TBL talks to Karen Crouse

Shockey would you please tell Frank for me that I see nothing wrong with her work either - other than Ricky Manning redemption story. Stories are well written and spell checked.

 

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

Boom:

The answer you repeatedly ask for is here, in the TBL interview:

When I interviewed for the job, I told Tom that if he was looking for someone to cover the beat the same old way, I wasn’t his person. I wanted to take the beat somewhere else, go beyond the Xs and Os and humanize the players, paint them with a different brush, give readers a picture of who these people are behind their helmets and their padding and all of football’s macho posturing.

Karen told Tom how she would envision covering the beat. Tom hired her anyway. So, yes, your criticism should be directed at Tom, not Karen. You might not like the way she covered the beat, but her boss did, and she got a promotion.

You should know that Tom wanted Karen on the staff and hired her, and the Jets vacancy happened to be the way he could hire her. Tom never said Karen would be covering the Jets for 20 years. She covered the Jets until she got a promotion.

This is the exact same thing that happened with Lee Jenkins. Same story: great person, great writer, the NYT wanted him and got him on staff via the Mets vacancy. Lee did not write seamhead stories. Tom never said Lee would be covering the Mets for 20 years. He covered the Mets until he got a promotion.

 

this could develop into another useful discussion: is karen's role now considered by most of us as a "promotion?" what is her role, anyway?

 

Excellent point.

For those that strive to be beat writers, Karen and Lee did not get promotions.

For many beat writers, especially now with the 24-7 coverage demands, a feature/takeout/general assignment position is considered a promotion. That is what Karen and Lee got.

 

Yeah, it's called general assignment.

It's a good life for many.

Lots of variety.

Others prefer beat writing. Hooray for them.

And Boom, you've been in perpetual, mind-numbing error for about three pages concerning why she's not on the beat anymore. If she'd requested to stay on the beat, she'd still be on the beat.

 

Yeah, It's not like you had to actually read the interview or anything. :
Sheesh!

 

jets fans should be grateful then. can you imagine the unreadable crap karen would've churned out while the jets were going 4-12? they would've gagged. : : :

 

Did you consider the possibility that not having Karen around could have been part of reason for poor season. Players had no one to unburden themselves with.

 

Ah, now the real venom surfaces. She doesn't write in a style you like. Get over it. I think you'd be in the vast minority in calling her stuff "unreadable crap." Sportwriting has changed since you left the beat. There's that thing, the Interwebs, that makes most detail reporting outdated or repeated ad nauseam. I'm guessing she rubbed a buddy of yours the wrong way and here's your payback.

 

SCARY MONSTERS OF THE MIDWAY
By PHIL MUSHNICK


January 21, 2007 -- IF YOU intend to commit a crime or two, but expect sympathy and support from the media in return, perhaps it's best to first be a member of the Chicago Bears defense.
Last Sunday, after defensive tackle Tank Johnson made a game-saving sack late in regulation, Fox's Joe Buck seemed to marvel at the accomplishment: "It's Tank Johnson, with all he's been through." And then Buck left it at that.

Those unfamiliar with what Johnson has "been through" might have thought someone close to him had died - an aunt, maybe, or his grandmother.

Well, someone close to him had died. Willie Posey, Johnson's friend and bodyguard - Johnson, at 6-3, 300, needs protection - was shot dead in a nightclub. Johnson was with him. Posey was a convicted felon for drugs and armed robbery.

A day earlier, Johnson and Posey had been arrested following a raid on Johnson's house. Police found drugs and an arsenal, including three assault rifles and more than 500 rounds of ammo. Johnson already was on probation for a prior arrest, a weapons charge.

Yep, Tank had been through a lot.

Same goes for Bears DB Ricky Manning. In September, he pleaded no contest to felony assault of a Denny's patron.

Tuesday's New York Times - the "Newspaper of Record" - in an upbeat piece about Manning, touched on that episode: "Manning has acknowledged getting into an argument with a customer and shoving him in the head before leaving."

Yeah, there was an argument. The victim pleaded to be left alone and Manning disagreed.

According to police accounts, at 3 a.m. several men began to hassle a fellow, a UCLA student and Swedish citizen of Persian descent, who was wearing earphones while working on his laptop. They yelled racial and sexual insults at him until the fellow had the audacity to say, "Leave me alone."

Manning shortly thereafter hit the fellow in the face, then left, leaving the others to beat the hell out him. Those details didn't make the lengthy Times piece, only that Manning had gotten "into an argument with a customer."

"Initially, I reacted to getting disrespected when I thought I shouldn't have been," Manning, who had a prior record for assault, told The Times. "OK, I shouldn't have done that. But I thought I did the right thing by walking away, leaving."

Yeah, congratulations to Ricky. He did the right thing. An innocent man was being bullied and Manning was the first to hit him. But as that man was being beaten unconscious, Manning left. Yep, he's learning how to walk away from trouble.

After Manning's arrest, The Times notes, "his public image took a brutal hit." Really? Brutal hit to the image, huh

 

thanks so much for the analysis, dools. sorry if my feelings weren't clear. no, i am not a fan of how karen chose to cover her beat. much too touchy-feely for my taste. but i disagree that this is a resistance to "new-age" beat writing.

her way DID NOT WORK! for every coles piece she did, there were many others that did not work, for "sesame street" on down. i don't see anyone else at the times who covers their beat with such little regard for the readers who truly love the game or the team they cover.

karen's an obviously talented writer interested greatly in the human condition. not everyone is best-suited for covering a beat. this was simply such an example.

nothing "aha!" about it. both karen and the times are far better off with her not on the beat. why do folks find this stance so insulting?