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Well, Just Look At John Niyo
by IwoCPO on 02/29/08 at 11:42 AM ET
Comments (9)
One of my new favorite morning reads is Big Al at the Wayne Fontes Experience, mainly because we agree on a whole lot of things. How you doin’ Rob Parker? Idiot. Today, Al brings to light something we’ve known for years:
The Detroit sports columnists compare less than favorably to their counterparts around the country.
Except for John Niyo, who we’ve adopted here as The A2Y Exception.
Al points us to the results of the Associated Press Sports Editors Writing Awards for 2007. They break it down by circulation and categories such as Breaking News, Columns, Features and Game Stories. Checking over the results for the circulations the News and Freep would fall into, I see no mention of Albom, Wojnowski, Parker…and definitely no Sharp. I see some other standards you’ve come to recognize: Whitlock, Plaschke, Boswell, Kravitz. But…none of the big boys from Detroit.
Good. Outstanding. I would have puked if I’d seen our local hacks rewarded for ignoring the Wings. But they weren’t, and that makes me warm.
But John Niyo was and that’s damn good. Niyo’s a good writer and one who’s not afraid to be a little creative, to work a little harder than his peers. Remember his feature on Chris Chelios’ training regimen in the offseason? That’s a winner. Nice job.
And while we’re at it, rumor has it David Guralnick—also from the News—is cleaning up at the Michigan Press Photographer’s Association competition being judged as we speak. Also an A2Y favorite.
And before you start tip tapping…nope. No awards for our Diggers. I know it’s a shock.
And, no, nothing for Bruce MacLeod, the anti-digger. Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that his cheap-ass paper won’t send him on the road?
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Comments
My favorite line from Al: “fewer guts than a disemboweled steer.”
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/29/08 at 01:22 PM ET
The fact that MacLeod is the only decent sportswriter covering the Wings is so frigging obvious. It pains me that there is no real coverage of the Wings. We’ve got MacLeod, A2Y and that’s it, really. Seriously. Sometimes St. James puts something out that’s not too unreadable, but overall is just terrible. The regularity of obvious grammar and factual mistakes on the part of Kulfan, etc. is disturbing. Also, Kulfan, St. James, and the rest now have “blogs” where you would think good facts on practice, morning skates, etc. would show up. Nope, more crap. Why is it that MacLeod can give good facts on line pairings at practice and injured players that make it through the morning skate, while Kulfan and Khan struggle to relate things they saw on freaking TSN. It’s just maddening. I hate Gary Bettman for taking this league from respectability to something that I get embarrassed about telling friends that I’m actually a hockey fan. On top of that is the insult that the model franchise of the league for the last 15 years, the best record, three Cups, dominance before and after the CBA, is covered by a bunch of hack, HACK journalists. On top of THAT is the fact that I have to search for Versus in order to watch them. It’s frustrating. Anyway, now that all of that’s off my chest, Go Wings!
Posted by TDeters on 02/29/08 at 03:36 PM ET
Well, they sure as hell weren’t going to win any awards for that “Hugs” piece.
As for Versus, well…‘nuff said. Ritch over at American Hockey Fan made the point that in terms of ease of searching for games online (on the ‘Vs.’ network), they might as well have called it the “And” network.
Bettman’s new NHL. Sheer genius.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the bushes outside Bettman's house...seriously on 03/01/08 at 05:30 AM ET
@ TDeters:
You shouldn’t hold your emotions in like that. It’s bad for your spleen. 
I agree, though. I can’t even remember the last time I read an actual newspaper (paper or online) for hockey coverage, when I can get the scores and recaps anywhere and the analysis is better on blogs.
No wonder some journalists are so defensive about the rise of blogs that they are trying to have their own, even though they (for the most part) don’t really get it. There are some exceptions - a journalist in Edmonton, David Staples, has actually begun to interact with the extensive community of Oilers bloggers. The thing is, if journalists would just do their jobs better instead of whining about bloggers not having credibility they would have nothing to worry about, as the appettite for news and information among hockey fans is insatiable. They don’t need to be the only source, but can be successful being one source of infomation among many if they would just stop writing crap.
(And Andrew - If you need provisions while you’re staking out the NHL offices, let me know. I can pick up pizza and hide it under the bushes for you!)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/01/08 at 07:30 AM ET
And Andrew - If you need provisions while you’re staking out the NHL offices, let me know. I can pick up pizza and hide it under the bushes for you!
Hey, I’m willing help out, too.
Posted by BobTheZee on 03/01/08 at 03:06 PM ET
Oh gosh, thanks guys, but have you tasted Toronto pizza? I’ll have to pass. Now, if the League offices were located in Chicago, that would be another matter…
A hot roti would be good. Or Thai. Chicken green curry, extra-spicy, and some fragrant rice would do me just fine. You couldn’t go up to Montreal and get me some Schwartz’s smoked meat on a bagel, slatherings of mustard and a pickle, could you? And would it kill you to bring me a chili dog or two from Abe’s Coney Island? Come on guys, I’m sitting out here in the bushes with a high-powered rifle for all our sakes, you know.
Man. I need a late lunch.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the NHL offices, too dumb to know they're closed t on 03/02/08 at 09:06 AM ET
We’ll get you some wings as we pass through Buffalo, then.
But Thai sounds pretty good, too.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/02/08 at 09:47 AM ET
I’ll be happy to get some clipped Buffalo wings, but leave the ranch dressing, that stuff in gnarsty. My only regret is that you couldn’t bring me some shark meat on ice.
I’d rather not think too long about Thai. My favorite Thai place this side of the Himalayas closed last month. Now I’m going to have to find someplace else that does a mean Weeping Tiger steak.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from looking forward to making a Predator into prey on 03/03/08 at 09:10 AM ET
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Two days, two references to the Anti-Digger’s “cheap ass paper”.
Amen.
Posted by Nathan on 02/29/08 at 01:20 PM ET