Bamberger's year on the Philly beat

JGMACG, I resent the insutations of your post regarding Bamberger and the survivors of Brown. You say you are not making any accusations but you are very self rightous in your post while admitting you don't know spit about whether there is reason for your indignation or not. Well if you don't know spit about it, my recommendation is don't start popping off.
Maybe you don't have the stones to confront somebody on an issue, but that's a problem you need to deal with, and there is no reason to insinuate that someone else is as gutless as you are.
For the record, yes, I spoke directly to Bamberger about the false pretenses with which he approached the family and widow, and it is no secret to anybody who was around at the time that the father and widow registered their concerns with the ethics of the information gathering with Sports Illustrated.
And if you re-read the posts , which you claim you did, you also will notice that I did not at any point attempt to defend Brown and his actions, and actually said that I did not find him a comfortable person to be around.

 

As I said to Shockey, thank you for clarifying. It's the stand-up thing to do. I'd hate to think that you'd say something like that here without having said it first to Bamberger himself.

As to whether or not you resent being held accountable for what you say here, that's too bad. It's too easy to ruin someone's reputation from the shadows on an anonymous message board. But I'd also hold you accountable for it in the street or in the office.

And, even though you're a stranger to me, if anyone said the same things about you while hiding behind a screen name, I'd ask them the same questions and hold them to the same standards. And I hope you'd do the same for me.

 

You are welcome. I am glad I could take the time to clarify a point that was raised out of your ignorance of a situation in which you made an assumption and insinuation that was ill-founded because you jumped to a conclusion without having the facts. What troubles me about that is your reaction and statements on the subject without knowledge are too typical of what is happening in the newspaper business -- reporters who aren't content discern factual information. feel they have to jump to a conclusion and actually think they need to be a part of a story. It's a radio talk show mentality that is seeping it's way into newspapers and it is not a good trend.

 

I jumped to no conclusions, Poke. I merely asked a question. I asked if you'd said to the man's face what you were saying on an anonymous message board. I explained why I was asking the question. You answered the question. I said thank you.

 

when you read it, all the information from Brown's parents, wife, and ex-wife were positive comments about Brown. The stories about the conflict were all from Bamberger's own experience, and some of that might have been "poor little me"

 

No, to his credit, Bambi pretty much tells it like it was when explaining what he was put through by Brown. He deserved being derided for the way he covered the beat and the lack of respect for his professionalism as a beat writer went from one end of the box to the other. Still, the treatment he endured on other levels thanks to that now-gone moron was reprehensible.

 

I think most of us have been someplace when someone completely unqualified has been given a good job in an attempt to "do things differently." But our problem shouldn't be with the in-over-his-head shmoe, but with the glass-office moron who believes what sports writers do is so easy that no traditional apprenticeship need be served and believes that sports fans neither want nor deserve expertise in the sports section. From what Bamberger wrote, it didn't sound like he applied for the job, the Inky people asked him to do it.

I used to work on a large newspaper that hired a number of writers right out of college, and I kind of felt sorry for them in a way because the missed the chance to make their most humiliating mistakes in a smaller arena the way I did.

I wonder whether Brown would have lost the chip on his shoulder if the Inky had given him the job or if he would have become an even worse bully.

 

frank, i agree the office morons who tried to reinvent the wheel were to blame, but the brownies of the world have only one recourse -- making life miserable for the bambis of the world who waltz in thinking they'll show the lifers how it's done. that's the problem with the guys hiding in their glass cages. they throw bambis to the wolves while remaining hidden away.

it's no more bambi's fault than any other novice's, but when you're the sacrificial lamb, stuff happens. that's life in any arena. only the strong survive. bambi was neither the first nor the last not-ready-for-prime-time player to be treated rudely. he just whined about it in a much more public forum.

many of us have been there, being a total novice on a major beat. there's an effective way to earn your stripes -- via hard work and humility. bambi, by most accounts, failed on both ends.

 

Bamberger is an idiot....if he had any stones, he would have written this -- or something like it --- when the guy was alive.