Here are some style resources for journalists, online or otherwise.
I just sent (basically) this e-mail to our baseball writer. I'm having a bit of a hard time with this, although right now it's a hypothetical hard time, because as noted below, a lot might still happen:
Here's my thought on Clemens, but I don't know how much more can be said. Although the boss and I just had a spirited discussion about it, so I guess ...
Let's say that he retires, and five years from now, the only person who has ever connected Roger Clemens to steroids is McNamee. No paper, no checks, no admissions (obviously), nobody else says, "Yeah, he did that." Nothing. Just one guy saying it, and a lot of others saying, "Well, look at him. It's obvious."
Clemens goes before Congress and through several civil suits, and every time he testifies, he categorically denies that he did steroids. Not even a hint of a crack in his story. And not another shred of proof.
How can people justify not voting him into the Hall on the first ballot?
Some say, "Well, why would McNamee lie?" I don't know. Why are there serial killers, or why do people streak across football fields or indulge in any other sociopathic behavior? Maybe he wanted 15 minutes of fame, and fingering the most famous guy he was connected with was the way he did it.
Bottom line: People would keep the greatest pitcher of his generation out of the Hall of Fame based on ONE PERSON saying something and a feeling. And that seems wrong to me.
Now, as (my boss) correctly notes, there's five years between now and then, and a lot of time to sort things out. And yes, I believe Clemens did steroids. And just so we're clear, I'm not a Clemens fan, have never been a fan of a single team he has been connected with. So it's not about that.
But if we're sitting here five years from now with exactly the same amount of proof we have today, then that's going to be a hell of a dilemma. Or, more to the point, should be.
It has been quite a hectic year in SWE_Blogger's life, both good things and bad. As a result, this site hasn't been taken care of properly and has therefore been mostly irrelevant.
We're hoping to change that in 2008, so if you happen by here and see this note, check by again soon.
While we'll comment on sports issues, I also want to make this a place where we talk about the things that can make the business fun and interesting -- words and style, photos, display, trends.
So stop by soon, and have a good holiday.
Well, I've obviously been away for a long time. It's my intention to get this thing up and running again and start regular posting. We'll see if I actually follow through.
Posting today about the amazing story of Colleen Bellotti, wife of Oregon football coach Mike, angrily confronting Portland Oregonian columnist John Canzano over a column he wrote about their son. Canzano writes about the whole thing in his blog, and the New York Times chronicles it, too.
Wasn't a well-kept secret, rumored when he took the buyout at the L.A. Times, but J.J. Adande has started writing a column for ESPN. com. David Davis writes about it on SoCalSportsObserved.
Going to be brief today, a busy day.
Actually, brief is better than what I've been doing. This blog has often been neglected, as you can see.
June is a travel/vacation month for me, so I've been looking here even less than usual. But I really intend to use this forum more regularly starting in late June/early July, and not just for passing news.
So keep checking back; hopefully, the links are helpful (and more are always welcome), and we'll start doing something interesting here soon.
Lorraine Ali does an interview/Q&A with L.A. Times reporter Christine Daniels, and it's published here online in Newsweek.
I worked with Christine when she was Mike Penner back at the Times back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A great colleague and friend -- although like many of us, we lose touch when there are thousands of miles between -- and I wish her nothing but the best.
Dave Nightingale, an old-school baseball beat writer for the Chicago Daily News and then the Tribune has died at 72, the Tribune reports. Dave's son, Van, is also in the newspaper business. Condolences to the family.
William C. Grant, sports editor of washingtonpost.com, dies at 53 from melanoma. He was known as an extremely hard worker who loved his job, the obituary says.
Alan Greenberg, a highly respected -- and beloved in the business -- writer for the Hartford Courant has died at 55 of an apparent heart attack.
There's a thread with a lot of shocked posters here on sj.com.
