Strike-Anywhere Sports Journalism

I have officially had enough.

If a sports fan uproar is like a wildfire, then the media provide the lighter fluid and matches. The only problem: They take zero responsibility for that. That’s nothing new, I know, but it all came to a head today with a column from one of Philly’s best, Rich Hoffman of the (soon to be defunct) Philadelphia Daily News.

Let me start by saying that, being a Philly guy, I follow a lot of the Inquirer and Daily News coverage. Despite living across the country from my hometown, I am still able to keep up with my favorite sports teams thanks to the internet. In fact, I don’t think I would’ve survived the move without them.

But I digress.

Long story short (too late), most of my rant today is brought to you by them.

This morning, I’m checking up my normal Web sites before I get ready for work. One of my last stops was philly.com, where I couldn’t help but notice the headline, Phillies’ World Series title makes life tougher on Eagles — Hoffman’s column from Friday’s paper.

Now let me preface this rant by saying that Hoffman is one of the absolute best columnists in the country. He has won multiple awards and was twice named Philly best sports writer. He’s so money, and he doesn’t even know it.

But like when Mikey got back from the bar in Swingers and couldn’t stop calling that girl he met at the bar, this was not Hoffman’s finest hour.

Hoffman apparently thinks that — get this — the fans have been really after the Eagles in new and cruel ways since the Phillies won the World Series. Apparently in Rich’s mind, once us Philly fans went black, we never went back.

I’ll let him put it in his own words.

And in the end, in the aftermath of the Phillies winning the World Series, I could not remember a more negative Eagles season when it came to my interaction with the people who root for this football team.

The bombardment was relentless – and that is the exact word, bombardment. For the first time ever, people fired coach Andy Reid in the newspaper. Day after day, the e-mails flooded in whenever a defense of Reid was raised. People in the Wawa were brutal. Callers on the radio were worse. I know, I know – it goes with the territory when you are the most popular team in town and you haven’t won a championship since 1960. And, yes, this is all anecdotal.

Ok, so let’s get this straight: People in Wawa were brutal.

(Time out — Zach Morris style)

For those of you who aren’t from the northeast — namely, the Philly to D.C. region — Wawa is like a super 7-11. It has a fresh deli where they make hoagies (or subs to the unenlightened) and has all the usual charm of your local convenience store. I miss it so much…

(Time in)

To his credit (he is a prize-winning journalist after all), Hoffman does not forget to mention the media’s…well, special cameo role in this Eagles saga.

“I am willing to consider that some of it was media-driven, but I don’t think that explains it all.”

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

In the sports world, the media have the biggest mouth. Sports journalists — or to put it more aptly, sports personalities — are the initial source for all information regarding sports. Sure sports fan blogs and talk radio have given sports fans a voice like never before, but you can’t even watch a game on TV without hearing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman’s take on what your eyes can see.

Let’s just say this isn’t exactly a fair fight, Mr. Hoffman.

But — like all things today it seems — the media have gone A.I.G. on us when it comes to sharing the blame. They’re quick to point the finger but lack the ability to look in the mirror (which in some cases isn’t too pretty, if you get what I’m saying).

That’s why I hope that Web sites like Taking Back Sports take off. While we are aspiring journalists, we make sure to always remember that we are sports fans first. The mainstream media have far too long painted fans as the bad guys. It’s time for us fans to take our rightful place at the end of all sports tables.

After all, we foot the bill for these athletes’ large, ridiculous salaries. I say that makes us stock holders; and right now, I don’t like the way our sports are being covered — not one bit.

So next time I make a fire, I’m going to start by lighting up the sports section.

It already comes complete with lighter fluid and matches.