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Yankee Panky: Q&A Edition

In the wake of the Wall Street Journal article highlighting the hard times for baseball beat writers, I’m in the process of getting comments from former colleagues and current and former beat writers on the baseball beat, and other beats, to get their takes.

There were some great comments here at the Banter, so if you have any questions you’d like to submit, e-mail me here.

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8 comments

1 PJ   ~  Apr 10, 2009 3:00 pm

I was shocked, dismayed, highly disappointed, and flat out pissed off when Robert Lipsyte wrote this about golf on the eve of this year's Masters! If they can't do any better, they all deserve to go the way of the dodo, and "with tha quickness", too!

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/04/masters-of-the-universe.html

Plenty of the 28,000 Members and Apprentices of the PGA of America made responses in golf's defense after that monstrosity, if you read a few pages into the comments!

It's utterly astounding and amazing how a person, who has been so successful writing about sports for so long, could be so uninformed as to what's real in our world today! This is nothing more than class warfare and journalistic ignorance at its lowest! Clearly, Lipsyte’s keyboard overloaded his ass with this one!

I mean my association (I'm retired, but still a card-carrying and dues-paying Member of the PGA of America.) has been growing the game around the world for decades, and thousands of charities have benefited from us and the Tour to the tune of more than $1B in donations within our history (PGA of America was founded in 1916)! Wake me when the other major sports reach that amount of charitable giving of money, time, and self! For example, the Tiger Woods Foundation has helped millions of children around the world obtain various forms of learning along with access to computers and the Internet they wouldn't ordinarily have had. What's the latest from Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, and Lebron James with regards to that? And don't throw John Daly at me either, because he's an exception rather than the norm when it comes to the hundreds of other PGA Tour players, who make it a point of order to give back!

From PGA.com...

The PGA of America is the world's largest working sports organization, comprised of 28,000 men and women golf Professionals who are the recognized experts in growing, teaching and managing the game of golf, while serving millions of people throughout its 41 PGA Sections nationwide. Since its founding in 1916, The PGA of America has enhanced its leadership position by growing the game of golf through its premier spectator events, world-class education and training programs, significant philanthropic outreach initiatives, and award-winning golf promotions.

Sports journalists are simply going to have to do much better than that, if they hope to remain relevant in the future. Pissing off those involved with a $64B per year* industry in this country isn't a very good start, is it?

* As of 2002, the golf industry generates more revenue per year than the movie and music industries, as well as each of the four major sports leagues! Golf is hardly the cause of our current economic circumstances.

He even had the audacity to equate golf the game and the industry with Bernie Madoff, simply because he plays golf, or rather played golf! I suppose I should also mention, like one of my colleagues in the comments on that article, that Hitler was a writer, too...

Like my mentor who taught me the game used to say, "It's going to take a lot of 'atta boy's' to make up for that one!"

2 OldYanksFan   ~  Apr 10, 2009 3:42 pm

I must protest to Alex his using of the moniker "Action Jackson" for Burnett. Mind you, I'm glad we have AJ and hope for a great year from him. But on many blogs (and maybe this one), for the best part of a year, there has been much talk of 'Action Jackson', all referring, of course, to our up and coming, not-a-stud-but-very-solid, young man..... Austin Jackson.

I believe for many Yankee fans, 'Action Jackson' IS Austin Jackson. Sorry, but AJ needs a different nickname.

The Birdman?
Tatoo?
Meat?
The Heat?
Roy's Boy?
Yous can call me A, or yous can call me AJ, of yous cal call me AB, or yous can call me AJB.... but ya doesn't have to call me Action Jackson.

I don't know.... Let's put the Banter on it. But 'Action Jackson' is TAKEN!

3 guido   ~  Apr 10, 2009 3:52 pm

For those looking to read the WSJ article...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123906424665995337.html

4 Alex Belth   ~  Apr 10, 2009 3:54 pm

I thought Austin was A-Jax.

I'm so confused.

Meat works for me.

5 williamnyy23   ~  Apr 10, 2009 4:02 pm

[1] It seems like "class warfare" has been a prevalent theme in all media lately, but particularly in sports. We saw a lot of that with the coverage of the new stadiums. The economy is probably partly to blame, but there has been a growing sense of “envy” among sportswriters who seem to really resent the salaries that athletes make. I think the print media in particular exhibits this contempt because the rise in athlete wealth has been juxtaposed against their own decline in relevance.

6 williamnyy23   ~  Apr 10, 2009 4:05 pm

Also, for what it's worth, I dont really find "hard times for baseball writers" to be a very compelling theme. Where not exactly talking about closing the steel mills here.

7 Alex Belth   ~  Apr 10, 2009 4:16 pm

Actually "Meat" was much better suited for Carl Pavano, though it fits AJ as well.

Going to have to think of something...

8 Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO   ~  Apr 10, 2009 8:01 pm

[7] Was it Bob Lemon who called everyone "Meat"?

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