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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Slow News Week

Just as I was saying the best thing about Shank's picked up pieces columns was their infrequency, along comes Shank with another one.
Pardon me if I sound like Larry King, but what’s up with this Twitter madness? It strikes me as trendy, immature, and entirely unnecessary. What you had for lunch is of no interest to me. Increasingly, tweeting seems to be getting athletes in trouble.

Remember Rashard Mendenhall on Osama Bin Laden? The Raiders and Steelers on Hines Ward? All those players ripping Jay Cutler after the loss to the Packers? It’s just too easy to rip off an inane message of 140 characters and hit the “send’’ button.
Or rip off (so to speak) an inane message of a thousand or so words, send it to your editor and call it a column. Besides, Shank's already tweeting!

The last part of this column is rich with irony / hypocrisy as it involves Jacoby Ellsbury:
Q and A with agent Scott Boras from the All-Star Game. On the public relations beating the Red Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury took in Boston last season:
This S.O.B. led the charge against Ellsbury in print and on the radio, and now he has the nerve to present the situation in the passive tense, as though he had nothing to do with it? For a newspaper columnist, he's got balls...
Was Ellsbury hurt by the criticism?
Translation - did I get to him?
Did Boras ever think Ellsbury and the Sox would have to part company after the wasted year of 2010?
...
Any talks regarding a contract extension for Ellsbury:
Translation - did my trashing of your client get to you?

This guy really knows how to hold a grudge, doesn't he? Throw in the shot earlier in the column at the Krafts, and that point's a big 10 - 4.

4 comments:

  1. I rarely come to Shank's defense but the Glob is making him Tweet.

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  2. A couple of quick thoughts...

    1.) No surprise (right or wrong) that he is on Logan Mankins' side as it gives him an opportunity to blast the Krafts, one of his frequent targets. A side note: condolences to the Kraft Family, and the Patriots on Mrs. Kraft's passing.

    2.) "Daddy" Globe is making him tweet? Obviously, he has an account set up that automatically tweets his columns. He's probably afraid that he may have to interact with fans (Pete Abraham is EXCELLENT with this, FWIW) if they respond to him. It's called social media, Shank, embrace it.

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  3. Bill,

    You're asking Shank to be "social" ... and embrace it.

    Isn't that an oxy-moron?

    g

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shank attacks the Krafts and as usual gets it wrong. Mankins didn't "stand up to the Krafts," they stood up to him. Mankins instigated the contract fight and is now escalating it at the last minutes of getting the new CBA done.

    Check out post about Mankins and other players trying to sabotage the new CBA.

    ReplyDelete