posted under: Brett Favre, Dr. Z
The Good Doctor Z Must Be Proud Of Himself
Columnist Dr. Z has created quite an uproar in Packer Nation. The longtime Sports Illustrated writer suggested in a column last week that Brett Favre never was as good as most of us think he was and that maybe he doesn’t deserve to get into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. As you can imagine, the Green and Gold faithful have gone into vigilante mode. Chris Havel of the Press Gazette issued a venomous point by point rebuttal yesterday while both the Oracle of Cheese and Railbird Central have taken Dr. Z to task for his ramblings. Well, score one for SI.com, Dr. Z, and Internet trolls everywhere.
What is most aggravating about Dr. Z’s column isn’t that he’s wrong, which he clearly is, but that it is yet another example of the hack journalism we have to suffer with in the age of ESPN, fantasy sports leagues, and Internet message boards. In football seasons past I have thought that Dr. Z was one of the better writers out there, much better anyway than the self-aggrandizing Peter King, but with this column he shows himself to be no better than Steven A. Smith, Jim Rome, or any other message board troll. The professional sports journalist is supposed to enlighten readers with thoughtful insight into the game, analysis, and opinion backed by facts, not to make lists or to try and compare apples to oranges for the sake of creating debate where there was none. Arguing a point just to get people talking (and to become the center of attention) is the job of Joe Blow down at the community tap or purplewarrior78 on Usenet.
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August 8th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
I jumped all over Dr. Z as well, I’m glad I’m not alone. I’m also going to link you
guys up to our site, keep it going. Go Pack Go.
http://www.cheeseandpackers.com
August 10th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
[...] • Liriano is placed on the 15-day disabled list. What, me worry? • Bump ponders the presence of the Human Delusion Hormone in Quarterbacks on both sides of the border. Let’s just say Favre doesn’t look like the fool here. • The following sequence of events has virally unravelled (right under our noses): Dr. Z writes column disparaging the greatness of Brett Favre’s career. Packer journalists and bloggers write venomous rebuttals. People of Wisconsin begin march to SI offices with beer and weapons in tow. • Purplepride.org has lots of pretty pictures of Vikings training camp. Comments » [...]