Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A Perfect Example of Lazy Sportswriting, Or "10 Things I Hate About You"

It's amazing how many incomplete thoughts and typical journalistic cliches Jim Souhan manages to fit into one column.  He was aided in what I assume was a Guinness World Record chasing effort by the format he went with--a meandering column of jottings, ala Sid Hartman or Larry King's old efforts in the USA Today.  I have to say, some of the tactics seem almost new and yet horribly cliched at the same time (see how #10 echoes #1).   All in all though, The Star Tribune would be better served to use that space in the paper to run old "Best of Barreiro" columns, or something equally implausible.

Let's count the hits:
1.  Hyperbole over the very fine play of a local kid done good (Ben Woodside of NDSU).  Does Souhan really think that Woodside as a rookie would have been better at point guard than any of the current Timberwolves?  It seems like he does.  It should be mentioned that the Timberwolves problems far exceed issues at the point guard position.  And we all know how well rookie point guards play when there is no one to pass to.  

2.  Complaints about the World Baseball Classic.  No one has covered that ground, right?

3.  March Madness is good, and College Football should have a selection committee for a playoff, too.

4.  Why (in 2 paragraphs) the NFL shouldn't expand to 18 games.  

5.  Bad news about Al Jefferson, maybe, if unnamed anonymous sources are to be trusted.

6.  Lane Kiffin isn't like his dad.

7.  I'm quoting in its entirety:  "One question about the NIT: Why?"  Funny--I had the same question about this column.

8.  Wolves are unlucky in the draft, and Hasheem Thabeet will be that unlucky pick, because he is likely to be a bust or injury-prone.  I honestly don't know where that came from, and since Souhan is too busy hitting all these other points, he doesn't explain his theory at all.  In what way would Thabeet be a bust?  Does he have injury history?  Has he looked to tentative in the rough and tumble Big East?  Maybe Souhan has a point, but it is impossible to know if he refuses to share that point.

9.  Tubby Smith promising to stay is a troubling sign that he will leave.  Or maybe it isn't.  Coaches always break your heart, unless they don't.   

10.  Hyperbole over a local kid done good.  Souhan rips the current batch of Gophers by suggesting that new recruit (still in high school) will have to adjust to being on a much less talented team.  Last time I checked, the Gophers were a young team, with two years of great recruiting classes (one behind them, one ahead) and a coach that Souhan had called (in the point previous) a big time coach.   It is possible that this is the most talented Gopher team in the past 5-10 years.  But don't let facts get in the way of a hilariously mean-spirited joke. 

1 comment:

Jess said...

In points eight and nine Souhan comes off as especially ridiculous; those sound like the paranoid, superstitious rantings of a bitter fan. It almost sounds like something you'd read in the comments, but with proper spelling and grammar.