OT: DetNews's Charboneau--a Super Sparty Slappy--shows what a joke "sports journalism" is now
This topic, admittedly related in an indirect way to Sparty, is meant to focus on what types of writing are considered "sports journalism" these days. I read detroit media almost daily b/c that's what I've been doing since I was a kid growing up in MI.
Anyway, this routine (which may require being changed) led me to read a little while back an article by Matt Charboneau discussing Hoke's recruiting and the perception of his players' star ratings relative to Dantonio's. In a nutshell, Charboneau argued that the rating and related numbers effectively meant nothing relative to the scouting a coach like Dantonio does when he observes recruits work out (this assumes he doesn't look at stats and star ratings) and coaches them up. He then cited the last three years (cherry picking) of Michigan recruits losing to MSU recruits to show why recruiting rankings and statistics mean little to nothing.
Without getting into the absurdity of Charboneau's position on football recruiting back then, he now takes a contradicting position with regards to professional teams "recruiting" Kalin Lucas. Kalin Lucas had all the statistical numbers and awards going into his senior year, but remains undrafted--presumabley b/c his workouts didn't meet the needs of the teams drafting players. Charboneau tries to make his straw-man argument that Kalin was more deserving of getting drafted and will likely generate more news than those drafted ahead of him; he tries to make his point by comparing Lucas to a player named Isiah Thomas (not that Isiah, but a cherry pick comparison nonetheless and once again by Charboneau) who was drafted last last week. He's 5'10 to Lucas's 6'0 height. Matt Charboneau ultimately takes issue with the NBA drafting on potential rather than "proven" accomplishments (whereas--remember--in football recruiting it's about potential and workouts for coaches that matter and not ratings based on accomplishments/statistics).
Then out of nowhere, he states:
I guess we chalk it up to the mystery of the draft. Teams and their executives, it seems, must prove they are smarter by finding the superstar nobody knew about. But when was the last time that happened? That type of thinking usually leads to colossal busts and throw-away picks.
It's a slow Sunday in the summer, and I admit this may still not be that interesting a topic to some. I just simply found the contradiction to be too blatant to instead look the other way. Is the best way going forward to simply ignore the "reportings" of the "newspapers" and just focus on the blogs for your substantive sporting news and opinions??? Many news organizations have yet to figure out it seems how to successfully create content that is both readable/intelligent and profitable. I often think in their quest for profits, they have chosen to forsake readibility or intelligence. If so, fail.
Sports journalism, in most cases, is not real journalism. The idea of journalism, more than anything else, is to shine a light on dark corners. That is rarely done today when almost every game in every sport is easily accessible on television or online now.
Still, I find it interesting that most of the blog people who root for traditional journalism's demise are sports fanatics. Yes, to them, "official" journalism probably does seem worthless when you read the sports page and little else. But in virtually all other fields, it certainly is not.
Incorrect. There are a lot of people in politics and just general reporting who really want to see the traditional news media die.
I guess Kalin didn't get drafted because at the end of the year, after giving it all he had for 4 years, a lot of spartans were 'happy' to see him graduate (see Valenti, Mike). If I were a NBA GM I probably wouldn't have drafted him either.
In the opinion of the NBA teams he was not good enough.
What do you mean "now"?
I thought this was a wildly stupid article, too. He also missed the point that smart NBA teams typically draft for upside in the second round (high risk / high reward). It makes little sense to draft a guy from whom you basically know what you're gonna get (e.g., Lucas) when what you're getting at that point in the draft isn't enough to really improve your team. With no guaranteed contracts down there, you'd might as well take a chance.
"Sports journalism" is a term restricted to a couple of authors at major publications who perform robust inspections and research into topics, craft thoughtful and introspective pieces, and try to remain objective even when covering teams they might have a rooting interest in.
What we see at places like DetNews and Freep is what I'd call "sports opinionism" or "sports punditry". It's all about taking "contradictory" views, making definitive statements without factual backing, and twisting statistics and quotes into a narrative that fits your current beliefs. There is little to no fact checking, oversight, or accountability. It is all about being noticed for your personality and your views, not their substance or applicability. It's why talk radio works - you don't care what the person is saying, only how loud and bombastically they do. Heck, Jim Rome has made a career out of it, as has Mike Valenti.
As for the crux of the author's article that Kalin Lucas was wrongly overlooked by the NBA draft, he might have an argument if the point of the NBA draft was to gind guys who can sit on the bench and play 5-7 minutes a game. But when you draft a kid, you are hoping he will contribute as a rotation player, and in the first round you hope to snag a starter. I think Kalin Lucas can play in the NBA, but his game doesn't translate well to a rotation player on a good team, and it feels like his ceiling has been hit.
