Anachronistic Globe employee laments how Simmons broke the Moss story

[shmessy]

It's 2010. Seriously, this guy should go back to baking his own bread.

Sports Guy breaks Randy Moss story by “accident” - Gatekeeper blog - Boston.com

 

[shmessy]

Looks like the Globe has just now disabled the comments section.

Lemme tell you, people were pummeling this guy!

 

[Uncle Rico]

I think he's actually not an employee of the Globe.

 

[Gwedd]

I won't click on a Globe link. That rag's political myopia and general cluelessness are why it has such a declining readership, let alone relevance. Poor grammar and lack of originality in reporting don't help much either.

 

[shmessy]

I think he's actually not an employee of the Globe.

1099 Contractor.

 

[BradyFTW!]

This quote got to me:

This raises a disconcerting question: What is The Sports Guy? Is he, as he presents himself, a fan with a blog and Twitter account? Is he a journalist like every other sportswriter? Or is he some new combination of both?

Increasingly, people seem to have forgotten the difference between reporters and journalists. Most sportswriters are not journalists, let alone all of them.

It's not that Simmons is moving in on them; it's that a lot of them are trying to move away from actual journalism and into what he does, and they can't do it as well because Simmons is the best at sports/entertainment gonzo-reporting, or whatever you want to call it. If this guy wants to fault Simmons for that, then this speaks more about them than anyone.

I think that the local establishments don't like Simmons because he basically said to hell with them first. He interned at the Herald, saw how much time he'd have to spend on some treadmill waiting around for an outside shot at a meaningful position, and said screw it and went direct to Digital City. He was the first person in Boston to succeed in disintermediating sportswriting, and that really sort of heralded the shift that we're seeing where he's one of the most successful sportswriters on the planet while the Globe is going to go out of business. Of course these guys are bitter about it.

 

[wdkantro2]

Sportswriter, journalist, fan....who cares???

 

[shmessy]

This quote got to me:



Increasingly, people seem to have forgotten the difference between reporters and journalists. Most sportswriters are not journalists, let alone all of them.

It's not that Simmons is moving in on them; it's that a lot of them are trying to move away from actual journalism and into what he does, and they can't do it as well because Simmons is the best at sports/entertainment gonzo-reporting, or whatever you want to call it. If this guy wants to fault Simmons for that, then this speaks more about them than anyone.

I think that the local establishments don't like Simmons because he basically said to hell with them first. He interned at the Herald, saw how much time he'd have to spend on some treadmill waiting around for an outside shot at a meaningful position, and said screw it and went direct to Digital City. He was the first person in Boston to succeed in disintermediating sportswriting, and that really sort of heralded the shift that we're seeing where he's one of the most successful sportswriters on the planet while the Globe is going to go out of business. Of course these guys are bitter about it.

Well put..

 

[pheenix11]

I don't get the point of this article? WGAF?

 

[shmessy]

I don't get the point of this article? WGAF?

WGAF? The beknighted professional "journalists" at the soon to be extinct newspapers.

Basically:

'He didn't go to journalism school!!!!!! So what if he scoops the established Knights of the Keyboard???? So what if he is the most popular writer on the Boston sports scene??? He didn't wait his turn in line under the watchful eyes of the legendarily flat-footed sports editor Joe Sullivan at the Globe or the Einstein Editorial Dept at the Herald that greenlighted John Tomase's Scoop of the Century the night before Super Bowl 42!!!!! He didn't join the bureacracy of the Old Boys Network!!!!!

It's just not fair that this amateur fan guy runs laps around real professionals who have press passes and are buddies with Larry Lucchino. Eevn on his worst days when he inadvertently screws up a tweet, he makes us look like we are playing hooky from school while we cover Brad Pitt's visit to Fenway Park. Not fair, not fair, not fair!!!!! I have a degree in Journalism fer cryin' out loud!!!!!"

 

[BradyManny]

I didn't read Simmons' stuff or this reply. Simmons has been god-awful for years now, and I don't bother with him.

