Great Deadspin article on Drew Sharp

Submitted by AKMuskie on

http://deadspin.com/crap-emails-from-a-sportswriter/

 

Great column that shows that Sharp really is, in fact, a giant asshat. It shows email responses to his critics (1st one is obviously from a while ago).

 

Some highlights: 

Email #1:

And stop crying about me picking on your precious Detroit sports teams. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I rag on them because, for the most part, THEY SUCK. If not for the Pistons, this state would be a sports graveyard. But the truth hurts doesn't it?

 

Email #2

Does the little baby need a pacifier?
Yeah, Detroit needs writers that makes excuses for the city and simply tell the idiots in this town just want to hear.
They've been doing that for 30 years in this town and that's a big reason why Detroit is swirling down the toilet.

 

 

 

yoyo

May 14th, 2012 at 9:30 PM ^

If those are really his responses then he is a sad excuse for a writer.  He basically admits to hating the city he writes in and the sports teams that play there.  Better not to read what an idiot writes tho.

Gulogulo37

May 14th, 2012 at 9:34 PM ^

And here I figured Drew Sharp was comfortable being such a pessimistic dick. It's sad that this guy actually feels the need to write back like this. I had no idea my respect for him as a sportswriter could actually get lower.

Tater

May 14th, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^

Actually, two writers at "his" newspaper did get lower, and one of them still works there.  It's really too bad about Sharp,. though.  He used to balance his pessimism with common sense and at least a pretense of objectivity.  Then, like many sports writers in particular seem to do, he decided he hated everything and everyone he covers.  

If Sharp hates Detroit and hates the teams and players he covers so much, it would probably be a lot healthier for all concerned if he simply got a different job.  Most people who are so full of venom and so devoid of substance end up writing about politics.  Maybe that would be the best use of his time.

After all, hate + politics = profit.

MGoBlue96

May 14th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^

Detroit teams sucking must have been made back when the Pistons were a title contender. The funny thing looking back at that comment, is that in the last couple of years the only Detroit sports team to actually suck is the Pistons. Not to mention, given the rest of comment, apparently Drew Sharp was not aware the Red Wings existed at that time.

Regardless, Drew Sharp is a sad excuse for a human being and writer. We already knew he hated the teams in Michigan/Detroit, but if those emails are actually real that is a whole new level of being a dick, even for him.

BlueRude

May 14th, 2012 at 9:48 PM ^

Almost hated as much as Chuck Cwirsky, he touted about how great Chicago was when he had the Sports Director job at WJR. He finally ended up in Chicago. I miss J.P. and Van Patrick, good Detroit sports guys. Hey Sharp, who is your favorite city???

Joshisbowler

May 14th, 2012 at 10:16 PM ^

Drew Sharp and Pat Caputo are both douche bags, their both so anti UofM that i wanna puke on them, both are talentless writers how don't know shit about sports

bronxblue

May 14th, 2012 at 10:16 PM ^

That's the idiotic Drew Sharp I've been missing here in NYC!  Every city has its dumb sports writers, but Sharp is on a whole other level.  He's almost ironically bad.

mGrowOld

May 14th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^

Hey on the bright side at least we now know it's not just the University of Michigan he hates and wants to run down - it's EVERY team that his readers support that he despises.

I truly do not get it.  I grew up in Pontiac but have lived in Salt Lake City, Vegas, San Fransisco and now Cleveland and can tell you I've never, ever seen a sporstwriter in any of those cities attack the teams his paper covers with such consistent venom and obvious negative bias.  I feel safe in saying that if he tried his act in any of the aforementioned cities he'd have been run out of town quickly by angry readers and advertisers.  

As a case in point here in Cleveland one of our most well-known and respected writers, Tony Grossi, made an ill-advised tweet about the owner of the Browns recently and was fired by the Plain Dealer shortly thereafter.  The Browns simply informed the PD that they would take their advertising dollars elsewhere and the paper responded quickly.

 I'm not supporting Grossi's termination but rather using it as illustration that the negative shtick Sharpe parlay's somehow to success in Detroit would NOT fly in other cities.  Why it's put up with in Michigan is a mystery to me.

BeatOSU52

May 14th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^

A few months ago, I was arguing with Valenti on facebook about recruiting and he banned and many other Michigan fans from his facebook page that day.

cm2010

May 14th, 2012 at 11:25 PM ^

I dislike Drew Sharp as much as the next guy, but the emails he was responding to weren't exactly constructive criticism and basically told him to burn in hell. If I were a sportswriter and someone emailed me that stuff, I would probably give a smug, sarcastic response if I chose to respond.

cm2010

May 15th, 2012 at 2:29 AM ^

...in a private response to people who didn't exactly present themselves as the pride of their community. I'm not saying he wasn't being a douche, but I was hoping for more reasonable emailers to make it truly egregious.

By the way, as a fellow native Omahan, what high school did you attend?

bsand2053

May 15th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^

I am by no means a fan of Drew Sharp, but the people who sent those emails were pricks.  If you act like an asshole to someone, you can't be upset when they respond in kind.

Darth Wolverine

May 15th, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^

Isn't the solution simple to this asshole? The solution is don't read what he writes and ESPECIALLY do not e-mail that dickhead. He knows his purpose in his profession (that being to piss people off and cause controversy), so the e-mails fuel his garbage writing; he does this on purpose. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to simply not read the crap he writes. I NEVER read the Free Press, let alone anything from Drew Sharp. His boss will NOT fire him because he brings readers.

jmblue

May 15th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^

The second email isn't that bad, other than the "Does the little baby need a pacifier" line.  I'm from the Detroit area and consider it home and all, but honestly, people here are a little too thin-skinned when it comes to criticism of the city/region.