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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Plaschke named top sports writer .... again

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times won the sports column writing category for the third time in four years, highlighting final judging results announced Tuesday in the 2007 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
...
“I’m feeling equally honored and humbled,” Plaschke said. “I’m also feeling very lucky because every day I read columnists in all circulation categories who are good enough to win this award. Sportswriters are at the forefront of the fight to keep newspapers relevant, and I’m just proud to be one of them.”

baudib Posted: April 01, 2008 at 03:42 PM | 42 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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1. Tuque

Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:09 PM (#2726459)

gross.

2. Quiet Flows the Don Taussig Avenger (Edmundo)

Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:15 PM (#2726468)

I think that is serious or it's a very elaborate hoax. Just enough good writers to make it believable. Joe Poz gets a couple of also-rans and I saw Dick Jerardi of the Philly Daily News in the explanatory honorable mention -- he does know his hoops and horse racing so that could be legit.
Plaschke? Obviously, I don't understand the criteria.

3. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:16 PM (#2726473)

OH! The humanity!

4. JMM Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:17 PM (#2726476)

Never underestimate the Scandinavian sense of humor?

5. Quiet Flows the Don Taussig Avenger (Edmundo)

Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:36 PM (#2726501)

This is like Dusty Baker winning the Best Developer of Young Players Award. <ducks>
Or Barry Zito winning the Continuous Improvement Award.

6. Crispix Attacks Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:37 PM (#2726503)

Zito is making a push for Comeforward Player of the Year, or whatever the opposite of "Comeback" would be.

7. flournoy Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:39 PM (#2726505)

That'd be the "Go Away" Player of the Year.

8. Esoteric Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:40 PM (#2726506)

Um...April Fool's?

9. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:53 PM (#2726524)

Never underestimate the Scandinavian sense of humor?

I'm Scandanavian, and I'm not laughing. Not even a little bit.

10. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:54 PM (#2726529)

That'd be the "Go Away" Player of the Year.

I'd plump for "Come Again?" Player of the Year.

11. JMM Posted: April 01, 2008 at 05:55 PM (#2726531)

I'd plump for "Come Again?" Player of the Year.

Sponsored by Kwik-E-Mart, of course.

12. Crispix Attacks Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:00 PM (#2726533)

I think maybe a month into the season we should have a thread about all the players who have shown themselves to be strong candidates for Goaway Player of the Year. Zito is already the frontrunner.

You have to go away before you can come back, you know.

13. phredbird

Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:01 PM (#2726534)

i think my head's going to explode. since moving here and having to read the LA times, i simply cannot believe plaschke and simers have jobs. they are both unreadable. but, being the glutton for punishment that i am, i check out their articles in hopes that i'll be wrong. i almost never finish reading them.

14. scareduck Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:11 PM (#2726544)

They forgot the "L" in front of "APSE".

Zito is making a push for Comeforward Player of the Year, or whatever the opposite of "Comeback" would be.

I believe it would be "go away".

i simply cannot believe plaschke and simers have jobs.

There is an option available to fix that. It makes you wonder whether his mother is on the committee.

15. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:11 PM (#2726545)

What the hell is wrong with these people?

16. HypnoToad Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:18 PM (#2726549)

My first instinct is that this is an april fools joke.

which is worse, plaschke winning this award or jeter winning a GG?

17. JMM Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:41 PM (#2726573)

Never underestimate the Scandinavian sense of humor?

I'm Scandanavian, and I'm not laughing. Not even a little bit.

I was trying to find the original person who said that when Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize, but couldn't.

18. JMM Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:42 PM (#2726574)

which is worse, plaschke winning this award or jeter winning a GG?

Or Henry Kissinger winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Or Yassir Arafat winning the NPP?

19. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:45 PM (#2726580)

which is worse, plaschke winning this award or jeter winning a GG?

Rafael Palmeiro's GG for DH-ing and Plaschke's previous wins have already made both awards irrelevant.

20. king cranium maximus IV Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:49 PM (#2726586)

The stat-hating writer, his arm around Pierre.

The rest of us, sighing.

The hussle-loving writer, excuses at the ready.

The rest of us, sighing.

The logic-averse writer.

The rest of us.

Caddy smells like trees.

21. king cranium maximus IV Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:52 PM (#2726590)

Tryhard McCrappyplayer may be ripped. Villified. Disdained. But there's something else. Something that beats, and beats, and beats.

22. Charter Member of the Jesus Melendez Fanclub Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:55 PM (#2726595)

You'd think kevin was in here, with all these jokes being repeated over and over. Obviously he's infected the lot of you.

23. Charter Member of the Jesus Melendez Fanclub Posted: April 01, 2008 at 06:55 PM (#2726596)

Ahh, there he is.

24. bob gaj Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:13 PM (#2726621)

i haven't clicked, and it appears it was serious, but i was expecting the link to start playing "never gonna give you up".

25. phredbird

Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:39 PM (#2726649)

scareduck, that was one helluva link. it predates my move here, and the worst part is, when i moved here i thought the paper was pretty darn good. the decline since then has really been marked. ugh.

26. scareduck Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:39 PM (#2726652)

If Plaschke is a top, somewhere on Craigslist there is a corresponding ad looking for a bottom.

scareduck, that was one helluva link. it predates my move here, and the worst part is, when i moved here i thought the paper was pretty darn good. the decline since then has really been marked. ugh.

