Most Editors Are Failed Writers, But So Are Most Writers

With a hat tip to LoHud.

Murray Chass has a blog. But it's not a blog, it's an online column, because Mr. Chass (recently retired from the NYTimes) is a columnist, not a blogger.  Mr. Chass is on the record saying he hates bloggers, hates statistics besides batting average and ERA, and hates the Red Sox.

Sir, 1 out of 3 ain't bad.

You know what separates (in my mind) bloggers from columnists?

Tone.

On the interwebs, I'm free to crack jokes, ask rhetorical questions, employ exclamation points, and do a number of other things that aren't 'fit for print.'  Pete A talks about Springsteen, Joe Posnanski uses asterisks to launch rambling tangents, I make parenthetical reference to modernist poetry.

They're all equally effective ways of discussing sports*

*Ok, maybe not.  But only based on traffic.  For content value, I defy anyone to tell me that Ezra Pound's Homage to Sextus Properitus doesn't dovetail quite nicely with Buster Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty.

So why do I bring this up?  Because Mr. Chass' tone is already slipping (and that's a good thing) (also, he employs a satirical angle on the All-Star Game that I wish I'd thought of).

Would you like to know why the All-Star game has become my favorite game? I  thought you’d never ask. It has become my favorite game because Commissioner Bud Selig says it should be.

All right, the commissioner has never put it exactly that way, but for several years now he has made the All-Star game the most critical game of the year, linking it to the World Series even before we know who is going to play in the World Series.

The players? Of course, the World Series link will inspire them to hit the ball farther and run faster, taking an extra base for the good of the Red Sox or the Yankees even though they play for the Royals and the Blue Jays and the Mariners.

Well done, Mr. Chass.  I, a blogger, agree with your opinion, the development of which could only have been achieved through years of exclusive direct contact with players and executives, and could only have been so skillfully articulated after a career of honing your craft*.  I applaud you, sir, and stand in awe of your handiwork**.

*You see what I did there?  I used sarcasm.  When I do it, it's snarky, and it gives Buzz Bissinger the right to scream obscenities at me on national tv.  I'm expecting the flaming bag of poo to hit my front porch any second now.  But Mr. Chase can do it, because he's a columnist, and professionally trained in such undertakings.

** Don't misunderstand, I really do like it.  It's not quite TS Eliot, but I still wish I'd written it.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Chass.  Feel free to stop by our little corner of the Web any old time.  And you have a typo in your penultimate paragraph.