His April 6th piece accused the franchise of becoming too bland. The drama and angst of spring trainings past weren't in evidence this season and our boy apparently thinks that's a bad thing.
With Curt Schilling a thing of the past, and ManRam gone, not to mention the infamous Carl Everett, it appears as though Shank is desperately seeking new targets to skewer.
"No holdouts, no latecomers, no intramural dustups around the batting cage. No long-hair leaping gnomes. It was all about baseball.
"Once a roster peppered with divas, blogboys, and Jesus action figures, the Red Sox of 2009 are downright button-down. No more gypsies, tramps, and thieves."
Oh, my. How horrid! The team is about PLAYING baseball. Imagine that!
His second column was a tad more gracious. Just a tad, as the Shankster slammed sundry individuals and groused about Youk grousing about "several Hub scribes did not pick the Sox to win the World Series."
Ho hum...
I apologize for running late on these this week, as I was a tad under the weather and busy promoting my book, which has gone for a third printing since its release last month. Rest assured the three errors that have been pointed out to me will be corrected in the fourth printing ... unlike another scribe who wrote about the so-called "Curse."
It must be tough for him to keep his head held high in Groton or wherever, knowing that every set of eyes he meets is thinking, "Oh...there's Mister Lifetime Employment." I don't really feel bad for that sort of torture, not when we realize how snarly and vindictive CHB is, and how he uses his bully pulpit as a weapon. Somehow, the news about the Globe this past week has been rather just, don't you think? In a 'get-as-good-as-you-give' sort of way?
ReplyDeleteShank = 'blogboys'
ReplyDeleteHowie Carr = 'hackerama'
Overused / annoying? And who's worse in said deployment?
Discuss...
Actually, the April 6 column is about the transition between the Red Sox of a thousand anecdote-laden tomes and the modern-day "baseball operations" approach. By noting the tranquility surrounding the franchise as it entered this season, the piece does leave an unanswered question about which the fans prefer -- the baseball or the drama.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how you come up with the observation that some of the color is drained from spring training is considered a "bad" thing. But then you have your agenda.
If you can't see the significance of one of the team's better ballplayers being disconcerted by predictions that the team would make it to, but lose, the World Series, then I suggest you might learn something about a reporters instinct by continued reading of Shaughnessy.
Obtuse Bruce...
ReplyDeleteA reporter's job is to get the facts RIGHT. Something Mr. Shaughnessy has NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in doing. Want examples?