Mitch Albom's column today is a perfect example of why he's a horrible sports writer. If this column is to be believed, either Mitch is personally hurt and offended by Ben Wallace's decision to sign with da Bulls for a truckload of cash or he's extremely naive. The whole sportswriter feigning outrage over someone signing a contact with an inferior team just because they offered him more money is tiring, to say the least. I'd like to see every writer who is guilty of this transgression detail all of the times that he personally has turned down a new job that paid 40% more than his current position.
All Mitch does in this column is try to connect with the Pistons fans who feel slighted by Wallace's departure. It's little more than a piece of propaganda designed to stoke their outrage and make them feel like Mitch shares their pain; presumably as a way to feed dollars into the Mitch Albom media empire. I love how Mitch states that he should be used to these kind of moves by now, but he really thought Wallace was different. Blaming himself for being so blind in the final sentence is the coup de grace. I hope that Morrie Schwarzenegger returns from his long hiatus and weighs in on Mitch's latest piece of work.
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I think Mitch Albom's days as a sports journalist with fresh ideas expired when we were in middle school. Bonus points, though, for invoking Morrie's name, as the Onion has recently reposted this great headline from 2004.
My guess is Mitch has already written at least one "a hero ain't nothing but a sandwich" column in response to other players leaving Detroit for mo' money, but none immediately come to mind.
Fair enough, MDS. I think part of the reason Mitch hasn't left Detroit is because it gives him the opportunity to talk down to his audience. One of his favorite pasttimes seems to be explaining to his readers how they do things out in NYC or LA, since he used to live in the big city or at least visited it once on a high school field trip.
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