So, about the HBO show on sports media
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- May
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A bunch of people have e-mailed to ask what I thought of the sports media special hosted by Bob Costas on HBO, particularly the blog segment.
Well, I thought it was a big waste of time. They broached all these far-ranging topics and tried to find all the answers in 10 minutes. The panelists were also a curious, awkward mix.
The blogging segment was about what I expected. They trotted out Will Leitch of Deadspin, the king of sports bloggers and the perfect stereotype of blogger evils. Will is smart, snarky and his blog allows all manner of profane, racist and sexist comments. Oh, the horror.
Predictably, they had him spar with an old white mainstream media guy. The role was played by Buzz Bissinger, a fine writer who appeared to have had a few too many scotches before going on set. He actually had printed out some Deadspin comments and cursed at Will about them.
Costas seemed to delight in it. Meanwhile, poor Cleveland Browns WR Braylon Edwards was there for some unknown reason other than for HBO to prove it has cred with athletes.
There are no easy answers for any of this. I’m a blogger and I work for the largest newspaper chain in the country covering the most popular team. So is a 15-year-old who creates a blog on Blogspot and posts once. There’s obviously a difference.
To me, a blog is a good way for a beat writer to provide more information and insight to his readers than he has room for in the newspaper. I blog assuming you know the final score and who did what.
On a given day, I can write roughly 1,500 words for the paper. Here I can write whatever I want. The hope is that you like the Yankees enough to be interested in it.
For old-time writers, this is a threat because they know only how to write for the newspaper. It’s more work for me, but the alternative is becoming obsolete. The day is coming when newspapers exist only in digital form and you’ll get your paper delivered to your PDA every day. I might as well get ready for that day.
On occasion, I’ll throw in some personal stuff or write about movies, football or concerts. But I’ve never once done that in place of Yankees news. The Yankees come first, second and third.
Costas should have gotten together some mainstream media bloggers together to talk about how their jobs have changed.
Just an example: I didn’t have a blog when I covered the Mets from 2002-05 and I’m fairly sure not one player ever read a print copy of my paper. I was just another guy asking questions.
But since I started the blog with the Yankees, I’ve found that several players have read it and wanted to talk about it. I get e-mails from people from YES, ESPN and WFAN who read it as well. I’m not sure they would read my paper, as much as I’d like to hope so. My paper’s mission is to break news on line and we do a good job of it.
I look at this way: When I was a kid, we got two newspapers delivered to the door and I couldn’t wait to get them. Now I don’t get any, but the first thing I read in the morning is Buster Olney’s baseball blog on ESPN.com. For me, Buster has replaced the papers on the driveway.
Costas should have talked about that. Buster and Will Leitch would have been entertaining and smart. At least Buster wouldn’t have started swearing at Will. Well, at least I hope not.
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Just a note: If you get sick from hanging around a clubhouse full of sick players, don’t take a bunch of cough syrup and Nyquil and sleep until noon. Next thing you know you’re wide awake at 1:30 a.m. babbling on about some show on HBO.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 1:45 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Peter great blog. I usually really like you opinions but be easy on Girardi and his media issues, there is only 1 Torre and it is easier to be in control when you won 4 WS.
Girardi will learn but there is a new regime in town and I think for the long term it is a good thing.
thanks..
posada the inspirational leader and true captain: done.rasner added to the rotation. hughes taking a little break to wait for puberty to hit. AROD hurt while desperate housewife eva longoria becomes the premier 3B in the AL east. its ok though, we got kennedy going tomorrow. HA. better off having that astronaut not only throw out the first pitch but see if he can give us 5 solid tomorrow without throwing 854 pitches.
Pete,
I just want to thank you, again, for what you do. You are my ABSOLUTE source for Yankees news. I can’t tell you how nice it is to visit your site and have INTELLIGENT conversations with most people.
I used to frequent the websites of FOX and ESPN and they never fail to have asinine comments and full of expletives directed at the Yankees. I think it was NY Yankees Fans where I first heard of your blog (late last summer) and I only wish I had found it sooner.
I also love your humor. You always make me laugh.
Keep doing what you do!
i’m glad you weighed in on this, pete. i was curious as to how guys like yourself and feinsand received costas’ little town hall meeting.
i’d rather not believe that newspapers themselves will become obsolete, but you’re probably right. the mere existence of the iphone gets us one step closer to that reality.
i enjoy your blog because of the immense amount of yankees news, but also because of humor and occasional “off-topic” posts. it’s a great mix of information and entertainment. it is usually the first sports-related site i visit every day, and it’s certainly the most frequently visited site among my bookmarks.
