Olympics '08: Blog raps 'self-indulgent' Albom

Note: This debuts Olympics news analyst Ed Hutcheson, a pen name for one of Gannett Blog's more long-time readers. Ed, an employee at a certain GCI paper (I'm not tellin'), has agreed to file occasional dispatches about Summer Games coverage. Over to you, Ed!

The Big Lead sports blog calls out Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom (left) for writing self-indulgent columns from Beijing. In an item called "Mitch Albom's Awful Olympic Columns," the blog says:

"It isn’t about the athletes. Or the storylines. It’s about Mitch. All Mitch, all the time:

• Aug. 8 -- Read about why Mitch decided to go to Beijing.
• Aug. 9 -- Man, it’s tough to get a cab here! Want to hear about my hotel?
• Aug. 9 -- Mitch Albom goes shopping! Fashion and DVDs! Cheap!
• Aug. 10 -- Let’s mock the way a Chinese host speaks, and then tell readers about how crummy it is to get caught in a monsoon on the way to a basketball game.

"What a sad, sad decline,'' the Big Lead says, "for a guy who, 15 years ago, was one of the best sports columnists in the country."

However, a commenter adds: "To be fair, the Freep has sent two columnists over. (Michael) Rosenberg seems to be doing the heavy lifting on event and athlete drive columns. Albom would seem to be tasked with the 'American in China' and more human interest type pieces."

Earlier: Please guest-post for Gannett Blog

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