12/21/24
April 21, 2010
Newsday to Sportswriters: 'Just the Facts, Ma'am': Newsday is telling sportswriters to leave the insults and sarcasm at home, resulting in at least one columnist, Wallace Matthews, quiting the paper for ESPNNewYork. "They don't want sarcasm in the paper. What they want is straightforward analysis of why they're having problems. You can't have fun with it."
Yeah, straightforward analysis is such a terrible thing. We must stop it all costs. I love that Matthews quit because he couldn't be sarcastic anymore.
posted by bperk at 02:46 PM on April 21, 2010
Too many sportswriters think they're way more clever than they are. I'm OK with some egos being reined in. Journalism is not about the reporter, it's about the story. Some of these guys probably consider themselves entertainers not journalists though.
posted by sbacharach at 03:00 PM on April 21, 2010
Why would you read a sports column if not for the sarcasm and wit (occasional as it may be)? Just the facts? I'll read the box score.
posted by kokaku at 03:11 PM on April 21, 2010
Without sarcasm columns about the Lions would be downright depressing.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 03:21 PM on April 21, 2010
Why would you read a sports column if not for the sarcasm and wit
Agreed. I think Newsday's heart might have been in the right place, but the fact sports writing is full of terrible, embittered old cranks who churn out the same crap every year doesn't mean you should adjust company policy. Adjust your hiring policy.
posted by yerfatma at 03:34 PM on April 21, 2010
The first comment after the story could say it all -- the conflict with the Dolans cannot be avoided. We can't help it if the Knicks are a bunch of mostly weak, tragic, pathetic, sad, underperforming alleged players. But I'm sure they're a wonderful bunch of human beings.
posted by jjzucal at 06:02 PM on April 21, 2010
What a fricking shame. As a boy growing up in Long Island, the back page of Newsday was my paper of record for New York Sports.
The Dolans are like a modern day King Midas. Except everything they touch turns to shit. The Knicks. The Rangers. And now Newsday.
Not to mention keeping the Jets new stadium out of Manhattan.
That being said, I have no issues with a clear demarcation between the beat writer and the columnist. But that does not seem to be what King Midas...er... Newsday is saying.
posted by cjets at 06:36 PM on April 21, 2010
I know you can't compare the two, but Chris Berman of ESPN is an example of a sports writer who uses comedy with a dash of sarcasm to make it all work. He isn't mean, and even if you are the fan of a lousy team, he makes you walk away feeling good about your team. (Unless it's the Lions. There is no hope there)
posted by scuubie at 10:57 PM on April 21, 2010
I think we should enact the same sort of rule around here.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:59 PM on April 21, 2010
"Straightforward analysis" is boring. Papers need to be more lively and opinionated to compete with online sites, not less.
posted by rcade at 07:27 AM on April 22, 2010
This is part of the reason the newspaper business is dying. If you want to beat the internet, you have to provide a little entertainment too. Just the facts is for the police, not the news. Why get a journalism degree? Any monkey can put the box scores in paragraph form.
posted by Debo270 at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2010
Something munged the "Just the facts, ma'am" in the link title. Maybe there's a filter that removes shitty cliches?