Plaschke Crucifies Kids, So I'll Crucify Him

It seems that in a world where information is so easily attainable that it should be much less acceptable to write inaccurately for a major newspaper. Now by inaccurately I don't mean not getting his facts correct (even though he does fudge them) I mean ceasing to be a reporter and debasing himself to a mere opinion whore.To define opinion whore I mean a person who takes on whatever opinion happens to be popular at the time in the social climate one is writing for and pandering to that audience, however transitory that opinion may be to that audience. People are what they eat for the most part, but Bill Plaschke isn't at all what he writes because you can't be everybody and everything in one lifetime. In a journalistic age where having a biting opinion is more important than presenting the facts accurately that create the story in the first place, Plaschke is attempting (I guess) to do what his boss (editors) want him to do (write pieces with eye grabbing conclusions) and in the process keep his paychecks coming.

Problem with that is reputations aren't so quickly rebuilt as fashions are to change. And when the fashions change Plaschke may not easily be able to switch his new-fangled style of writing. Eventually blogs (not this one, I mean blogs thousands and thousands of people read regularly) will become even more mainstream and the style on those blogs will mellow out. Newspapers will chill out and editors like Plaschke's bosses will mellow out and allow the writers to drift back to allowing writers to be what they write again.

With that out of the way why do I have such a problem with this?  Because the same hack who finally deigned to give his blessing to the team's (like professional baseball people need his blessing) youth movement when the team was winning after years of re-regurgitating the same shortsighted mantra of 'L.A. is a big town and should win at all cost' attitude that doomed the dodgers organization for almost two decades.  Bill Plaschke, do you remember the last time the dodgers were in the playoffs year in and year out?  It was when most all their talent was home grown, not when they were throwing their hopes (and money) at free agents like Eric Davis and Daryl Strawberry.

Bill, I don't expect you to be honest to your bosses or readers, but hopefully you're being honest to  yourself after you've finished typing up your articles.  And next time the dodgers season goes from sizzle to fizzle, take a lesson from Jeff Kent's situation and think a bit before you go crucifying young men, much less the organization that while not perfect, tried to do what's best for the dodgers while trying to 'win now' (you used to love them veterans) until those kids were ready to play.

Now you want to trade 'em?  

Whatever.

Maybe next week your editor's polling will show people like the sharp opinions Jonathan Abrams is putting out there in his article.  Many papers are trying to get younger and writing bad articles is just the excuse they need to pay a younger person less to be a more efficient opinion whore than you are-- and they'll use language that better grabs younger readers.  Maybe you'll be plotting little dots on the traffic map section.  At least you won't need to worry about not having an opinion of your own doing that.