Some interesting comments/flames over at Jim Romenesko's Media News (apparently this article started the whole thing), but sadly Romesko doesn't use permanent links. So, here are some excerpts:
Andy Grossman, NY Bureau Chief/Television Editor, Hollywood Reporter:
Jerry Izenberg and every other sportswriter who thinks people don't take sports seriously enough should get a life. They don't call it the Toy Department for nothing….
Let's talk about spring training when every sportswriter files their stories by noon and hits the links for the rest of the day. And have you ever noticed that in spring training and pre-season football all the writers in a city file the same story? And the "real" sportswriters ask such great questions. I wish I had a dime for every time I heard a sportswriter ask a coach or athlete, "What were you thinking, feeling, when you ......" It's a lazy question and the most common. How many times do athletes ridicule sportswriters for their dumb questions? I mean these guys aren't Mike Wallace out there.
Michael Woods of Newsday:
Greetings from the Toy Department. Just a quick note to Andy Grossman. Grossman, did Red Smith relieve himself in your corn flakes at some point? I don't read the Hollywood Reporter, but if that periodical has been breaking stories of world import, then I must get on-board, and get a subscription. I did check out the "HR" website and this was the lead item: "Country star Alan Jackson's album 'Drive' claimed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for the second consecutive week with 23,025 units sold, according to SoundScan data."
I wouldn't go so far as to demean that item, for I am certain in certain pockets of our fair nation, that tidbit resonated as much to some as any Mike Wallace story ever did. Sorry, did some sarcasm leak through? I plead guilty. But for Mr. Grossman to talk trash to Mr. Izenberg, who has had a long and meritorious career breaking stories, pleasing readers and believe it or not, continues to "deal with important topics in unique and interesting ways," is a cheap shot.
Sean Means, Movie critic, Salt Lake Tribune:
Andy, as a movie critic, I must say that if Sports is the Toy Department, you and I are in gift wrap. But debating the relative importance of any section of the paper -- a fool's errand, since what's important is ultimately up to the reader -- is not the point of Jerry Izenberg's complaint. The point is that when reporters arrive in a group, their average IQ seems to drop at least 10 points. Ask any sports superstar in a locker room. Ask any movie star walking by the rope line at a premiere. Ask Donald Rumsfeld. Alas, it's the nature of the beast -- better to ask stupid questions than to make stupid mistakes.
Joe Clark, Toronto writer, accessibility obsessif, curmudgeon:
The deficiencies of newspaper sports sections have been known forever: Outright slavery to the Big Four American pro sports, coupled with a paucity of ideas on how to cover even *those*."
Joe Reedy, Sports Designer, White Plains, N.Y.:
Maybe Andy Grossman should look at his own toy department before throwing stones at glass houses. He talks about baseball writers filing their stories by noon and hitting the links for the rest of the day. Excuse me but don't television critics have the same thing? It's called the Television Critics Press Tour where they go to Hollywood twice for a total of four weeks, get ushered around to press conferences during the morning, write during the day and then go to fancy parties at night and are wined and dined. Just take a look at the entertainment wire during those junkets, it's the same stories, same quotes, same drivel.
Funny quote from an Enron ad on the back cover of the Houston Astros Media Guide: "Sometimes, it's the things you don't see that have the biggest impact."
Later in the same article (emphasis mine):
The Enron name literally permeates the stadium, says Rick Costello, general manager of the Home Plate Bar & Grill, which is across the street from Enron Field.
I guess the Enron name could "literally" permeate the stadium, if you accept a liberal reading of the dictionary definition of permeate ("To spread or flow throughout; pervade"), but then I'm not sure how something would be figuratively permeated.
Microsoft to Offer Popular SQL Server 2000 Driver For JDBC at No Charge: "the Microsoft SQL Server (TM) 2000 Driver for Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) will be generally available this spring at no additional charge for licensed customers of SQL Server 2000. The driver, available now as a new beta download, is a best-in-class Type 4 JDBC driver that enables users of Java and J2EE to integrate with SQL Server 2000"
From The Register: MS fixes Win2K with 17MB security patch: "Microsoft's new-found and recently publicized interest in security has yielded fruit in the form of a security rollup patch for Win2K which clears up a number of niggling hassles with the usual slew of unchecked buffers and some authentication issues and transfer protocols."
Interesting: "FOA [Formatting Objects Authoring] is the world's first XSL-FO Authoring tool. It is a Java application that gives users a graphical interface to author XSL-FO stylesheets. With FOA you can generate pages, page sequences and fill them with content provided into one or more XML files." Bizarre: "FOA can only open XSL files created by WH2FO or by itself"