ACC Tourney, a young writer, impressions of sports media

Enjoyed that, mostly. Give the kid credit. He owned it.

But I don't think I'll forget this part: "And that gets at the heart of my misconception about the forum; this is a blog. This is a heavily biased, opinionated blog where I express sentiments without much of a filter. That's part of the appeal, and I think there's a lot to be said for that approach in a field that's become, by and large, hugely cautious."

Isn't that kind of thing getting more and more people in deep shit seemingly every other day?

 

He admits in his apology that he has never worked a beat, yet he has the temerity to bang out a couple thousand words that do a wholesale hatchet job on the entire industry.

Arrogance and an open forum are a dangerous combination.

But I think Inky Wretch nailed it ... they all think they're going to be a columnist or an essayist. And maybe that's all that will be left soon, when machines are doing the beat reporting. Then there really will be nobody cheering on press row. The reality is that with his writing ability and bold voice (and let's not forget his Duke diploma) someone is going to hire him. So much for working your way up by starting on the prep beat and learning how to report.

The commercial Internet was just getting started when I finished college. Sometimes I wish it had been around when I was in school. There might have been more employment avenues to pursue. But I also might (would!) have made an ass of myself more times than I care to think about.

 

His writing is the best I've seen from someone that young in awhile. I have no idea if the kid could cover a beat or any of that, but he's a damn good writer.

 

Covering games isn't the only place sports writers work. It might be one of the worst places to watch, for some of the reasons he mentions. Sticking athletes up on the podium is for the benefit of TV and it doesn't serve people who want more than a 5-second bite well. It is also about time constraints, and I get that, but judging people on questions asked and answered in that situation is unfair. Being a sports writer is also about feature stories, news, explaining issues and so on. Judging the industry on a few games at a tournament is out of whack.

The blogger is a talented writer. Some of his criticisms are legit. But he torched a lot of people without knowing anything close to the entire story.

 

Dat's the bottom line.

 

A lot of people I know own guitars. The ones who are professional musicians know which notes not to play. Music is the spaces between the notes.

 

As a young writer, like the Duke guy, I'm going to feel a lot of resentment if this blog post gets him a job. He's getting noticed, and he's doing it by pissing people off.

I always thought I could get noticed by just going out and writing stories.

But I guess the key is to touch some emotion, whatever that emotion is.

 

I give the kid credit on multiple fronts, and yep, he can write -- and as noted, apparently learned something. So good for him, and I guess we just move along. (He made some pretty damn good points in his apology, too.)

 

I don't blame you for being pissed off. Chris Jones and Charlie Pierce are writing paens to him now, for God's sake. Maybe we ought to start calling him "The Shane."

He'll have an Esquire or GQ byline within two years. Take that to the bank.

 

Can he really write? It's hard to tell from that self-serving screed he originally posted. The last thing the world needs is another writer who believes his feelings and his opinions are the only things that matter. Forget perspective, forget working to find the story behind the story, forget building professional relationships that help you uncover those stories and tell them in a thoughtful way. This guy just told us that his sole aim is to show the unbridled passion that he brings to his know-it-all blog as he root, root, roots for the home team. If people wonder why true journalism is vanishing in the new media age, this kid is Exhibit A.

I don't care what you think, Shane. Tell me something I didn't know. Anybody can blog by sitting in front of the TV set. There's a billion citizen-journalists out there these days telling us how clever they are and how people who have trained to do the job are simply pounding out mundane crap that nobody reads anymore. Look, reporting from a live event is what it is. Access and deadlines limit what you can accomplish some days. But the pros try to get around the drawbacks and find something new to give readers.

As for the apology, I'm not buying it. He backed down because somebody as good (and, yes, as famous) as Chris Jones called him out. If a few veteran ACC writers had done the same, he would have flipped them off and mocked them on his blog. Here's the problem: Shane wants to be Chris Jones without paying the dues that Chris has paid along the way. Guys like him dismiss the entire profession after sitting on press row for a couple of days because nobody is fawning over him like the 35 anonymous people who comment on his site.

Shane, get out in the real world and bust your ass working a few years. It would do you a whole lot of good. And if all this makes me sounded like an embittered old "sports writer," then so be it. A whole lot of us take pride in what we do and work just as hard at acting professionally at events as we do chasing and writing stories.

 

He can definitely write. He writes in a way that you can't really teach and I hope he gets a job where we can find out if his talent, combined with some time with a mentor can unleash this kid's potential. Yes, he needs to mature, but he's fresh out of school at the age where so many think they know everything.

I think the apology was sincere. It's not like his whole blog ripped the other ACC writers. He was very complimentary to one of the writers who had done a series on Duke this year.