Yesterday, the Chron had a story on the greatness of Mario Williams, a blog post on the greatness of Mario Williams, and a blog post asking why we like Mario Williams so much. Reading all of this stuff on Mario Williams, I had one question: When did teenage girls start running the Chron sports department?
Seriously, is this really journalism? Asking why we like Mario Williams? Hell, is the Chron now saying that Charlie Casserly was actually some kind of genius who knew what he was doing? Because, as I remember things, back when Mario Williams was drafted over Vince and Reggie, the Chron put all of the blame on Casserly. And when Mario Williams was seen the biggest flop ever, it was because Gary Kubiak let Casserly call the shots in that draft. So if Williams is actually a good player, then maybe Casserly actually did know something.
But after reading these pieces, I’m now convinced the next things we’ll be seeing from the Chron sports department are the Five Ways to Woo Your Dream Quarterback, Ten Steps to A Better Running Game, and Is Andre Johnson the Dreamiest Texan – A Five-Part Discussion. I don’t know if Mario Williams is the best defensive player in the NFL or not. There’s nothing in the Chron’s writing that really lets me evaluate this, which is what I thought journalism was supposed to do – present me with facts.
But why present facts when you can go the teenage girl route? — John Royal
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
