Florida Sports Writer’s Association Shelby Strother Award in the state’s largest circulation category. The award is given to the year’s outstanding sports journalist.

“I consider this one of the great opportunities of my career,” said Freeman. “Bleacher Report is a great destination for sports fans which has quickly transformed how sports content is consumed and it’s an honor to join the site.”

 

Peter Gammons to launch own site: Daily Gammons debuts Wednesday

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It’s not often that I am right about something. So forgive me if I appear a bit stunned.

Last week, in my National Sports Journalism Center column, I wrote about how personally-branded sites featuring Bill Simmons, Peter King and Nate Silver likely were the start of the trend. Other big names in sports media would be getting their own site.

Well lo and behold, Eric Fisher of Sports Business Daily reported today that Peter Gammons will launch his own site Wednesday. It will be called the Daily Gammons.

From the post:

Gammons will maintain his other roles with NESN and the MLB Network, but GammonsDaily.com will now be the primary home for his written output and those networks won’t be involved with the site. Gammons is no longer with MLB.com, where he served as a columnist for roughly three years.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how this evolves. It definitely gives me a lot of freedom in terms of doing what I want to write about,” Gammons said. “I’m hoping it will be a lot of fun. Sometimes we lose sight of the joy that’s involved with covering this game, and I’m hoping we tap into that in terms of what we do on the site.”

Who’s next?

 

Why are there so many Jewish sportswriters covering NASCAR?

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I’m not sure of the significance of this post. However, as a Jewish sportswriter, I feel compelled to share.

I did write about the new NASCAR TV deal with NBC this week. Don’t think that qualifies me for this list.

Anyway, Viv Bernstein put up a post titled, “The Merry Jews of NASCAR.”

From the post:

Yes, Nascar was born in the Bible Belt South. And racing and religion are inseparable. Each weekly driver’s meeting ends with a prayer and every pre-race ceremony includes an invocation.

Goyishe sport, right? Oy! Would you believe there are enough Jews in Nascar to fill an Adam Sandler song? And then some.

No, they’re not the ones driving the racecars, so you’re not going to read about them. But here’s the thing: You probably will read them. That’s because we’re all in the press box and media center. It’s one of the oddities of Nascar: Many of the people who cover the sport happen to be Jewish.

Nascar fans have probably seen the byline of Jeff Gluck, one of the lead motorsports writers for USA Today and formerly with SBNation.com and the old Nascar Scene. The indefatigable Nascar reporter for The Sporting News is Bob Pockrass. The Associated Press national motorsports writer is Jenna Fryer. Lewis Franck writes for Autoweek and has contributed to ESPN The Magazine, Sports Illustrated’s SI.com and Reuters.

Yep, all Jewish.

And…

“Years ago at a media tour — this was 2005, the year I met Gluck — I was riding up in the Hilton elevator one night with Gluck, Mike Harris and Lewis,” Edelstein wrote of the annual gathering of media and Nascar race teams. “And Gluck looked at all of us and said, ‘I feel like this must be the Nascar elevator minyan.’ “

There is no simple explanation for why so many Jewish writers and reporters gravitated to Nascar with its comparatively small media contingent. We all found our own paths at various times.

“I like to tell people I’m just a simple Jewish kid from the Bronx, so of course Nascar is one of my favorite sports,” said Edelstein, who lives in New Jersey. “Thank goodness I’m not so devout that I have to care whether the moonshine is kosher.”

And in closing:

I doubt folks in the sport even realize how many of us are in the media center these days. If they did, maybe they would think twice about serving pulled pork every weekend.

So now that you know, would it be too much to ask for a little kosher spread to nosh on instead? Hey Charlotte Motor Speedway, how about a bialy and schmeer?

 

Who is next in line? Personally branded sports sites could be the latest trend

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In my latest column for National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana, I write about the new sites run by Peter King and Nate Silver and how you might be seeing more personally-branded sports sites on major outlets. You were the first, Bill Simmons.

From the column:

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It used to be you could entice a prominent writer to join your staff with an offer of a signature column. Of course, that now is as ancient as somebody shouting out “copy” in the newsroom.

How about a featured role in a TV show? Nice, to be sure, but that still seems so yesterday.

No, there’s a new trend occurring in the sports media landscape. If you really want to attract or keep that big-name star, create a personally branded website. Then to add some extra incentive, give that star complete control over editorial content and hiring for the site.

Call it the sports version of a studio allowing a big-name actor to direct and produce a movie.

ESPN actually started the trend by telling Bill Simmons to conceive and develop Grantland. Monday, Sports Illustrated unveiled Peter King’s new MMQB site which will have its own staff covering the NFL.

Then right on top of that, ESPN signed on Nate Silver and his popular FiveThirtyEight site Monday. Send in those resumes because Silver will be in a hiring mode to fill out his staff.

Obviously, it is a no-brainer for ESPN to exploit Silver’s massive web powerhouse. However, it is telling that Silver said the presence of Grantland helped entice him to choose ESPN over other offers. The template already was in place. Judging by Silver’s comments, Simmons likely recruited him.

“I would say also the importance of Grantland, a successful precedent, was very important for me,” Silver said. ”There were a lot of dimensions I thought about.  This decision took me a long time, but one of the pivotal ones was what I call execution, based on who can actually put this vision into practice, who can be a good partner.  Based on meeting John and Marie Donoghue and Ben Sherwood at ABC and Bill Simmons and David Cho, I have a lot of confidence that they’re going to do this the right way.”

Grantland also is the most-used comparison to King’s new site. Like Grantland, MMQB will be more about telling stories and offering insights rather than tick-tock, nuts-and-bolts coverage of the NFL. King isn’t even sure if his staff will cover games.

“What I like to do, and part of the excitement in this, is to bring people inside the NFL,” King said. “Access. If you look at what I’ve done at Sports Illustrated, that’s a big part of it.”

So what intrigued King about starting his own site at age 56?

“The ability to say this is what I would like to do and here are the people I would like to do it with,” King said. “This is an attempt to stay ahead of the curve and not get crushed by the curve.”

Indeed, if you go to the site’s home page, it clearly states at the top, “MMQB with Peter King.” If that isn’t cool for a lifelong sportswriter, what is?

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Check the link for more.