Passan vs. Ben Verlander: The slap fight you never knew you needed

Huh? Yes, I think that Jeff Passan provides a ton of value to readers and viewers. I'm sure Verlander does to some degree, too.

The idea that media members are faceless bylines disappeared nearly a decade ago. The reason we're talking about this is because media members are more visible now than they've ever been. The most successful sportswriters are the ones who can blend the traditional aspects of the job while also building an authentic persona that enhances coverage.

 

I think both things can be and perhaps are true at once. A ESPN can provide coverage and insight while simultaneously not having to do so to be vital to ESPN. I think ESPN values (as Ben Strauss wrote awhile back) perpetual availability and a good rep among players and front office types. ​

 

ESPN is McDonald's. They'll make feints toward quality every so often by hiring Ace Reporter X from a competing outlet, just like McDonald's will offer a "healthy" sandwich from time to time. But ultimately, they only give a shit about the programs running on time. You're eventually going to be asked to leave if you're an Olbermann, or a Sage Steele or Curt Schilling.

 

Curt Schilling was the McRib of the ESPN menu: All sauce, no meat.

 

The idea that writers - including sportswriters - haven't feuded publicly until now, until the advent of social media, is antihistorical nonsense.

 

Unless I missed something, Sage Steele is still at ESPN — despite suing ESPN.

 

If anything, the public feuds have simmered down the last 10 years. But everyone is more public and front-facing than they were in the print era.

 

Yeah, if anything, writers get along better now, probably because of social media and the inside baseball nature of the whole thing. You don't hear very often about people on the same beat going the entire season without talking to one another.

 

Yep.

(No one on this thread suggested feuds were new, as far I can tell.)