TBL talks to Karen Crouse

Yep.

A chunk of them

 

And let's be honest... what does breaking news mean anymore?

News is broken on a Web site... then matched 10 minutes later by a competitor.

Big fucking deal. No one remembers who was first under these auspices.

 

I see your problem now. You are lacking in vocabulary skills.

We can argue about Mikey's merits, and the "crap" part is subjective, but he is and always has been, above all else, readable. There's probably never been a sports columnist more readable than him. Short, lean sentences. In perfect cadence. As clear as See Spot Run. As unambiguous as a warning label on a pack of cigarettes. You might not agree with his point, but you could be retarded and not misunderstand it. If I had to pick one person to write an instruction manual for how to survive nuclear war, Lupica would be my choice. No doubt they'd be bitching that he writes "it's Nuclear November in New York" every year, or saying he wrote the directions from a sofa in Connecticut, but they'd be doing it from a fallout shelter, 'cause Mikey'd get 'em there.

Fuck, man. Unreadable. Not much of a literary critic, are ya?

 

Frank: I hated English literature courses, but I'd take yours. Especially if Shockey was a guest lecturer.

PS: Instruction manuals are not the standard by which I judge writing. Which is not a rap on Lupica. I have too many New York friends who are his fans to do that.

 

frank, good writing doesn't make bad ideas any more readable. at least to these eyes. if "readable" is the wrong word, my apologies, maestro.

nighty-night, sir ridgeway.

 

Re: Karen Crouse, Lee Jenkins, et al...

Does the Times ever hire a beat writer to cover a beat for the long haul? Seems like every artiste they bring in there really wants to do something else (features, columns). That is a disservice to readers who follow those teams faithfully. Even if they don't take the so-called "Lifetime" network approach being bandied about here, the loss of continuity and contacts and institutional knowledge on those beats is severe.

Anyone know the longest that a Times beat person has been on his/her team, among those active? What's the average? How many promotions does that place have to give out -- and if it's promoting so many darn people, why doesn't it have the best fleet of columnists in the business?

 

Does Murray Chass count? Hasn't he been a highly regarded national baseball writer forever?

 

Kudos to Murray Chass, but I was thinking more of beats, as in teams.

 

I loved the way Buster Olney covered the Yankees in "Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty." It wasn't the "Lifetime Channel" by any means. But it sure made the business and personalities of baseball interesting - and tied in directly with what was going on on the field, not tangental to it.

 

Buster Olney was the gold standard. Tyler Kepner has continued the high quality of Yankee beat coverage for the Times.

 

Mike Wise was excellent on the Nets and then the Knicks beats.

 

right on. right on. right on.
a "scoop" is a quaint anachronism.
anybody can report trivia, i.e, injuries, contracts, personnel moves, etc. it's all simple trivia. good for wrapping fish.
but very few can be good storytellers. that's an art. and readers know it.
the sausage makers who report 'trivia' always - always - put down the storytellers, because they can't do it, and they're intimidated by them.