It looks like another one might be added to the injuries..I just read this from newsday:
Damon had a giant wrap on after the game, and said that he tweaked his left groin during Sunday’s game in Cleveland. He insisted that he will not be joining the ranks of the injured, though: “I’m OK. I’ve got to be. We’ve got too many guys out.”
If he is really hurt then he should sit out a couple of games also. He saw last year what happens when you don’t have your legs under you, and he looked dreadful while trying to do it. For him his legs are everything and once those go he has nothing.
I will say a prayer for the Yankees before going to bed tonight! No more injuries, please!!
Go Kennedy! Get the first win tomorrow!!
Pete your blog is the most valuable source for Yankee news on the web, keep up the great work and keep grilling Girardi.
Speaking of Girardi, if Damon tweaked his groin and Girardi had him in center the other night knowing this, well, then he’s even dumber than I was starting to believe he is. What in God’s name is he doing giving Melky the night off and putting Damon in center when he’s hurt. Does Girardi even talk to the players or does he just sit in his office and drink protein shakes and horde the ice cream from the team.
I am really disappointed in this guy. He’s lost. How can you not know your players are hurt. First Posada is mishandled, then ARod, now Damon is possibly injured. Someone needs to ask him questions about Damon if this is in fact true.
I’m beginning to think that Cashman hand picked him just so he could try and run the team more directly. There’s really something out of wack with the way they’re running things right now. The almost clueless roster shuffling is really disconcerting. I hope the writers start getting to the bottom of things. If I where the Steinbrenners I would really be concerned about the way things are being run right now.
Pete,
I want to second those posters above who commend you on a fine job…This is a terrific blog you’re running and adds a dimension to being a fan that just didn’t exist years ago…
I haven’t checked out Buster Olney’s blog yet, but you’ve made me curious enough that I’ll be headed there right after I post this comment…
GO YANKS!
“The Yankees come first, second and third.”
That’s the hope, but right now they’re in fourth. Get well, Phil!
I too read Buster Olneys blog first thing in the morning, its fantastic
What they should have done with the sports and the media thing is to break it up into 5 hour long shows. There really wasn’t any time to really look at the issues. Buzz Bissinger really came off like a jerk. I wish they had Michael Schur from firejoemorgan on the panel with him. Being a professional comedy writer I bet he would have skewered his irrational comments.
I don’t read deadspin because I find it irritating and stupid. I do read firejoemorgan because I find it hilarious and brilliant. I also read this blog because it’s the single most indispensable Yankee resource out there, online or in print. And I enjoy it when Peter puts some of his personality in the writing, he’s a likable guy.
As with any thing quality will attract people. And good blogs attract more readers. Smart blogs attract smart readers.
Scott
What they should have done with the sports and the media thing is to break it up into 5 hour long shows. There really wasn’t any time to really look at the issues. Buzz Bissinger really came off like a jerk. I wish they had Michael Schur from firejoemorgan on the panel with him. Being a professional comedy writer I bet he would have skewered his irrational comments.
I don’t read deadspin because I find it irritating and stupid. I do read firejoemorgan because I find it hilarious and brilliant. I also read this blog because it’s the single most indispensable Yankee resource out there, online or in print. And I enjoy it when Peter puts some of his personality in the writing, he’s a likable guy.
As with any thing quality will attract people. And good blogs attract more readers. Smart blogs attract smart readers.
Scott.
Pete -
I love your blog. I appreciate that you keep it fresh with frequent updates. I like that you use the format not only to inform, but to provoke thought and discussion. I enjoy that “fly on the wall” feeling when you write about things that go on in “a day in the life” of (a) a sportswriter and (b) a ballplayer. Through your blog I have also found links to other blogs that, while I don’t read them as frequently, when I have time I also visit.
One of the best parts of the blog experience for me is that it is practically interactive. I still want that newspaper - I like the tactile experience, I guess - but when I try to discuss the articles there, it seems I annoy my husband, who’s trying to read as well
! Here, discussion is encouraged!!!! Yeah!!!! It’s also made my experience of baseball more complete. I’ve learned a great deal here from you and from my fellow LoHud afficionados.
I didn’t watch the Costas special; it sounds like he could have done a much better job of it.
As for newspapers becoming obsolete — I don’t know about that, but the more people who become comfortable reading online, who are willing to forego the process of actually turning a page, well, let’s just say I look forward to the day when I don’t have a 3-foot pile of newspapers each week for the recyclers.
Greasing the old ESPN wheels already Pete?
LOL… Don’t worry. You and Tyler Kepner will be the new wave in over at Bristol once the slots become available.
Then I’ll have to watch the Ellsbury-Schilling-Papelbon-Network more just to see you.
And I’ll miss the days when your ‘loyal’ readers would attack you on here for doing your job and calling out Joe Girardi!
