Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Yes, most sports reporting is pretty worthless. But we're not just going to lose the bad stuff, we're going to lose the Eric Duhatschek's. And not just Duhatschek himself, but today's 26 year potential Duhatscheck. Nobody with brains, ambition, and the aspirations of a middle-class lifestyle is going into journalism today.
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I could not care less about Duhatschek. I watch sports or participate in it, I don't read about it.
Really the only thing of value that wasn't on TV that I can think of is team and tactics analysis for soccer, and that stuff doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It's also stuff I pay for. Maybe there's a connection.
In fact, tactics and team analysis is the only stuff I would be ready to pay for, but reliable high quality analysis like you can find for soccer seems to be impossible to find for hockey. They never know the rosters deep enough, and they almost never have any insight on even the basic stuff like what kind of special teams are used.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop
What's lost is not the perfunctory reporting of scores and news conferences, but the sheer talent of a few talented wordsmiths who drew you into caring about the sport. Who created legends and spun lyrical elegies.
That is what is lost. The sport dies a little without its poets.
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I don't think I've ever read anything like what you describe in a paper. I have read good stuff online though. From where I'm standing, the internet is not killing the good writing, it's creating more good stuff than ever.
Besides, most journalists are simply technically competent writers. Sure, it's a skill that has some value, but there are now so many people in the world that can write on that level that it doesn't have much value anymore.
It's much the same as with professional photography. Most formerly professional photographers have proven to be no better than enthusiastic amateurs. If you can't truly set yourself apart from a horde of amateurs, you're going to be out of a job. Being a little better and a little more consistent isn't something people are going to pay for.