The Boston Globe has suspended veteran writer Ron Borges for two months without pay after passages from a Tacoma writer's story appeared almost identically in a football notes column by Borges. It's the natural progression in the always slippery practice of notes exchanges. Dan Shanoff says that practice should be ended, and me makes a good point; in the print-only days, there might have been some value to readers in such exchanges, but these days, when anybody can read anything on the Internet, what's the point? And here's Deadspin on the whole mess.
The first post of a message board thread on sj.com, called 'How do we feel about the Chron guys now?'
sfgate
L.A. Times
These two opinions aren't so positive.
Are we, as a group, having any second thoughts about the support these guys got? Obviously, it was based on the information we had.
Thoughts? Seems like a worthy topic for here, given the "sticky" thread back in those early days.
End post.
The thread itself is slow; somebody asked me about that. I think some people are simply confused about what to think after all the support Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams were given within the industry. Given all we know now, are a lot of people having second thoughts?
Or maybe it's just the holiday.
The passing of Van McKenzie has created one of the most inspiring threads in the history of sportsjournalists.com. I'm sure it will stay near the top for quite a while, but you can get it here as well.
Meanwhile, this was taken out and made a sticky, the getting-more-famous-by the-minute "Vanifesto" that Van wrote when he was hired to return to the Orlando Sentinel.
Van McKenzie, one of the most important sports editors of the past 50 years and an equally large character, has died of cancer at 61. His obituary in the Orlando Sentinel -- his last stop in a 'nomadic' career (to say the least) -- describes the man who influenced the business for four decades and whose stamp will remain on the way sports sections are produced and how they look and read long after he's gone.
I never worked with Van, but I knew him through APSE, played poker with him a few times, ate dinner or drank with him a few times. And I certainly worked with others whose careers were profoundly influenced by him. And I don't think I ever heard anybody say a negative word about the man -- quite a feat in this business.
After signing a big new deal with ESPN, Michael Wilbon tells Harry Jaffe of the Washingtonian that he won't be leaving the Post altogether but won't be writing two or three columns a week for it anymore, either. "I might write columns for the Web. I might have a blog. I might do something with Tony [Kornheiser] on the Web. I’ll do whatever Don Graham and Len Downie want me to do. ESPN did not create the Wilbon-and-Kornheiser brand. The Post did."
Highly decorated and respected writer Ira Berkow is retiring from the New York Times' sports department. He intends to continue writing, though. The memo announcing his departure is posted on Romenesko.
First of all, a Happy New Year to everybody.
My resolution as it pertains to this page is to keep it more up to date and relevant in 2007. I now have all the tools needed at home to do so, and I'm going to make the effort. I promise. Hopefully, even when we're between new posts, the links are helpful. And keep those coming; I haven't said no to anybody yet.
Anyway, Carl Bialik and Jason Fry of the blog The Daily Fix at the Wall Street Journal give their Top 10 columns of 2006. It's an eclectic mix.
Bill Adee, who has a long career in sports at both the Chicago Sun-Times and then the Tribune is going to become the new "associated managing editor for innovation" there.
Don't know Bill well, but have always heard good things about him. Should be a pretty interesting job as newspapers continue to try to catch up on the Internet.
In Friday's Chicago Sun-Times, Jay Mariotti says it's time sportswriters stopped voting for awards of any kind -- MVP, Hall of Fame, anything. In Newsday on Sunday, Jim Baumbach writes about writers and editors on both sides of the debate.
Old and bitter vs. young and open-minded lightning rod Jemele Hill has written her debut column for ESPN.com.
Predictably, a thread was been started on sportsjournalists.com, and it's expanding with record-breaking speed. And predictably, it not only addresses the merits of her first column but takes more shots at her personally.
UPDATE: Subsequently, it was not even locked with record-breaking speed. It was taken down altogether. So the link I had above is gone.
I think we need more Jemele Hills stirring things up in this business, but of course that's not going to fly with with the increasingly grumpy sportswriting establishment, many of whom are simply jealous over the opportunity she has gotten and the money she's making but who, of course, would never admit that.
Their denial doesn't make it less so.
