Jason, Please Stop Writing About Baseball
An interesting concession appeared on Monday’s sports page.
Jason Whitlock has yet to watch a game in which Royals manager Trey Hillman suffered a loss.
Now, either Whitlock should go to more games because he's proven to be a powerful talisman -- or he doesn't actually watch the Kansas City Royals, one of two professional franchises in a town where he's a major sports columnist.
Judging by the columns appearing in Sunday and Monday’s sports pages, I'm guessing it's the latter.
Sports columnists in the Star supposedly provide access and wisdom accumulated over the course of their careers. Meanwhile, bloggers provide (hopefully) an entertaining view from a fan’s perspective. (Much ink, both virtual and actual, has been spilled in the last month over the role of blogging in today’s sporting media after the Buzz Bissinger-Will Leitch exchange on HBO.) There is a role for both in today’s media environment. But Jason Whitlock, on the rare occurrence when forced to write from the K, provides neither – he is neither a fan of the Royals nor does he provide any insight on the inner workings of the club.
Whitlock has his strengths as a columnist. He is a skilled provocateur who attempts to engage his audience in important discussions concerning race. He is knowledgeable about football and, rare among sports insiders, he is not shy. His access does not prevent him from expressing unpopular opinions.
About baseball, however? He doesn't watch the games. He has no interest in anything occurring behind the scenes or on the field. The space wasted by his columns could have been devoted to Sam Mellinger, who provided two insightful blog posts (not appearing in the sports page) on Jose Guillen and David Glass.
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