Tom Haudricourt's Undertones

[Oldcity]

One of my biggest pet peeves is when journalists insert opinionated undertones, overstatements and comments into a news report. I've noticed that Tom H. does this on a regular basis. Wednesday night's game article was worse than normal from me. Here are a couple snippets:

The Brewers remained in first place but have no chance of staying there without a dramatic turnaround from their starting rotation.

 

Really? No chance, whatsoever? Unless there's a dramatic turnaround? Hasn't he noticed that, despite the Brewers' poor play, they have actually increased their lead over the Cubs? Sure, it's not probable that the Brewers will hold the lead if their pitching doesn't improve, but to say that, perhaps, a "medium-sized" improvement wouldn't give the Brewers even an outside shot is purely his opinion and far from fact--of course, opinions are supposed to be left out of a news article/game story.

 

Here's another one.

 

The offense hasn't exactly been devouring enemy pitchers but never has a team been more in need of a quality start - immediately - than the Brewers.

Never has a team- in the history of baseball- been more in need of a quality start. Immediately. Which means that no pitcher has ever needed to throw a quality start more than Dave Bush does tomorrow. Now obviously Haudricourt didn't mean for it to be taken as literally as I did here--he used a hyperbole. But those don't belong in a game article. They are for columnists.

 

Tom is supposed to be reporting on the game, not using the space to give us his take of the team. Yet I notice he creatively sneaks them in quite often. I guess my point is that he's not a columnist; he's the Brewers beat writer who should stop acting like a columnist.

 

I'm sure this type of thing bothers me more than most, but I'm wondering if anybody else has noticed this and is bothered by it. Or maybe I'm just nitpicking and looking for something to release my Brewer-related frustrations.

[Mr QL]

I don't see anything wrong with what he said.

[TheBrewer]

same here, no offense man but it seems like your just annoyed with the brewers loss and it jump on him.. however I do have one issue with him. He does those Power Rankings in the newspaper everyday or every weekend whatever. He ranks the Cubs the past few weeks super ahead of us like 3-4 spots. Thats what has bothered me about him. I know the Brewers have been bad, but the Cubs have lost 7 of 9 if I'm not mistaken. Even without that, the darn Cubs are BEHIND the Brewers in STANDINGS. I cant understand that part. I realize its about hot streaks to a certain extent, but it seems like the past 2-3 weeks hes' ranked the Cubs way ahead of us.

[Yaz]

Hey Stevo - should have posted this in the vent thread sir. I am so happy that all the apologists on this board are being shown the woodshed. Life is good. The Brewers are headed down the proverbial shoot. Got a problem with that? :-)

[trwi7]

Yeah count me in as saying it doesn't bother me either. I bet it would be written by another columnist (probably Hunt) so why not just throw it in there? Look on the bright side, they're saving paper so they're saving trees.http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif

[Braminano]

It is really poor journalism and I think that journalists get away with it when they are writing about sports. I'm with you on this one, Stevo.

[rluzinski]

It's how he has always written. He caters to the audience that assumes impending doom down every turn and thinks every game is a must win. I'm not saying that I'd prefer that Haudricourt pretend everything is going just great but the world isn't exactly going to end, either. I'd rather just get the facts from a beat reporter. I can figure out what they mean all by myself.

[Paul77]

One of my biggest pet peeves is when journalists insert opinionated undertones, overstatements and comments into a news report. I

 

Agreed, I can't stand reading news injected with commentary and opinion. However, I tend to give sports reporters a little more leeway. And after reading the article I really found nothing more objectionable that what the JS usually publishes every morning.

 

Hasn't he noticed that, despite the Brewers' poor play, they have actually increased their lead over the Cubs?

 

Cubs? I'm more concerned with the fact that the Cards have gained 4 games on the Brewers. 3.5 games out, the Cards scare me more than the Cubs.

[Brian the Automator]

Hey Stevo - should have posted this in the vent thread sir. I am so happy that all the apologists on this board are being shown the woodshed. Life is good. The Brewers are headed down the proverbial shoot. Got a problem with that? :-)

"apologist" = name calling, in my book. Let's debate the argument, not the person.