Bob Timmermann is one of the most literate fans I know. He also writes The Griddle, a general blog about baseball and its quirks. If you're near downtown Thursday, you can listen to a lecture he's giving at the downtown public library about the Dodgers coming to Los Angeles.

27. Hysterical & Useless Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:44 PM (#2726659)

"Never underestimate the Scandinavian sense of humor?"

My wife, who generally does not tell jokes well, has a good delivery with an Ole & Lena joke.

28. baudib Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:44 PM (#2726660)

It's a legit award.

Here is a long thread called "Why do bloggers hate Plaschke?" that gets into sabermetrics and Juan Pierre at great detail.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php/topic,54568.0.html

29. baudib Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:45 PM (#2726661)

...

30. Padraic Posted: April 01, 2008 at 07:52 PM (#2726668)

This would be surprising, but after watching The Wire, nothing surprises me anymore.

31. Morally Excellent Posted: April 01, 2008 at 11:40 PM (#2726928)

Interesting that kdon brings up The Wire, as that's the first thing I thought of. Reporters in the show who only care about winning the Pulitzer, not about news.

That's how I think of Plaschke. His writing is designed to win awards. All the faux-poetry. The gag-inducing metaphors, the

random

line breaks in the middle of his paragraphs. His columns are designed specifically to win awards. Content be damned.

It's working.

Bill Plashke = Bill Madlock

32. Flynn Posted: April 02, 2008 at 12:11 AM (#2727007)

Man, those SportsJournalists guys are ##########. Quite a few are willingly ignorant about baseball and have this ugly siege mentality that anybody who dare criticizes their profession is wrong, stupid and a dork.

You know, sports journalism is a difficult profession and the hours are shitty, but don't insult my intelligence - newspapers never paid well in the first place and their future is only going to make that worse, so don't try and belittle sabermetricians as people with no money who live in mom's bedroom. I can think of a few REAL journalists who have that kind of situation, because being a reporter pays nothing and the Lupicas, Conlins and Plaschkes, D-bags who do make bank, don't frequent that website.

I'd love for some high powered lawyer who's partner at some massive law firm and vacations in his condo in the Bahamas to go on that website and drop some real status on their asses.

33. baudib Posted: April 02, 2008 at 12:33 AM (#2727069)

Actually they do frequent the Web site. Lupica has tried to get it shut down and Jason Whitlock has been banned.

34. Gambling Rent Czar Posted: April 02, 2008 at 01:37 AM (#2727251)

Man, those sabermetric guys are ##########. Quite a few are willingly ignorant about baseball and have this ugly siege mentality that anybody who dare criticizes their hobby is wrong, stupid and a dork.

fixed.

35. Shredder Posted: April 02, 2008 at 02:36 AM (#2727380)

Well, the article doesn't say how the award is judged. What you need to know about Plaschke is that four or five times a year, he writes a really good column. A real tear jerker type that plays on emotions, but genuinely about a good subject, well written, and basically just a fine piece of work. The type that makes you think "why can't write at this level all the time?"

If the award is judged on a few submissions, or even one, it's not a surprise that he would win. His body of work is terrible, but in a small sample size, he can be pretty good.

36. baudib Posted: April 02, 2008 at 06:05 AM (#2727514)

Interesting that kdon brings up The Wire, as that's the first thing I thought of. Reporters in the show who only care about winning the Pulitzer, not about news.

That's how I think of Plaschke. His writing is designed to win awards. All the faux-poetry. The gag-inducing metaphors, the

random

line breaks in the middle of his paragraphs. His columns are designed specifically to win awards. Content be damned.

Actually, Plaschke doesn't have anything to do with the mindset that David Simon rails against. The boys from Trib are looking for national/international coverage aimed at winning Pulitzers at the expense of local coverage. That's completely opposite of what Plaschke does. Plaschke wins awards solely because the particular group of SEs judging his category that year like the words he wrote.

37. Voros McCracken, Human Shield Posted: April 02, 2008 at 08:05 AM (#2727533)

This is the guy that claimed one year that competitive balance was so bad, only five or six teams had a realistic shot at the playoffs at the start of the season. This was long after the number of teams who make the playoffs were up to eight.

38. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: April 02, 2008 at 10:51 AM (#2727551)

Plaschke wins awards solely because the particular group of SEs judging his category that year like the words he wrote.

My...god.

39. Quiet Flows the Don Taussig Avenger (Edmundo)

Posted: April 02, 2008 at 11:31 AM (#2727560)

My...god.
Shooty, get it right. My. God.

His body of work is terrible, but in a small sample size, he can be pretty good.
Kind of a fair SLG, very low OBP kind of guy. Pedro Feliz?

40. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: April 02, 2008 at 12:10 PM (#2727583)

I don't have any respect for these guys that appear on Around The Horn, but I did like No More Mr Nice Guy which Plaschke wrote with Dick Williams. Heard the Lasorda book sucked and never read nor no anyone who read the Chuck Knox book.

41. JMM Posted: April 02, 2008 at 02:39 PM (#2727728)

What you need to know about Plaschke is that four or five times a year, he writes a really good column. A real tear jerker type that plays on emotions, but genuinely about a good subject, well written, and basically just a fine piece of work. The type that makes you think "why can't write at this level all the time?"

If the award is judged on a few submissions, or even one, it's not a surprise that he would win. His body of work is terrible, but in a small sample size, he can be pretty good.

All singles, no decent album tracks?

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Plaschke named top sports writer .... again

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