ESPN and Jeter chat

Can anyone with a journalism degree tell me why this needed to be written?

over 3 years ago Bornin85 17 comments 0 recs |

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star player take on hot issue?

by ZeppelinDZ on Jul 1, 2008 10:01 AM EDT reply actions

i don't have a journalism degree tho, so i could be wrong

by ZeppelinDZ on Jul 1, 2008 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Which I would understand

if they whole article were about the broken bats.

by Bornin85 on Jul 1, 2008 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions

ya, as a non-journalism degree holder, i only read headlines and look at pictures

by ZeppelinDZ on Jul 1, 2008 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Haha, well

I’m the dude who’s spending time on the ESPN website, playing into their Jeter-love through ad revenue, so yeah.

by Bornin85 on Jul 1, 2008 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions

and buy beer

and follow fantasy sports

i know nothing about anything

by Freneau on Jul 1, 2008 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

"Jeter is an ash man"

And thish article ish shimply a delivery mechanishm for that aweshome line. Hic.

Sarcasm™. It's the new gravy.

by jonfmorse on Jul 1, 2008 11:00 AM EDT reply actions

nishe

The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future. - Collected sayings of Muad'Dib

by buddyball on Jul 1, 2008 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions

I do have a journalism degree

And am in fact covering a few softball games tonight in an emergency role.

Here are my possible reasonings: The writer (someone with the AP) is buddies with Jeter and felt if he got Jeter’s words out it would help get the writer better access in the future. This is the most likely reasoning, since the story ends with a quote about how Matsui got married and there’s not a lot of surprises in New York right now. The story appears to be “shooting the breeze… with Derek Jeter”

Another possibility is hero worship. Because anything that comes out of your hero’s mouth is gospel, the writer thought it was a story.

Or the following story formula: Highly Recognizable Player + Highly Recognizable Team + Seeming to take a Stance on something at all = Story Idea. Since Story Idea > Nothing, He pursued story idea, despite the fact it is a waste of time and space.

Honestly, though, as someone with a journalism degree, I have no honest idea why the writer, the AP or ESPN decided this was a story. Poor decisions all around, gents.

by powderbluepower on Jul 1, 2008 4:02 PM EDT reply actions

In fact

I regret giving them two page views by looking at the story.

by powderbluepower on Jul 1, 2008 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Well cool

Jeter’s in decline.

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Jul 1, 2008 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

I do have a journalism degree... Multiple, in fact; and, well, sadly...

There’s a lot more pointless stories out there today than this one… The simplest explanation; and, most probable one, is he had some column inches to fill, had Jeter as an easy source and is lazy.

by blue bandwagon on Jul 1, 2008 5:43 PM EDT reply actions

Oh, and for some reason the AP picked it up and ESPN pulled it off the wire. Why?

I have no idea. Again, the keyword of lazy comes to mind.

by blue bandwagon on Jul 1, 2008 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

ESPN is about infotainment

Short on info, long on entertainment (even in their sports news shows). They really don’t take sports journalism seriously at all.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by Scott McKinney on Jul 1, 2008 5:51 PM EDT reply actions

Outside the Lines

Is really good sports journalism. Unfortunately, they seem to have pulled the plug on it and run it pretty intermittently.

They tried that sports magazine ”:60:” or something like that, but it looked really stupid with contrived shots of the reporters huddling around a table discussing which stories to pursue.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jul 2, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

:60

Yeah, it looked to me like they thought “Outside the Lines” was a little too intellectual for their target demographic, so the zazzed it up and dumbed it down with :60 and the faux-editorial meetings. Both of those shows (if they even exist anymore) are still the most newsworthy programming on the network, but they account for probably less than 1% of a week’s programming. Given how low and stupid they’ve gone, I’m surprised there isn’t more random T & A on that network. I have a strong feeling that we’ll see more of it within the next five years. Swimsuit competitions, wet t-shirt contests and other “emerging sports.” They will probably be in the X-Games in 2009.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by Scott McKinney on Jul 2, 2008 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't forget

Product placement, product placement, product placement.

Up next is A-Rod having an affair with Jessica Alba? Find out next on the DORITOS SPICY SWEET GOSSIP RUNDOWN. Then John Kruk and Jay Mariotti will yell at each other on whether the Cubs should trade for Alex Gordon in the COORS LIGHT COLD FILTERED COUNTERPOINT. And at the top of the hour we’ll track the rising stars of the NBA in our CIALIS RISING STARS, RISING PANTS segment! Right after these Red Sox/Yankees highlights!

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jul 2, 2008 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions