Avoiding Toxic Sports Media

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

For awhile, I used to read Boston Sports Media Watch every day. Usually because it plugged up the daily links vacuum that was left by Bill Simmons when he jumped to ESPN. But also because I thought Bruce Allen did a pretty good job in his sports media commenting.

I don't really read it too much any more because of a number of reasons: I've grown really bored about the Boston sports media, I think that Allen was "lathering, rinsing and repeating" the same messages over and over and over again. And most of all, now that the majority of teams around here are pretty good (or were pretty good) and I have other things on my mind, I just don't care what these guys have to say.

BUT, I was just in the Felger and Mazz thread and someone wrote that Mazz is pissed that the Pats are 12-2 instead of 13-1. And that got me thinking of a recent post by Allen that I think is spot on: Avoiding Toxic Sports Media.

Personally, aside from the Globe Sunday section, I've pretty much avoided all of it in the last five months and I'm actually starting to get back into watching the games and forming my own opinions. They may might not be as nuanced and subtle as "The Pats should be 13-1, this is fucking bullshit!" but you know, I suppose that's the tradeoff for not being totally immersed in a subject anymore.

Anyway, I think that there are a few exceptions, but Allen's list is pretty good. What do you think about this? Have you guys gone cold turkey or do you think that there are other writers/blatherers that should be avoided?

 

[Kliq]

In the national scope there are plenty. I literally hate Mark Madden with every fiber in my being. You think he would be pretty easy to avoid outside of Pittsburgh, right? No! I really like the NFL Network shows like Top 10 and A Football Life, and for some reason Madden gets to appear on every edition of those shows. He is the purveyor of every loud-mouth sports commentator that exists.

 

[Blacken]

I basically ignore sports media because the overwhelming majority of them seem to hate the sports that they cover--much like most fans.

Some former Grantland writers are okay, when they embrace the absurdity of modern sports (Zach Lowe, Sean McIndoe, Shea Serrano, Andrew Sharp, etc.). CBS's basketball coverage is decent, because the people involved act like they actually like basketball. But the overwhelming majority of sports writers are self-hating swine.

 

[snowmanny]

I can't really overstate the impact that Deflategate has had on my consumption of sports media. I totally dropped all local radio. I barely watch anything on ESPN. I look at 538.com when I am very bored but don't regard it as remotely serious. It started out as avoiding PSI-talk but eventually all these clowns just seemed poisonous no matter what they were selling. The list goes on and on.

I get a pretty good amount of information from this site (and from links from this site), and I get extremely interesting and diverse and humorous insights that are held to a way higher standard than, say, the Indianapolis Star or the new Boston Globe. For all it's warts, the #DG thread was a glorious place that basically kept me sane for most of the year.

 

[TheoShmeo]

I basically ignore sports media because the overwhelming majority of them seem to hate the sports that they cover--much like most fans.

Some former Grantland writers are okay, when they embrace the absurdity of modern sports (Zach Lowe, Sean McIndoe, Shea Serrano, Andrew Sharp, etc.). CBS's basketball coverage is decent, because the people involved act like they actually like basketball. But the overwhelming majority of sports writers are self-hating swine.

I don't understand that bolded comment. Not that I disagree necessarily. I just don't follow it or intuitively understand why you would say that.

A friend is a well known sports writer at the NY Post. My guess is that most people here would view him as not that objectionable and also not particularly insightful, interesting or moving. (Though he is a very nice guy!) I asked him several years ago if he's still a sports fan and his answer was that he's a fan of faster games and meeting his deadlines. Years of watching sports with the pressure of doing a job that reflects sports will sap the fan out of you, he said. Made sense to me. And made me independently glad I did not choose to follow my childhood dream of being a sports writer.

I think Volin was terrible on DG and that he's a far cry from Greg Bedard on the Pats. Bedard regularly informed me about things I did not know. Volin, much less. But, still, I sometimes learn things I did not know from Volin's Wednesday analysis in the Globe. Make no mistake, I don't particularly like him but on non-DeflateGate topics, I don't find him to be that bad or on the level of the other guys in that grouping.

I would add Chris Gasper to the list. But mostly because I think he just isn't particularly insightful and is sometimes very annoying (like he was in today's column). Clearly, he's not in the CHB, Felger, Mazz, Borges mold.