Back to Haudricort's article, it's just pandering, to me. We ALL KNOW that the Brewers are sucking big time right now. They're getting spanked by mediocre teams. I still stand by my opinion that they have a 50/50 shot at the playoffs (thanks Cubbies!), but he's just telling the people what they want to hear.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Life is good. The Brewers are headed down the proverbial shoot.

Aside from the fact that this is borderline troll material, I have to wonder...which shoot is that? You don't head down a crap shoot, or a turkey shoot. Hmm. Better check my proverbs again.

[Fatter than Joey]

try "chute". Lots of chutes are pointing downward in a manner where things can accelerate quickly to the bottom of said chute.

[mls4]

Yes that bothers me as well. As someone who has written (or tried to write) sports stories in the past, I realize how difficult it is to not let opinion slip into the article. But if I am going to be held to that standard for a high school sports article in a tiny small-town newspaper, why should he be able to get away with it?

[Tbadder]

There is no such thing as objectivity--thank god.

[Invader3K]

I don't have a problem with anything he wrote. Read any sports commentary in any paper, and there's going to be some degree of opinion. It's pretty hard to talk about baseball and just be completely sterile and analytical.

[HebrewHammer]

"The Brewers remained in first place but have no chance of staying there without a dramatic turnaround from their starting rotation. "

 

This is a fact. I have no problems with that. There's nothing wrong with a writer deducing something like from the facts presented to him. It's not an opinion, it's a fact built from smaller facts observed by this writer. The Brewers seriously have no chance of staying where they are if their starting pitching doesn't improve.

 

"The offense hasn't exactly been devouring enemy pitchers but never has a team been more in need of a quality start - immediately - than the Brewers. "

 

Well, he certainly went over the top here. Granted we do desperately need some quality starts from our pitching ASAP, but wording it a little differently would have probably been better. But then I expect the writer's expectations of his audience are such that they would see this isn't a literal expression. His choice of words appear that he's conveying the desperate time for these Brewers in regards to their pitching. "Immediately" is actually a subjective word.

[Thurston Fluff]

when a reporter is expected to write about a team on a regualr basis he has to comment on the current team not the future or the past. Currently the Brewers suck. If they do not turn things around soon chances are one of the two other teams in the chase will. I don't see how that type of observation is out of order.

[Brian the Automator]

"The Brewers remained in first place but have no chance of staying there without a dramatic turnaround from their starting rotation. "

 

This is a fact.

It's an opinion. It's an opinion that I agree with, but by definition, it's not a fact.

 

[SeriesFinale]

To be fair, this is a sports reporting issue, not just a Tom Haudricourt one. A writer on the local judicial beat would never get away with it.

[brewizard]

A writer on the local judicial beat would never get away with it.

 

The defense hasn't exactly been very convincing to the jury, but never has a legal team been more in need of a quality witness - immediately - than the Defendants'. "

[Oldcity]

I know I'm nitpicking a little. I just graduated and I was the Sports Editor at my university paper for two years, so I'm used to looking for that. It was probably the most common thing I had to tell writers about. But I do see it all the time (not just in Haudricourt's articles.) It just seems unprofessional to me.

[Yaz]

Ugh, I meant chute. And no, I am not a troll. I am stating the obvious about the current Brewers team. Am I frustrated? You're darn right. I still can't believe the Brewers are still in first place. And from the looks of it, Hardicourt can't either.

Sorry for the faux pas. :-(

[WestCoastBrewer]

I completely agree with you Stevo, I think he does a pretty poor job in general. Many of his facts about players in the organization over the past couple of years have been incorrect . Maybe he should look in the mirror.

[wisportswriter]

Who wants a sports story without any opinion or analysis (which is mostly opinion)? This isn't the police blotter.

 

Bob McGinn is the MJS' head Packers beat writer. His gamers are overflowing with opinion and analysis.

 

He also happens to be widely acknowledged - by both his readers and his peers across the country - as one of the best beat writers in the entire NFL.