Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post left this comment on my earlier post, and I thought it was worth highlighting:
Ok, one more thing. And DCSC, you know I love what you do and love all the OFB folks. Mostly.
But here’s the thing: when the comment above says that “Most of the people on the Capitals message boards are more qualified” to write analysis of the Caps than Wise, he/she is almost certainly right. But the same is true of virtually any subject a newspaper covers. Many of our business reporters aren’t MBAs; many of our foreign correspondents aren’t PhDs in foreign affairs, and on and on. There are thousands of people more qualified to cover specific topics, but we’re not hired for narrow expertise.
I sure as hell have never been in football pads, and nor has Wise, yet we both write about football all the time. The skillset involved in what we do, to the extent that it requires any skill, is to be able to write reasonably well, and very quickly, and more than that, to be able to create unique and interesting content.
Now, is Mike Wise’s number one strength deadline hockey columns? Probably not. But he has some incredible and extremely rare attributes, especially the ability to get virtually anyone to open up to him in extraordinary ways, and the ability to write his buttocks off. That leads to things like the Brashear story, and his two-parter on Gilbert Arenas, and his award-winning story about the Baylor basketball tragedy, and many others. I don’t want to be flip, but I’d bet a lot of posters on the Caps message boards would have trouble doing those stories, just as Wise would probably have trouble doing some of their jobs. He didn’t get his job by accident.
Really, I don’t think people like me and Wise put ourselves up as experts on hockey or football or a lot of different things we write about. We just have to be able to uncover information and create content that would be interesting to the people who follow these things. I usually try to get athletes to react with humor. Wise often tries to get athletes to be more honest and emotional and insightful for him than they typically are, and very often, he succeeds. And bear in mind that he’s often doing so on ridiculous deadlines.
This has nothing to do with the extent of his Caps coverage or with his most recent column, but this is why I’m glad he works for The Post.
Thanks, Dan, for your thoughtful insight.
7 Comments
The problem with that is you see more mistakes by reporters covering hockey than any other sport. People mispronouncing players names, using the wrong terms to describe the action. That’s what irritates hockey fans more than anything. It’s simple mistakes that they wouldn’t make if they would just take a few minutes to watch and learn the game.
I have been a fan of Mike Wise for many years now. I have found him to be a thoughtful and intelligent writer with the right amount of wit without being smarmy. That is why his recent “rant” (now there’s a term that has jumped the shark) was so disheartening.
When he went into his little “Angry Writer” spiel, the excellent writer disappeared and Mike Wise the Shock Jock was born. There are already plenty of guys out there making a living in the “blowhard” role. I had hoped Mr. Wise would be different. Instead he stopped being a columnist and became the story himself.
Worse yet, regardless of his intent, any hockey column written by Mr. Wise will now be viewed with cynicism, if not outright disdain.
If Mr. Wise chooses to be a personality rather than a columnist, and that is his right, then journalism just died a little more. Traditional print media is dying, and sadly, for a time, true journalism with it. I just think it’s a shame that Mr. Wise has to help hasten its departure.
It is truly a shame this has happened. Traditional print media
Thanks.
And obviously I don’t speak for Mike in any way. Just my own opinion.
Now here’s where I have a problem,
“I sure as hell have never been in football pads, and nor has Wise, yet we both write about football all the time. The skillset involved in what we do, to the extent that it requires any skill, is to be able to write reasonably well, and very quickly, and more than that, to be able to create unique and interesting content.”
Obviously, being able to write well and quickly is an important skillset for a news reporter, but you also have to have some clue what you’re talking about. There are tons of sportscasters and commentators that have never played/coached (outside of pick up games and rec leagues) the sport they cover, but the are good at their jobs because they study the sport, learn the rules, the lingo, and they learn the strategies of the game before commenting.
If you’re gonna cover something have a clue what you’re talking about.
i think there’s a big difference between “having a clue” and “being an expert.” how many of the people on message boards have ever actually played hockey? how many have ever played hockey in a non-beer league? how many have been general managers of an nhl franchise? and yet, many (if not most) message boards are rife with suggestions on lines, trades, tactics and the like that people will defend to the death.
i’m coming around on wise. i think he picked a fight, which was probably pretty dumb, but he’s a damn fine writer–i defy any of you to have not deeply appreciated the brashear piece–who gets paid to do what he does. he probably shouldn’t stray into armchair general managing, true, but he’s not completely clueless about hockey. he’s been to a few games, talked to people who know a hell of a lot about the game, and been closer to the players than 99% of us. he can write a hockey column; if you don’t want to read it, don’t.
i don’t give him points for picking a fight with hockey fans, but i also don’t fault him for trying to dip his toe into the frozen pond.
What I don’t get is why people were upset with what he wrote. Seemed like a fine sports opinion column to me.
As for the rest of the Post, Wilbon grew up playing hockey (and tennis). Boswell certainly follows the team, if not writes about it often.
Mike Wise can be a fine writer, but here’s my problem with his current “schtick” about hockey. He’s trying to maximize the other sports by minimizing hockey and Caps fans resent that. It seems to me that Wise is saying, I can’t be a Caps fan unless I hate the Redskins, or vice-versa. Sorry, but that’s absurd. I’m a born and raised Washingtoninan. I love ALL my teams and nothing brings a city together better than a Championship. I don’t have a problem with the Caps coverage at The Post or the Caps coverage Wise gives on his radio show, I would simply appreciate Mike Wise much more if he used the Caps to galvanize the city’s fan base rather than splintering us into opposing groups.
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