"Postgame interviews are worthless anyway."
-- USA Today blogger Chris Chase, writing yesterday about Coach Bill Belichick's refusing to talk to CBS after his New England Patriots lost to the Baltimore Ravens. Chase, one of USAT's more pronounced voices, has his own detractors: On Facebook, critics launched a campaign to get him fired two years ago.
They are not worthless for the writers who want to scan pee-pees in the locker room. Want to get sportswriters really upset? Suggest not having the post-game interviews in the locker room. They REALLY get mad if their pee-pee scanning opportunities might be taken away!
ReplyDeleteIn most nations, sportswriters have no access to any locker rooms. Team managers speak to reporters in a separate hall after a game.
DeleteIf you follow the BBC's soccer coverage as I do, you'll quickly see that is standard practice.
I have no idea who this blogger is, so I can't really comment on his credentials. What I will say, however, is that USA Today has employed some of the worst journalists who have ever worked for a major newspaper. The tolerance level for mediocrity at the nation's newspaper is infamous and getting worse by the year now that the few talented people USAT had have left. USAT is a train-wreck of a publication. A total fraud in the world of journalism.
ReplyDeleteThe responses to my post are very interesting over at the Sports Journalists' forum.
ReplyDeleteJim, the most interesting part is you are getting ripped. Pretty funny, especially considering that you tried to launch some sort of a discussion over there.
DeleteA few years ago, Andy Rooney had his own take on sideline interviews done at halftime, usually by women. Considered them pretty useless.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways to interpret that last sentence. Andy would have said "That's right" to either interpretation.
Usa Today couldnt function without pre-arranged press conferences, news releases and studies to report and shoot silly videos of.
ReplyDeleteOf course they are -- for a guy who doesn't have to go to any. I'm sure they're useful for the guys on the NFL beat over there. But who gives a crap about them, right? Chris Chase now speaks for USAT Sports? Laughable.
ReplyDelete