The Sky is Falling

Well that didn't take long did it? For three days straight, Shaughnessy has been dancing on the grave of the Yankees. 24 hours and one loss later, the immortal Mr Sample Size of One concludes that the sky is in fact falling. Doesn't beat around the bush either for that is a direct quote

Never mind the Yankees are still a good team. Shank needed a story line. Never mind the Red Sox took 2 of 3. Shank needed a story line. Never mind Lester pitched great. Shank needed a story line. Never mind that Beckett's injury did not occur at Yankees Stadium and has been a concern for awhile now. Shank needed a story line.

Perhaps this is what a columnist is supposed to do. Make bold proclamations. It's "Good versus evil". The issues are black and white. My issue with Shaughnessy is that he turns on a dime and bounds from one extreme to another all in 24 hours. In some cases, it is warranted...consider the extremes of the Patriots last season pre and post Super Bowl. Yet, here we have one regular season loss and Shaughnessy spectacularly blows it out of proportion.

I suppose it is all relative however. I was blown away by the venom with which Jay Mariotti's colleagues wrote about him. As much as I think Shaughnessy is a lazy writer who shills for attention, he comes nowhere close to what we are reading from Chicago. God forbid he makes his way to Boston. Is there already a Jay Mariotti Watch?

This Gives Me Hope

"I was always impressed by his verbosity. He's a skilled writer. However, it's what he wrote about and how he framed his opinion that was absolutely disgraceful. His arrogance is galling. His attempts at being funny by injecting pop culture into his columns were embarrassing. He doesn't deserve to write in a sports town like Chicago."

If you're like me, you were hoping that the final word in that quotation was Boston and Dan was leaving the city.

No, the people of Chicago are today the lucky ones, as Jay Mariotti is leaving the Sun-Times. And his old employer doesn't much care. A fellow writer ripped him and the newspaper published the gleeful reactions of its readers, which the above quotation is taken from. While reading the comments, remember those are the ones they could publish. Think of all the profanity laced, personal attacks that must have been held back. Maybe some Sun-Times editor will leak some of the funnier ones.

I am posting in part to remind people that Dan is part of a larger problem in sports media today. Lazy, vindictive columnists abound and Dan is not close to being the worst. Dan does some legwork (Mariotti apparently doesn't like to go into clubhouses to back up his tough guy talk), and for the most part avoids the most odious elements of sports media, like sportstalk radio and this month's ESPN insult to fans.

EDIT: I forgot to give credit to Boston Sports Media Watch and Deadspin for the links.

EDIT2: Here is another attack on Mariotti by one of his colleagues. Mariotti is, in the words of Lou Henson, the classic bully.

After some thought, I realize that the problem with my Marrioti-Shaughnessy comparison is that the latter is way too smart to leave a lifetime sinecure like a columnist's gig at the Boston Globe. Dan will be carried out of Morrissey Boulevard mumbling something about Red Auerbach, Grey Poupon, a curse, and Theo and his minions. Let's just hope he doesn't have the genes of my grandparents.

EDIT3: The 'I swore he was dead' Roger Ebert rises from the crypt to rip Jay.

Will anyone stand up to defend him?

It's depressing. Dan's sins pale in comparison to Mariotti's and it took years for Jay to be booted. How long will it take for Dan to leave?

Who are you talking about Dan?

It's all about efficiency in business today. And what business needs it more than newspapers?

It takes Dan only eight sentences to introduce a groan inducing pun:

Jack Nicholson was on hand to watch the blood drain out of the Yankees' season. Who says he can't handle the truth?

(I always chuckle when the notoriously thin-skinned Dan writes that line.)

I have to give it to Dan, though. He actually bothered to watch the game before he wrote his column. Maybe he finally learned something from Bob Ryan after all these years.

I Like Lists

And apparently Dan does, too. Dan flips through some histories of the Red Sox and gives us all the great Yankees-Red Sox moments at the Stadium.