I watched the clip of the panel before I went to bed and had nightmares of Buzz Bissinger chasing me, holding a sheath of papers, shouting comments from blogs.
I woke up in a cold sweat just like James Brown. The other James Brown, thankfully.
Seriously, I used to think Costas was smart. Now I just think he’s short. And clueless.
Pete -
I was a newspaper kid, too, but I’ve been doing computers for over 20 years now - I still get several newspapers each morning, just have to have the NY Times puzzle in my hands.
Does Bob Costas have any idea about how the real world now operates? Apparently computers are foreign objects to him.
Anyway, I won’t pay an extra surcharge for all the pay channels, nor will I pay extra for the Olney blog. Tell Mr. Olney he’d have a lot more bloggers if he wasn’t so elitist.
Pete - are you really coming to ESPN? If so, you’d be a neighbor.
So they are all sick, maybe that explains the poor play?
Thanks Pete for a great perspective on the HBO show.
It is sad to see how the old main stream media doesn’t seem to understand the new world media forum and uses stereotypical comments to lump the fine work you do with what some commentors put in the end of a deadspin column. While I thought that Will was woefully under-prepared for the bashing, he did hit the nail on the head when he stated the internet is a meritocracy. This blog is probably the epitome of that case. I never heard of LoHud (I live near DC) until Tyler mentioned it in one of his blogs. Now I pass by all other digital reprints of newspaper columns and just come here and the Bats blog (Tyler needs to post more).
Also, I didn’t get to see the ethics panel discussion, but did they really have Mitch Albom commenting on the ethics of newspaper reporters? If that was the case, of all the people to choose, one who was suspended for making up a story about college players attending a basketball game when they didn’t seems pretty inane to me.
thanks for chiming in on this one - had been intereted to hear your take…I agree, the section on “blogs” was very very one-sided and the over all show fairly one-sided. The discussion on race was interesting and I am interested to hear more of the Strahan/Russo discussion. other than that it was fairly obviously biased and mission-driven.
Buster’s blog used to the be first thing I checking in the morning - now it’s here and Buster second (the news is much more up-to-date and sometimes it’s tiring going through the ESPN propaganda to get to his good stuff
).
Thanks for the last 18 months or so of relevant, interesting, detailed information and a backstage pass to the Yankees. I am happy I found this place.
Pete - Excellent post. I must tell you that this is the first thing I check in the morning (although, if the paper is in and my computer is down, I do check the Star Ledger (being a Jersey girl and all)). But this blog and a few others are my go to source all day. Your information and the comments of the posters make this an excellent spot to waste a few otherwise billable minutes.
It is shocking how Costas and much of mainstream media doesn’t get sports blogging. I’m curious though what percentage of fans follow blogs. I know that as time goes on, it will keep growing, but I wonder if anyone knows what it is. Costas was probably just playing to his audience; guys like my dad who still are trying to figure out how to attach pdfs to emails.
One thing you don’t cover, which I am curious about, and maybe it’s only me is the beat reporter life. What goes on in the press box? Are the little snippets you post here during the game strictly your own take, or a result of a little back and forth with some of the other reporters? Do you all get along? (I guess you can’t really tell us that)
Thanks for all that you do. I suspect that in 5 or ten years, when someone wants to figure out how sports blogging grew, your blog will be seen as one of the ones that got it all started.
Pete, you’re my Buster Olney. It’s my starting point for all Yankee and baseball related news.
After I’m done with your stuff I click on the hardball times, bronx banter or something else. It’s been ages since I regularly visited the nytimes sports page, which I used to do.
Buster’s kind of replaced Peter Gammons for that around the baseball dispatch I check in on now again.
I will say I wish more players blogged. Phil Hughes isn’t satisfaying enough - I’d love to have some older veteran (Mike Mussina?) blog regularly, share a little of his insight into things. Say what you will about 38pitches, it can be pretty interesting reading.
Pete, I’ve said this to you before, but I think you use the blogging medium perfectly — that yours is an optimal mixture of news, personal stuff, whimsy, and reportage. Others would do well to follow your example.
Pete - Thanks for the blog - I was always a newspaper reader - still am - but I’ve been around computers for over 20 years now.
I can’t afford to pay extra for special channels or elitist blogs so I did’t see the Costas show and don’t read the Olney blog. In fact, I think those media outlets miss out on all of the public sports fans by not making their product available to all for one cable fee and one internet fee only. Or do they only want the views of the moneyed class?
Are you moving to ESPN? If so, you’ll be a neighbor.
Pete,
Your blog is the first site I check EVERYDAY (even weekends). I’m addicted, I truly appreciate your progressive view on the subject of blogging & your inside access to the players. Your anecdotes on clubhouse life are what set you & your blog apart from all the rest.
