i’m cool w/ reed johnson. i would really rather just have johnny back…

Sports Writer: Well, that’s the ballgame.
Oscar Madison: It’s not over yet.
Sports Writer: Bases loaded, Mazeroski up, ninth inning – you expect the Mets to hold a one-run lead?
Oscar Madison: What’s the matter? You’ve never heard of a triple play?

Make no mistake. Oscar wasn’t rooting for the story (like the David KIndreds in the press box) — he was a diehard fan — and if Oscar Madison kept a blog, Alex, I think it would be something like your Bronx Banter.

Oscar would wear his baseball-loving heart on his sleeve, along with the mustard he wiped from his mug. He’d complain about his neurotic roommate leaving notes on his pillow, the subway, things that people can relate to.

He’d rave about his favorite food (hot dogs), and music (anything but Felix’s opera), and art (Playboy). He’d be a connoisseur, an aficinado without using words like connossieur, and aficinado.

His regular commenters, characters like Murray, Speed, Roy, and Vinnie would banter about broads, cigars, beer, horses, poker, etc.

Yeah, this here Bronx Banter is the kind of blog I think Oscar would’ve maintained — but Alex, in addition to being an actual person, and a bonafide sports writer — you’re a much more gracious, and generous host than Oscar would ever be.

It’s for the better, Alex. Very much for the better. Your blog is a haven, where the insights are more worldly, the dialogue more gracious (by a wide margin), and the perspective more balanced.

And your opinion on Roger Angell is fervently shared in this quarter. (If one can “fervently share” something.) He writes on baseball exactly the way someone named “Angell” would write.

Ever read any Leonard Koppett? This late great, who finished his career in the S.F. Bay Area, expressed himself felicitiously and produced the most thought-provoking material on baseball I ever encountered. Check out “The Thinking Man’s Guide to Baseball.”

[5] I’d like to see them sign Reed Johnson regardless of what they do with Damon.

I want Johnny Damon.

Buster Olney of ESPN and Joel Sherman of the New York Post find a Johnny Damon-Yankees reunion unlikely.

Both writers say Damon would have to greatly reduce his salary demands. According to Sherman, the Yankees are telling agents they have only $2MM to spend. Both writers also agree that Brian Cashman would have to lobby Hal Steinbrenner to expand the budget to accomodate Damon. Sherman says a July trade for Mike Cameron was scrapped because Hal would not approve a $5.5MM increase.

In the likely event the Yanks move on from Damon, Sherman ranks the team’s targets: Xavier Nady, Reed Johnson, Rocco Baldelli, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Marcus Thames.

but I do believe the term “sportswriter” is a pretty broad one. Mark Feinsand, Roger Angell, and Bill James all write about baseball…but I think we could agree that their shared traits end right there. And thats a great thing, it leads to a wide range of commentary and analysis from all different angles. As long as the writing and reasoning behind it are of a high caliber, the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned.

Now if Kindred wants to draw a distinction between a “sportswriter” and a “sports reporter”, that I would buy – but he doesn’t. And of course he doesn’t, because then there would be nothing that separates his current self (when was Kindred last a regular reporter?) from Bill Simmons, or Bill James, Rob Neyer, Joe Sheehan, or you, Alex. And yes, I very much consider you a sports writer.

Maybe Kindred is just upset that he doesn’t have a wikipedia page, and Simmons’s page is long enough to include 32 footnotes.

[1] I can imagine a person getting into sportswriting loving a particular team/player, and then over time, losing that specific love – but I can’t imagine writing about sports without loving sports, and I can’t imagine loving sports without first loving a particular player/team.

Further, I don’t. think its the “new era” of sportswriters (or whatever you wish to call them) who root for the team instead of a column. “Respected” journalists like Gammons and Lupica don’t even try to hide who they root for and against.