The Spike Lee School of Sportswriting?

Bullshit! The black writers will intuitively know how, and relate to the player much better than the status quo - which is to villify the Blackman and make him out as a whinny rich arrogant punk - at the same time - giving the white players a pass.

Black writers have been long overdue.

Bout damn time.

 

Damn, the Lakers used to have their hands full when the Mavs' backcourt was Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper.

 

Good for him. But the greater societal good will be better served by the fact that the school will train all kinds of journalists, not just sports.

 

If they do well on the English portion of those socioeconomically biased tests, they will dominate and the profession will lurch forward.

 

Low-paying career?

Perhaps in the sticks.

 

Ahhhh.... and there's the rub.

 

I'd like to see that in numbers of people.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Nope, he just enrolled. By the way, WWL.com just posted a short column by the loving scoopful on the flap about Wallace's headband. It contains this passage

"But why Wallace pictured in the team's media guide wearing a headband? Why has the organization created marketing material that allowed the players to wear headbands?

Why is there this standard double?"

Time for remedial English, Mr. Jackson.

 

To say that sportswriters are going away is completely wrong. Is the fat getting trimmed? Yes. Notice all the cuts are for national writers and such. But beat writers will always be needed because fans will always crave information about Jimmy Jump Shot's fifth DUI.

Are people reading the paper less? Yes. Know why? Because they're reading it online. It doesn't make our job any less significant. Papers just have to adjust to the change.

 

The basic principles of how to write a story wouldn't change much. But those writers might bring a different perspective.

 

awriter,

What perspective would that be? I'm not being ignorant, but honest. The sports media is predominantly white, and, personally, I think it does a pretty damn good job of illuminating what it's like to be a black athlete.

That's not to suggest there aren't stories about black Americans that need to be told by black Americans. I'm saying journalism has its limits, and within those, I don't think the black athlete has been particularly shortchanged.