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Yesterday, we linked to Jen Miller's Inquirer piece about making Philadelphians comfortable in Tampa. Today, we wanted to take a moment to link to her blog post about watching Game One from the Tampa Four Seasons, and thank her for linking to this piece by the Tampa Tribune's Howard Altman. It's an interesting read, and although a little insulting, not far from the truth. What do you think of Altman's assessment? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
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Actually, I don't think there's anything in Altman's column that's too far off base.
The only problem I have with Altman's article is that it's lazy journalism. It's the oldest, cheapest, easiest column in the book when writing about sports. Insult the other team's city. Works every time.
If I wrote for the award-winning Phillyist*, I could have knocked out a column in 2 minutes slamming Tampa as nothing but a cheaper place to fly to when going to Orlando. And apparently is a hotbed for crazy strip clubs frequented by college football coaches and NFL cheerleaders. But we're above that, right? Right?
I recently listened to Dan Levy's interview with the award-winning Rick Telander** of the Chicago Sun-Times and formerly of Sports Illustrated on the excellent podcast "On the DL." (Levy is the guy behind the "Why Can't Us?" t-shirts, simply the best catchphrase in america, replacing "Baby Fishmouth."*** His podcasts are a must for anyone interested in Philly sports, especially if into Philly sports and politics, but I digress).
Anyway, Telander made an excellent point. In this modern media age, between newspapers, TV and this "interwebs" thing I keep hearing about, there are thousands and thousands of writers and if you're not well-known, you have to do something to stand out. Too many people tend to choose screaming out idiotic blather (yes, Stephen A., Woody and Skip, I'm looking at you) to get people to notice them, rather than focusing on producing excellent journalism. Telander was discussing that T.J. Simers post about Philly before the NLCS, which was referenced earlier on the award-winning Phillyist. Simers is known for that crap and this guy wants to be like him. The more hateful e-mails they get from the people in the cities they insult, the happier they are (and more they get paid).
So, yes, we threw snowballs at a drunk Santa 40 years ago. We cheered Michael Irvin getting hurt. Blah, blah, blah. Heard it before, it's not new, not original and not worth my time.
*It's true. In 2007, Phillyist won 3 Holston Awards. While we were disappointed they failed to show up at the ceremony, we gratefully accepted the awards on their behalf and thanked the academy for them.
**Rick has yet to win a Holston, but has won other awards. After his class in dealing with Mariotti this year, Rick is the leader in the clubhouse for a 2008 Holston. Good luck, Rick!
***Anyone who gets that classic movie reference automatically wins a 2008 Holston.
And yes, I know I have a typo. I'm not a communist, just an idiot who has trouble with the shift key.
I wasn't going to say a word, Pat. Because I'm a bigger person. ;)
Really? I thought I was taller than you. Damn optical illusions.