Dan Daly does SMG...

http://www.sportsmediaguide.com/20071009-DanDaly.ASP

Wow.

Vert good stuff. Especially the first part about writers needing to have knowledge of history. I know a lot of writers who are guilty of this.

Excerpt:

Q. You're saying young writers have to be aware of history?

A. Yes. Be aware of what you don't know. That's some of the best advice you can give any journalist. Know that history is not your lifetime. History is history. When you're 25 you're not going to have time to read the books and do the research on things somebody like me has found out in 31 years in the business. Over time you can acquire that knowledge. Some people who read my stuff probably are mystified why I would spend that much time with the historical part of my columns. It's one of my niches - it distinguishes my column from somebody else's.

After the Belichick spying story I wrote that this has been going on from time immemorial, in the time of George Halas and Paul Brown and probably forever. Are we supposed to revisit every championship the Browns won or the Bears won and put asterisks on them? The general reaction to the whole story was self-righteous furor, as if it was unprecedented, as if it was way over the line. It wasn't way over the line - it was maybe a little more over the line than other people have gone.

Q. What was your historical perspective on the Ecko column?

A. One of the things I tried to talk about is how antiseptic these Halls of Fame can be. They go out of their way to be neutral and non-judgmental and non-political. I think in some instances you can overdo it. If you're going to have the Bonds ball without editorial comment - how great of an idea is that? Obviously this is a grandstand play by this guy but I understand the spirit of what he's doing and I agree. I talked about the history of the game and about Gaylord Perry's habit of loading up on baseballs. Imagine a guy giving of tour of the Hall of Fame and pointing out Perry's saliva, an odds sheet of Pete Rose's, or Norm Cash's corked bat from when he won the batting title in '61. If the Halls of Fame tried to tell the entire story of their games they would have to have wings to keep articles like this. This will be a real exception going into the Hall identified as it is.


I had no idea Norm Cash had a corked bat when he won the batting title.

 

do the moonies still own that paper?

he's a good columnist.

 

yes same ownership

the interesting part about his belichick/cheating column is that the Wash. Post totally ripped it off a few days later.

 

is the times competitive with the post?

i never hear much about it.

 

Where's the part where he bangs Sarah Michelle Gellar?