Dan does his "work" in the opening, highlighted by a "Seinfeld" reference that was tired the day people started using it 14 years ago. There is a Clark Rockefeller reference to stay topical. It must have been killing Dan, sitting there on vacation, thinking "I have got this great Rockefeller quip. I hope that I am back writing before it becomes dated." Actually, upon reflection, I guess Dan wouldn't think like that.

Where is Dan?

Okay, it has been over two weeks since we've seen Dan grace the pages of the Boston Globe. What exactly is going on? Is Dan leaving? Is he miffed at the Globe's new hire? Is he on vacation? Or did the Globe just get smart and realize that the dude is long in the tooth and past his prime?
Post your theories here. Also anyone with inside info, we would love to hear what's going on.

The Big Scoop

Interesting piece today on several levels. Lets start at the end and work backwards. Shaughnesy has not written a piece in a week and yet he proudly acknowledges that he has been in California for a week "watching Manny take over the town". Apparently he has been so busy shopping for Manny dredlock wigs that he could not turn in a column. A wise use of Globe dollars?

Shaughnesy also makes a big revelation. The Boston Globe has learned that MLB is investigating Manny's final days with the Red Sox. This is a big scoop, right? Then why is this scoop buried halfway down the column? (By the way, is this a column or is it a hard hitting investigative report?) Is this scoop buried because the source is weak? And who at the Globe found this piece of info? Shaughnessy does not take credit for it as he employs the passive "the Globe has learned" technique. Is Shaughnessy being modest? Doubtful. Is he taking someone else's scoop? Likely. The vision of Shaughnessy burning up the phone lines doing investigative reporting is almost laughable. Maybe this big scoop is buried because Shaughnessy is embarrassed to be breaking the story because it's not his source?

Nevertheless, news of this investigation emboldens Shaughnessy. Is he taking columnistic license when he suggests that Ramirez' strikeout against Mariano Rivera several weeks ago was intentional? Or does he have some proof of this claim? Again, doubtful. (Objective Bruce's words from the other day ring in my ears: "Lesson Five: "Unsubstantiated rumors" ought not see the light of day without an examination of their source or veracity.")

No doubt, Manny's last days with the Red Sox have every sign of being sordid and there are many signs of unethical behavior. But there is a good discussion in the last thread about how people like Shaughnessy have totally neglected making the effort to examine Ramirez perspective. Is it the case that the duplicitousness of the Sox front office alienated Manny to the extent that he felt like he had to do what he did? This absolutely would not justify Ramirez' behavior but it would provide some meaningful context. Of course, Shaughnessy is either too lazy or too biased to pursue that angle. After all, he has wigs to model.

Dan goes LA LA

Before you go any further, check bruce's comment in the prior thread. It was a pre emptive post. bruce figured we would question the wisdom of the Globe sending Shaughnessy all the way cross coast to cover Manny's introductory press conference because deep down he recognizes it was a foolhearty decision.

Despite Bruce's claim to the contrary, Shaughnessy's covereage is not particularly spectacular. The Globe editors must have been reading this blog and they realized that Shaughnessy might lose his sanity since he would have no one to attack in Boston anymore. They unleashed him on LA where he could have one more slamfest taking on Manny, Nomar; Boras, and the lob ball press of LA.

Shaughnessy does not disappoint. It actually wasn't too bad of a column although I think there is much more to the claim that the Sox are masters at dissing players on their way out the door, a claim that Shaughnessy quickly dismisses because he himself feeds that monster.

I did enjoy his little musical reference at the end. Boston proved too much for the man. Gladys Knight is smiling somewhere. Now if Shaughnessy were only on the midnight train out of Beantown
(I apologize for not posting links. I have left Ma's basement and am blogging from a cell phone which is a bit tedious)

A Manny Stalking Blogger..could it be CHB?

Wow, Shaughnessy is apparently stalking Manny in LA and is posting blog entries about it... :) What is the world coming to? Is this a sign of the apocalypse?

Should be an interesting read Sat AM - will probably go on about how appropriate that Manny is in la la land and they will get what they deserve