I called the executive editor of the paper twice and left two messages and haven’t heard back from him. I did just now speak to the young man who wrote this article. He is very reasonable. He said he is a blogger and can write whatever opinions he has at any time – which I agree with – and that the piece is not in the physical paper, just on his blog.
I called the executive editor of the paper twice and left two messages and haven’t heard back from him. I did just now speak to the young man who wrote this article. He is very reasonable. He said he is a blogger and can write whatever opinions he has at any time – which I agree with – and that the piece is not in the physical paper, just on his blog. His rationale is that he can’t abandon who he is and his alliances to his teams regardless of where his career takes him and he has his editor’s support in this position. He wrote about his love of the Steelers over the Redskins too. He does not think it is odd that a local reporter can like another team more than his home team. I told him it was OK and that I understood and thanked him for the professional approach to the conversation. End of story.
Hopefully he doesn’t have plans to work for a larger news gathering organization.
The Pens might have a nice group of players, but the Caps have a GREAT TEAM.
Well, I’ll give him a point for his rationale. After all the Pens wouldn’t have that many fans if people disavowed them upon migrating out of the hole in Western PA. If there were a customs line to leave that city residents would probably age 10 years waiting in the line to get out.
I thought that the piece had a good core idea (why do fans from other areas not adopt local franchises when they move) but the execution was just plain terrible. I’d have loved to get into his brain about staying loyal to the Pens AND not adopting the hometown Caps (one can do both, except when they play one another).
I’m suprised the editor agrees with it. Yes, having a blog means you can write whatever opinions. So, open up a personal blog, like on Livejournal. If you are writing a blog as an employee on a company’s website, usually they want your blog while keeping in mind their best interests and missions. And writing a blog on behalf of a local paper that mocks a local team seems to be counterproductive to that business’ goals.
I would have loved to have been inside this guy’s head when he picked up the phone and heard, “Hello, this is Ted Leonsis calling”
I guess if it’s only online he can spout about whatever he wants. But it’s not a good way to gain readership of your local blog…
It IS a good way to get tons of hate-mail though!