Upon Sports Writing

Its hard work to find a new angle to sports stories. I worry that there are too many writers covering the same damn story, from the same angle. When this gets tired, the hacks then go after the reporting and the angle, blindly following the same pattern which they are criticizing. What do I mean? Some examples-

Barry Bonds- Yes there is a relevant story here. Can we all agree to let someone write it? This should not be your go-to topic on a slow or uninspired writing day. He will break Hank Aaron's career home run record, probably this year. He did in all probability use illegal substances to improve physical perfromance. People did go to crazy covering the story. People have subsequently gone crazy talking about how reporters went crazy...etc.

John Amechi/ Tim Hardaway- Amechi, a former NBA player, came out an said he was gay. Tim Hardaway, another former player, went on the radio and said he would'nt like playing with a gay man, that he hates gays, and that there should be no place in the US for them. So is Amechi the only gay athlete in pro sports? No. He did do a little for those others by admitting it, but not much, because he hid it while he played, and quite honestly because John Amechi sucked and most people don't know who he is. Cue the columnists bashing Hardaway and his ignorance. listen, we all know he was dumb professionally for saying it, and has cost himself a spot in the post-playing-days NBA. One day is enough, maybe two. Two weeks of articles is a bit much, especially when so many say the same thing.


I blame mass media outlets for appealing to a sensationalist approach to sports news and reporting. ESPN and friends should resist letting hype create and/or become the story, and let fair reporting create the hype.