July 20, 2010

Should Mitch Albom Be Winning Journalism Awards: ?

posted by yerfatma to culture at 09:45 AM - 10 comments

Mitch Albom should not be winning journalism awards -- not because he made some stuff up, though, but because his writing is treacly overly sentimentalized bullshit written in an annoying style that a computer program could easily pump out/emulate.

To wit, here's the beginning of a Mitch Albom column I just made up for the retirement of Steve Yzerman (took me all of 3 minutes):

The lockers cleaned out for the last time at the close of a season that ended too soon, the lights were finally turned off at Joe Louis Arena.


And the Captain left the building.

The surgically repaired left knee, subjected to a barbaric procedure that required the leg bone to be sawed down, creaked into action as he hobbled to his car. This was not the silky smooth operator who wowed the league as an 18 year-old and became the longest serving captain in NHL history.

There was no fanfare, no celebratory parade (as deserved as it would be), just an old man with old man legs and a body scarred by decades of battle climbing into a late model Ford Explorer.

Yes, the Captain had left the building.

[&c, &c. . . insert additional bullshit here.]

posted by holden at 11:49 AM on July 20, 2010

Mitch...is that you?!

posted by tahoemoj at 12:03 PM on July 20, 2010

Pure genius, Holden. Please use your Albom powers for good.

posted by rcade at 12:17 PM on July 20, 2010

Nice job, holden. Very well done.

posted by NoMich at 12:31 PM on July 20, 2010

Tuesdays with Holden

posted by beaverboard at 12:56 PM on July 20, 2010

I still long for the days that Mitch wrote articles such as this...I miss those days...

If that seems familiar, it's because I've posted it before. I just want people to know that Mitch wasn't always such a douche...

posted by MeatSaber at 02:29 PM on July 20, 2010

Given the state of most newspapers, magazines, etc. that I read, the radio reports I hear, and the TV reports I see, I remain confused about what is now considered journalism.

And that is from someone who used to be a newpaper reporter, many many years ago.

posted by graymatters at 04:12 PM on July 20, 2010

I've never been a fan of Mitch Albom. The general attitude he displays in many of his sports columns irks me.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:03 PM on July 20, 2010

Wheeeeeee - holden!

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:11 PM on July 20, 2010

From MeatSaber's link: Anyone with a tattoo starts. Two tattoos bats cleanup.

Kinda dates that article...hard to find someone without a tattoo these days.

Met Mitch once, he did a book signing in one of my stores. Nice enough guy, I always thought of him as an author, not a journalist.

posted by dviking at 08:24 PM on July 20, 2010

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.