WaPost family feud over Tony K.

Talk about your run of the mill office politics. Or something.

 

Truth hurts.

 

It was irrelevant and a cheap shot and a shot at a lot of hard-working sports writers at that paper who had neither said nor done nothing wrong. Neely Tucker, get over yourself, asshole.

 

Actually, it was a shot at Wilbon, and a well-deserved one.

 

A lot of what was written by the Washingtonian in that snippet is true. But I will say what I do every time a piece appears by Harry Jaffe: He is a pompous, pretentious pretender who, in his years writing about the Post, has become adept at trying to turn molehills into mountains.

 

Last issue, Jaffe did the all-time blowjob on Little Danny Snyder. In the piece, the spineless Jaffe even admitted to bending to Snyder's ground rules for an interview. Then went on for 4000 words or so on "The Dan Snyder You Don't Know," this Little Danny being, of course, a shy, hard-working, self-deprecating husband/daddy/philanthropist.

 

Newspapers are fading and TK's got radio and TV gigs. He should probably leave the Post altogether. Sounds like he knows what he's doing while others at the Post seem to be a tad jealous.

I agree that Wilbon's comments are stupid.

 

Actually, Neely Tucker is right about his point. You trying to tell me that a sports writer spoiled by free food at hospitality suites and press boxes, free graft everywhere and stats, quotes and notes on demand would actually survive a week in Iraq?

I think what Wilbon might have been talking about are the style and metro reporters who have an even cushier job than sports writing. Foreign correspondents can look down their nose at sports, style and metro, and rightly so. While I think Kornheiser's rant on the TV critic was childish, Wilbon was more on the mark.

And so is Tucker.

 

This is what bothers me. Tony K is/was a great columnist, but as a young pup I am sick of guys hanging around when they got other great gigs.

Tony K is a tv star and celebrity, he has no need for the column except for his ego. Give someone else a chance. This is the same as when Marv Albert comes in to do Net games and bounces their young announcer. Give someone else a chance, you don't need the column.

Why does he keep the column? The post should give it up because he is no longer a true working columnist. He should give it up out of respect to the profession.

 

It seems to me like this is the Post's problem. They know TK is mailing it in. TK knows he is mailing it in. And the two parties are apparently cool with that. Take the money and run.

 

It depends on the sports writer. Mark Bowden has done all right with it, no? Just seemed like a whole lot of self-gratification on Tucker's part.

 

Juliet Macur has been to Iraq for The New York Times, and was there for quite some time, if I recall correctly. (Is she still there? I don't know.) I think Edward Wong of the Times, who's in their Baghdad bureau, used to be a sportswriter for them, too. I believe boxing was his primary beat.

None of that changes the fact that Wilbon shouldn't have said what he said, though.