Your writing & insights are fair and objective. I may not agree all the time but I get it.
Pass this on to your boss. The Daily News & NY Post have nothing on you guys.
Great Thoughts and great blog…You are my Buster Olney.
I only saw the clip that has been making the rounds, but Bissinger definitely was “on edge”. Obviously there’s going to be a lot of controversy surrounding blogs since anyone can do them and write anything they want.
It’s unfair to lump everyone in the same pot, just as it is unfair to lump those writers/broadcasters, etc. that you feel or bad together with those you feel are good.
I have to say though I still enjoy sitting in a recliner and reading the paper…and of course you really don’t want to take your laptop in the bathroom.
Pete,
Like others, I’m glad you weighed in on this. That debate didn’t need to be as contentious as it was. I was particularly bothered by the way Bissenger dismissed Will’s claim that fans want to see players as human beings. Of course we do! But older guys like Costas and the like want to view them as gods. They’re not. They’re fallible and they do many of the same things we all like to do. If we saw more of their actual personalities rather than the fake swagger or the guardedness, we’d like them even more.
You can see that play out right here on the Yankees. People love Joba because he’s let us in on his personality. A-Rod on the other hand gets respect only for his baseball skills because I don’t think anyone has ever seen his real personality.
I appreciate that you give us solid analysis and the little tidbits that make the guys relatable.
Excellent post. It’s refreshing to see a traditional journalist recognize the steps he needs to take to remain relevant.
Peter, you’re so right about the fact that people who read your blog don’t read your paper (I’m one of them).
I forget how I found your blog originally, but I bookmarked it and have been back several times.
Meanwhile, since I live in Jersey, I never heard of your paper; even now, if I wanted to get a paper copy, I wouldn’t know where to get one (the local newsstand doesn’t carry it).
So, yes, blogs are the future, and that’s not a bad thing.
Pete, you nailed it head-on about the future of newspapers and online media. Costas should have had you on, you’ve got the right perspective. By the way, I enjoy your comments on other things other than the Yankees very much. Also worth mentioning is that the tone of the writing is much more informal on the blog versus the newspaper, but I guess that is obvious to all who read it anyway.
I wrote up my take on the Bissinger thing on my blog:
http://schteeve.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/welcome-to-the-buzz-saw/
Essentially, I think it’s about money.
I second the opinion. Of course, it feels differnt between reading newspapers and blogs. Blogs are less restrictive and more open-enede, while with newspapers, it’s more of a “final say.” For now, I enjoy checking updates of this blog, and look forward to the digital version of daily sports reports. They go hand in hand. One doesn’t have to replace the other, but the line might be blurred more and more.
In order to read Buster Olney’s blog, one has to sign up for ESPN Insider. I prefer the freebies, especially when it’s as good and fun as this. Thanks Peter.
I discovered this blog about a year ago, and it replaced the Daily News and the Post for where I get my Yankees news. This and the Buster Olney blog on ESPN are where I get my baseball news.
I think the comment about Costas and the old school reporters wanting to see their sports heroes as “gods” is spot on. These guys grew up with Mickey Mantle, and started working during the Michael Jordan era. They’re used to a world where taking on the big fish meant that you were shut out of access.
I also think that Bissenger and Costas seemed to have no idea what the differencs, or even that there is a difference between an actual post and a comment, underscores how little they know about blogging and blogs.
Buzz comes across as one of the most ill-informed, unprofessional and lewd people I’ve seen on TV in a long time. It’s ironic considering his entire purpose is to accuse Deadspin of being unprofessional. Way to shoot yourself in the foot and give sportswriters a bad name Buzz!
It’s just amazing to me that the debate even exists.
Isn’t it obvious? There are sportswriters, and some are good and some are bad. There are bloggers, and some are good and some are bad.
It’s so painfully obvious that the “journalists” feel threatened (and rightly so). Costas himself seems like a whiny baby:
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/14/costas-blogs-a-high-tech-place-for-idiots/
The biggest difference is that blogs cater to the long tail. This is why Amazon has books that sell 4 copies a year (and make money doing it) and why you see online stores like http://everythingchopsticks.com that you’d never see when walking down Main Street. Essentially the zero-cost model for the blogs means that they can write (and even make some money from) a blog that only 300 people will find interesting. Try that with a newspaper.
Newspapers have their place - generic news for the masses. It’s clear that electronically distributed media is the future (and present, I’d argue), because people can find exactly what they want, and focus on it.
Congratulations on embracing the technology rather than fighting it, Pete.
Peter - I want to thank you for your blog. I check your blog periodically throughout the day - everyday. You are my source for all Yankee news and insight. Your blog is both informative and entertaining.
Thank you again. Looking forward to a long season.
Rob