 

[ifmanis5]

I can't really overstate the impact that Deflategate has had on my consumption of sports media. I totally dropped all local radio. I barely watch anything on ESPN. I look at 538.com when I am very bored but don't regard it as remotely serious. It started out as avoiding PSI-talk but eventually all these clowns just seemed poisonous no matter what they were selling. The list goes on and on.

I get a pretty good amount of information from this site (and from links from this site), and I get extremely interesting and diverse and humorous insights that are held to a way higher standard than, say, the Indianapolis Star or the new Boston Globe. For all it's warts, the #DG thread was a glorious place that basically kept me sane for most of the year.

Great post, feel the same way. DFG proved that where you get your information from matters a lot. I'm a lot more picky and skeptical now about where I go for info.

 

[am_dial]

How can Allen's list of media members to avoid be complete without mention of Eric Wilbur? Or has Wilbur stopped writing? (I wouldn't know; I cut out about 99% of local and national sports media many years ago -- around the time I started lurking here, so early 2004 or thereabouts. Whatever minor functions sports media once served in my life were easily supplanted by reading SOSH.)

And never mind the morning crew on WEEI -- aren't they the definition of "toxic"?

 

[soxfan121]

Some former Grantland writers are okay, when they embrace the absurdity of modern sports (Zach Lowe, Sean McIndoe, Shea Serrano, Andrew Sharp, etc.). CBS's basketball coverage is decent, because the people involved act like they actually like basketball. But the overwhelming majority of sports writers are self-hating swine.

Much like political candidates, we get what we deserve. No knock on JMOH, but this thread's title could just as well have been "supporting non-toxic media" and a useful list compiled. Listing off the self-hating swine - again - is part of why I think everyone's sick of it. Lather, rinse, repeat indeed.

I find twitter to be very useful in this regard. I have to follow Adam Schefter and some other big media types, but almost everyone else worth following is non-toxic football media who don't do hot takes. I don't need to actively avoid hot takes - I just need to excise any that show up and only follow the non-hysterical (or, in the case of "You're Right Mike!", the hysterical).

For example, no one here talks about SoSH Baseball enough as a place that doesn't do hot take bullshit. Too often the ones doing it the right way are drowned out by the need to opine on Cafardo's latest idiocy. It's hard to support a site like SoSH Baseball in a way that doesn't sound like cheerleading or patronizing. But someone should try. Those guys work their asses off everyday.

If you want sports media to change, there are local, homegrown examples to support all around you.

Or, we could do more of the thing where we roll around with the self-hating swine and then complain when we're covered in shit.

SoSH Baseball. It's a thing. By clicking everyday you can help them get press access. Click local.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

I'm surprised Bertrand made the list. He's as much of a patriots honk than anything.

Plus as mentioned how D&c&psychopath aren't on there is odd.

I avoid most of them on the list. T&R in the morning and then Bertrand and Zo in the car. I've tuned out F&M for the most part and when listening in the afternoon I've listened to Dale and Holley more than anything.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

I don't really follow any beat writers anymore. It's a boring, thankless job and I'm not going to be giving thanks. If there's a big injury or a trade, I'll get an alert on my phone. Short of that, I don't really care. Yay, somebody got moved down to sixth in the lineup or is questionable! Thanks, Bob Woodward! A good beat writer might be worth listening to as a podcast when they appear on the local radio station, but short of that my life is easier and better for not engaging with them. Even if they're pretty good, they're still likely to regurgitate a lot of ridiculous trade rumors fed to them by management and, by definition, print a lot of meaningless blather from coaches and players that doesn't tell us anything.

I'll still read a columnist now and then (I'll catch up on Joe Posnanski about once a week, Jonah Keri, some of the stats guys) and I do enjoy some longform stuff. I've gone through the SI longform section and enjoyed it - articles on past events are fun to read, because the athletes involved are better able to articulate their emotions and nobody cares about protecting the team anymore, so people are honest and tell you what was really going on.

That don't really care attitude helps when I encounter bad sports media as well. I started watching Sportscenter while getting ready in the morning because it's really hard to have a basic grasp of what's going on without some sort of compendium like Sportscenter. For example, the NFL app sucks so I would have never seen the OBJ/Norman brawls without SC.