 

[shmessy]

I didn't read Simmons' stuff or this reply. Simmons has been god-awful for years now, and I don't bother with him.

Be that as it may, even when Simmons screws up and inadvertently tweets something from LA he beats the "professional" Boston writers who pray for such scoops. And he got it right.

These people, like this Emerson College Journalism Professor who wrote this whiney lamentation in the Globe today are appalled that they might not be so very talented and exceptional that someone off the streets couldn't outscoop them even by mistake from 3,000 miles away. Make no mistake, Borges, Tomase, CHB, etc are spinning in anger at this and hate Simmons with a purple passion.

 

[Sporin]

I like Simmons and I subscribe to his Twitter feed, as well as many other Boston and National Football writers' twitter feeds.

it was sort of wild from an information technology standpoint, to watch that story break, starting with Simmon's "accidental" public tweet that he claims was supposed to me a direct message... then it spread like WILDFIRE, in less then a minute. Nutso.

Whether old school journalists like it or not, that IS the new media, and people aren't going to wait a day to read the paper about a story that breaks. With the channels available now, news truly breaks instantaneously.... and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[shmessy]

I like Simmons and I subscribe to his Twitter feed, as well as many other Boston and National Football writers' twitter feeds.

it was sort of wild from an information technology standpoint, to watch that story break, starting with Simmon's "accidental" public tweet that he claims was supposed to me a direct message... then it spread like WILDFIRE, in less then a minute. Nutso.

Whether old school journalists like it or not, that IS the new media, and people aren't going to wait a day to read the paper about a story that breaks. With the channels available now, news truly breaks instantaneously.... and I wouldn't want it any other way.

What separates Simmons from the millions of other tweeters and bloggers out there is that he is damn good. He knows his stuff, is funnier than 98% of humanity and even when he slips and falls on a banana peel like the other night, scoops the self-professed professionals who sit in Gillette's press box, eat Kraft's food and whine incessently that Belichick and the Pats won't feed them info on a platter.

It must hurt these people that Simmons has more talent and info in his right pinky than they have in their whole bodies. Hell, that could be said about someone like Patsfanken on our website regarding football insight.

This article on Boston.com from this Emerson College Journalism Professor is a manifestation of all this.

 

[TheBeers]

What separates Simmons from the millions of other tweeters and bloggers out there is that he is damn good. He knows his stuff, is funnier than 98% of humanity and even when he slips and falls on a banana peel like the other night, scoops the self-professed professionals who sit in Gillette's press box, eat Kraft's food and whine incessently that Belichick and the Pats won't feed them info on a platter.

It must hurt these people that Simmons has more talent and info in his right pinky than they have in their whole bodies. Hell, that could be said about someone like Patsfanken on our website regarding football insight.

This article on Boston.com from this Emerson College Journalism Professor is a manifestation of all this.

Very well said! I am a big Simmons fan. He writes from a fans perspective (and a gamblers) and I personally find his stuff very funny and entertaining.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

ESPN blogger and Boston sports nut Bill Simmons — known as “The Sports Guy” — used his Twitter account Wednesday evening to send a direct message to one of his 1,265,832 followers seeking “info,” he says, on a rumor he heard that the New England Patriots would soon trade star receiver Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings. The tweet was two words: “moss vikings

Wasnt that tweet tuesday night? Thats the night all this went down. Last night was wednesday. This guy cant even get his days right.

 

[shmessy]

Wasnt that tweet tuesday night? Thats the night all this went down. Last night was wednesday. This guy cant even get his days right.

Yeah, but he's a "Professor of Journalism" at Emerson College, so it must be the truth.

Ironic that even when he makes a mistake the "amateur" Simmons is right on the spot with the truth, but Mr. Diplomas looking-down-his-nose forgot to run a fact-check.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

even when he slips and falls on a banana peel like the other night, scoops the self-professed professionals who sit in Gillette's press box, eat Kraft's food and whine incessently that Belichick and the Pats won't feed them info on a platter.

You nailed it.