Sam Smith aka Squiggly Catchypants is free from the tyranny of being a newspaper sports writer, and it makes him giddy. Smith was the long time NBA columnist at the Tribune, and it did feel a bit weird to start a new NBA season without Smith’s two page overview. In response to a question from a reader1, Smith responds2:
Sam: Free at last. … I agree with you, though some of my colleagues, like my buddy Mike Imrem from the Herald, always are whining about my columns being too long. Though with the internet, they are not heavy no matter the length, which is what I keep reminding him. I believe this is the difference between a New York Times reader and a Sun Times or Tribune reader. I don’t understand what’s wrong with being more informed. I always say you can stop reading anytime you want. It seems to me the longest books are the classics. There’s not many Woody Allen essays in classic literature, though I read those we well and as Woody said you could begin to believe in a Supreme Being after thumbing through a Victoria’s Secret catalogue.
The newspaper business, to my horror, has been disappearing and there were growing limitations on what you could write, even on the internet since they often wanted to adapt it for the newspaper. I’m freed from that now. There’s so much that goes on in games that fans are unaware of-and aware of–I often feel I don’t even write enough. I’ve long thought the traditional newspaper business doesn’t have enough respect for readership in how little they give them and in such a simplistic form. I believe readers want more and want to know more, and I’m glad this format with Bulls.com gives me that opportunity. As Thabo would say, “Did you trade me today?”
[From BULLS: Ask Sam | 11.13.08]
As long as Smith is happy with his new pay and pension plan, seems like a win for fans of the NBA, although probably not Mark Cuban3. Also somewhat ironic, since Smith complained about bloggers a while ago, though probably before he really understood the totality of the range of blogs. There are crap writers4 and there are more thoughtful, well written blogs. Most bloggers don’t even work in their parents basement!
and somebody insisted upon this disclaimer:
Footnotes:The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.
- from Mat: It seems you write more long articles now than when you were working for the Chicago Tribune. Am I right? If yes, that’s a good point for your readers! [↩]
- and I’ve left in the typos for your inner editor to spot [↩]
- who famously did not appreciate some of Smith’s trade rumors and so forth [↩]
- almost like your humble blogger, but I do have my moments of clarity, ahem [↩]