With Isiah Thomas, overlooking the fact he was the last player selected, he scored about .2 points less per game than Lucas while shooting a better 3FG% and nearly doubling Lucas in assists (I don't have the eFG% with me). And he is a better all-around athlete than Lucas. And all that said, it would be a shock if Thomas played meaningful minutes in the NBA.
I am never surprised when I read dumb articles by the sports reporters in most major cities, and in this case I can actually see a bit of the author's point that it is troubling not to see a successful college player not get drafted while "no-name" kids are being given millions based on the ephemeral "potential" tag. But as with DeShawn Simm, sometimes kids fall through the cracks (Scottie Reynolds was an AA who went undrafted last year, so it happens). Hopefully Lucas can find a good fit either in the NBDL or Europe and get his way to the game, much like Sims seems to be doing. But at this point, I wasn't remotely surprised to see Lucas passed over.
This may seem like a technicality, but the piece you're objecting to is not an example of "sports journalism." It's an opinion piece written by a columnist.
Poorly written, biased, contradictory sports columns have long been published and don't say anything about the current state of sports journalism.
Ever since the early part of the decade when State had Morris Peterson, Zach Randoplh, and Jason Richardson, Izzo has failed putting players in the pros, which is why he is the 2nd most overrated coach in college basketball.
Please explain this theory to me.
I dislike many of Izzo's tendencies as much as the next Michigan fan, but overrated?? You'll have to let me in on how you came to that conclusion.
I am no Izzo booster, but...rating a college coach has little to do with putting players in the pros and a lot to do with winning in college. In fact, you could plausibly argue the opposite...that he won with players who were not as talented as they were perceived to be in college and was therefore coaching them up to play their best individually and as a team.
If you want to call someone overrated, look no further than Thad Matta.
I think one major importance the writer of the article missed was the lack-luster senior season Lucas had. Lucas also did not show any type of leadership playing the position that is the QB of a basketball team. He was excellent his sophmore season and very good his junior season, but really did not provide much of anything his senior year that he provided his sophmore and junior season. Who knows if Morris would have been the same way or different in continuing his development?
Sparty slap happy fans are the zookeepers who I had to work with at the Detroit Zoological Society during my internship last year. They never downplayed anything about Michigan, but it was nothing but positives of MSU whether or not the school, sports programs or students and fans deserved it or not. The zoo is a GREAT place, but the only problem (a minor problem) is that nearly 90% of the zookeepers are MSU grads that are in the category of "Slappy".
You and Section1 should sit down over dinner and a couple of cold ones and discuss this. Boom/Mgomatchmaking
When I want Michigan-centric info, I come here, read a few of the other blogs, or Ann Arbor dot com. If I want to read about how great Sparty is, I usually go to the rest of the state media. Other than Angel and a few Wojo things, I don't bother with the detnews. I never read the freep. And I only go to mlive when something crappy happens to Sparty and I want to see someone whining and making excuses for them.
Lately, my favorite national blog is Sports By Brooks, who has shat heartily on Ohio, Woody Paige, the Tigerettes, and North Carolina in the last month.
You usually don't want to get drafted in the 2nd round. There are some exceptions (and I feel as though Darius and Manny both fall into that category) but getting drafted in the 2nd round locks you in to 1 team and doesn't give you a guaranteed contract. An undrafted FA can sign with any NBA team, or go overseas without any repurcussions. He's better off than being drafted with the 51-60th picks.
You guys are quite obsessed with us. I thought "Big Brother" didn't care about MSU.......
You registered and are posting on a rival board's blog about obsession.
Yup.
Oh yes, the good 'ol "the state media has it in for Michigan!" cry.
The newspapers are following their own incentive: Selling papers. They can claim whatever they want about the value of specific recruits, as can we. At the end of the day, from my maize colored glasses, some recruits chose Michigan - and that inherently makes them way better in my eyes than any star rating or statistic could.
Anyways, propensity to burn a couch or get jail time usually isn't included in the star ranking - that of course is the "cultural fit" part that the coach can directly observe themselves :D. From that perspective Dantonio has done a <s> GREAT </s> job.
RIP the paragraph.
RIP complete sentences.
Sports journalism is like all other journalism: a vehicle for advertisements and, by proxy, revenue. The grunts doing to writing may be idealists, but the people who write their paychecks and tell them what to do are not. There is nothing more to it than that.