Super Soft Media Day

At today's Super Bowl media day Chris Berman made tons of "whoop" noises, Rich Eisen tried to interview Hines Ward's knee, and Deion Sanders asked players about Deion Sanders. There was a salsa dancer, a 12-year old interviewer, and a height-off between the NFL's rumor-hoarding dwarfs Jay Glazer and Adam Schefter (Chris Mortenson confirmed this a half hour later). Basically no one learned anything and no one who wasn't participating had any fun, way to go NFL.

If you're a media member I know you cant ruffle feathers at this softball-fest, but why can't they ask good questions? For example:

To Ben Roethlisberger: If you guys win the Super Bowl again and you stink again, do you think you will still be revered with other two-time champion QB's? ...Which parts of your body don't hurt right now? ...Did you send Bernard Pollard a thank you note after week 1 or are you waiting until the season is over?

To Kurt Warner: Compliments on your wife growing her hair out; who has had more of a rejuvenated year, you or her? ...If you lose the Superbowl, does that mean God is a Steelers fan? ...Remember when you were benched for Eli Manning four years ago and now you could be consecutive QBs to win Superbowls, how crazy is that?

To Anquan Boldin: Are you jealous of Larry Fitzgerald lapping you in talent this year? ...How proud are you to be the most jacked player in the NFL? ...Have you packed up your Arizona home yet or are you waiting you officially sign somewhere else?

To Larry Fitzgerald: Do you realize how freaking high your stock is right now? ...You have singlehandedly made the Cardinals an almost respectable franchise, how proud are you? ...Do you always have the fear that Anquan Boldin could go Tonya Harding on at any moment? ...As a star receiver, how hard is it to not shoot yourself in the leg?

To Willie Parker: Can we all agree that its time for your bitterness towards UNC to end? ...Isn't the nickname "Fast" pretty lame? ...How many angry letters do you get from touchdown-less fantasy owners?

To Edgerrin James: How was your mid-season vacation and where did you go? ...Have you tried mentoring Tim Hightower this year or are you nervous of helping your competition? ...Did you grow your hair out so people wouldn't notice how gross your teeth are?

To Hines Ward: Do you demand the ball in the huddle of third downs and big plays or do you just get lucky? ...Didn't your offense used to be more interesting with Ken Whisenhunt calling plays? ...How do you mesh with a punk-ass like Santonio Holmes? ...You've already planned your Super Bowl Championship celebration world tour, haven't you?

To Mike Tomlin: Do you look so cool because you try hard or because you're black? ...Do you think Coach Whisenhunt hates seeing pictures of you and the Steelers like most people hate seeing pictures of the ex's with new flames? ...What have you actually done to make the team better since Bill Cowher left?

To Ken Whisenhunt: Seriously, how much do you hate the Steelers? ...Do you ever consider asking your players to take cheap shots on Ben and other old friends like the coach did in Mighty Ducks to Adam Banks? ...Did you tell your players to take off week 16 in Foxboro or does your team actually have the capability to suck that hard? ...If it were legal, would you take yourselves getting seven points?

To Matt Leinart: Do you cry when listening to Springsteen's Glory Days? ...Does being a bench warmer for a punchline franchise cut down on your ability to spit game on girls? ...When you play with the Cardinals in Madden, do you sub yourself in for Kurt? ...Aren't you kinda rooting for an injury so you can play Sunday? ...How quick can you funnel a beer?

End of an Error

So I opened up a newspaper today. I don't make a regular practice of this, like 98% of regular people, because I get my news online, or on TV. The actual reason I opened up the paper today was because I was bored at work and looking for a Sudoku, so I grabbed the Washington Post Style Section. For those not acclimated to the Post's Style section, its the name of their Arts section and is "Section C." Anyway, the cover of the Style Section today has a glowing article on Amy Adams, one of the stars of Doubt. Under Amy Adams (= an enviable place) and under the fold (= death in newspapers) I happened to stumble across this little gem.

"WUSA Moves to One- Person News Crews."

For those who don't want to read the whole article, let me USA Today it for you: Basically the Washington DC local CBS affiliate doesn't have enough money to keep sending out reporters with camera crews when covering stories and are cutting back. They are cutting the cameramen and starting to hire people who can be news one-man-bands, thus lowering the quality of the reporting and production in order to save salaries. As if local television news could get worse at reporting and production.

The thing about this story is that its a micro version of a macro problem, that started with newspapers and has clearly spread like a cancer to its next host, local TV. Washington DC is the seventh largest media market in the country so I can only imagine what kinds of changes and cutbacks are in store for everywhere else that isn't NYC, LA, Chicago, San Fran, Philly, and Dallas. This has to be the beginning of a bigger problem, and with media folk holding the magnifying glass, it will be a problem that won't be under-reported.

Today's media unwritten rule seems to be "Go big or go home." This is the case as media conglomerates such as ESPN, CNN, Bloomberg, and the networks have undergone many fewer cutbacks and curtailments than smaller operations. If you aren't with the "bigs" than literally the idea of going home has two meanings. Either get laid off as jobs are cut everywhere from the technical or editorial side of things, or go home and blog, or become one of the many mo-jos (mobile journalists) that are much more attractive hires. That means learning new skills like how to operate the camera, write a news story, shoot the news story, and edit the news story by yourself, sacrificing some integrity with each step along the way (the article admits that a few places that tried mo-jos have backtracked due to the shoddiness of the final product).

I know both people who are employed in this way and who were employed in this way and I can say first hand that the drop-off between this product and a regular story is severe (think '07 Patriots to the Brady-less '08 Pats). So I say to local television media, "Hi, welcome to the life boat. You may want to sit a little closer to newspapers because we're expecting full occupancy."

Oh yeah and if you don't think newspapers are doomed, try this on for size. The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star Telegram, two rival newspapers in media market #6, either will soon or have started sharing beat writers. Detroit's two biggest newspapers (media market #10) are getting a tummy-tuck and a non-daily home delivery schedule. There's too many more examples to cite, but I think we all get it by now.