There is some truly God-awful stuff on there - Dilfer's Dimes is just an embarrassment and how the fuck has Scott Van Pelt become a brand? But you know what? Who cares? It doesn't bother me anymore. It shows me enough of the big plays that I have some idea what's going on, and when Trent Dilfer starts calling Danny Woodhead a gnome because it's Christmas, I just roll my eyes and focus a little harder on washing the dishes.

 

[TheoShmeo]

Much like political candidates, we get what we deserve. No knock on JMOH, but this thread's title could just as well have been "supporting non-toxic media" and a useful list compiled. Listing off the self-hating swine - again - is part of why I think everyone's sick of it. Lather, rinse, repeat indeed.

I find twitter to be very useful in this regard. I have to follow Adam Schefter and some other big media types, but almost everyone else worth following is non-toxic football media who don't do hot takes. I don't need to actively avoid hot takes - I just need to excise any that show up and only follow the non-hysterical (or, in the case of "You're Right Mike!", the hysterical).

For example, no one here talks about SoSH Baseball enough as a place that doesn't do hot take bullshit. Too often the ones doing it the right way are drowned out by the need to opine on Cafardo's latest idiocy. It's hard to support a site like SoSH Baseball in a way that doesn't sound like cheerleading or patronizing. But someone should try. Those guys work their asses off everyday.

If you want sports media to change, there are local, homegrown examples to support all around you.

Or, we could do more of the thing where we roll around with the self-hating swine and then complain when we're covered in shit.

SoSH Baseball. It's a thing. By clicking everyday you can help them get press access. Click local.

It's not the purpose of this thread but

(a) good idea on clicking on SoSH Baseball and

(b) the nonsense about talking about Cafardo's latest foolishness is just that, nonsense. Utter nonsense. There are a lot of topics here and exposing, knocking and discussing local or national media is fair game and your holier than thou rant about it is unnecessary. If it doesn't interest you, just don't go there. One of the nice things about SoSH is the variety and depth.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Much like political candidates, we get what we deserve. No knock on JMOH, but this thread's title could just as well have been "supporting non-toxic media" and a useful list compiled. Listing off the self-hating swine - again - is part of why I think everyone's sick of it. Lather, rinse, repeat indeed.

You read the explanation of why I started this thread, right?

 

[ForKeeps]

Not reading/following Bruce Allen is a good start if you're avoiding toxic sports media. He's Jerry Thornton without the lame attempts at humor.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Not reading/following Bruce Allen is a good start if you're avoiding toxic sports media. He's Jerry Thornton without the lame attempts at humor.

That's why I don't read his site too much any more. It was the same handful of posts over and over and over again.

 

[JimD]

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but there are some really good writers who have come along in recent years or have taken higher-profile gigs - Mike Reiss, Alex Speier, Chad Finn, Tim Britton, Brian MacPherson, to name a few. I also find Sean McAdam and Tom E. Curran to be very reliable and solid reads without the snark. These guys make it easy to keep up on Boston sports news without ever having to resort to click on CHB, Cafardo or their ilk.

On the national front, I really recommend following and reading Richard Deitsch at SI. His column is a great source of links to good writing that I probably wouldn't find otherwise.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

how the fuck has Scott Van Pelt become a brand?

I tuned in sports center for the first time in probably years last week and found myself asking the same question. He even has a logo.

 

[Jordu]

All I want from sports media are facts and some intelligent analysis. I skip opinion, speculation, second-guessing and so on.

I agrees with JimD about Mike Reiss, Alex Speier, Chad Finn, Tim Britton, Brian MacPherson -- to which I would add Fluto Shinzawa.

What we've lost in Boston are the columnists who did their own reporting and wrote not about games but about people. No one was better than Leigh Montville.

 

[terrisus]

Anyone who has read a Dan Shaughnessy column any time since at least 2004 (really, any time since the 1980s) should have their reading privileges removed.

Seriously, he needs to be avoided completely.
No "Look at what this fool said!"
No "I guess that proves him wrong!"
No "This guy is really a moron."
Nothing.

Anything that gives him any attention whatsoever is a success for him.
The only reason I mention him here at all is since the topic of this thread is avoiding toxic sports media.
He is nuclear waste.