"McCutchen Eager to Build on Last Season"
"Hurdle Seeks More K's on Mound, Fewer at Bat"
"McGehee Looking to Start Over After Nightmare Season"
"McKenry Focused on Getting Better Today"
"Lefty Prospect Locke Looking to Impress"
I'd sure hope our best player wants to get better this season. I'd sure hope our manager wants us to strike out less at the plate and record more strikeouts on the mound, I'd sure hope that Casey McGehee doesn't want to suck again this year, I'd sure hope that Michael McKenry wants to get improve, I'd sure hope that Jeff Locke wants to impress someone.
Come on now.
I understand the beat writers have a tough job. When you interview a a profession athlete, you aren't going to get much. You can basically predict everything an athlete will say these days, just because everyone hears everything they say and they don't want to get in trouble. All you're going to hear is "yeah I'm working hard to get better" or something of that sort. I don't blame the writers, there is nothing they can do. But can't we be a little more creative with our articles?
Maybe some people like hearing about how the players are ready to work really hard and improve and help the team win, but that just doesn't do it for me. After you go through a season or two, it seems like you've heard every player/manager/coach line in the book. It's like all these guys have phrase pools to pull from, and there's only like 15 phrases to choose from. It's disgusting and makes interviews much less interesting.
Is it ruining the game? No. Will it change? No. Am I being oversensitive about this? Probably. In today's world of instant updates and widespread communication, players and managers can't get away with anything, so you can't blame them for being careful with the media.
I'm just waiting for that beat writer who comes in and offers us something different. He or she can give us the typical player interviews, but I just want to see some variation sometimes. I do think the writers are going to be better this year than in the past. So far I'm impressed with Bill Brink and Michael Sanserino of the Post-Gazzette, however you have to pay to read their stuff. Rob Biertempfel's stuff is free, but leaves a lot to be desired (and he's not nice to us poor college bloggers). I do really enjoy Dejan Kovacevic, I think he's the cream of the crop right now. However, we're still missing something.
Things are changing rapidly in today's media, and hopefully they'll start changing for the better soon. And hey, if everything goes as planned, I'll be that beat writer changing some things. If you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself, right?
Here's hoping that the Pirates players work really hard and try to win this year, and thanks to the media for letting us know that's what they're trying to do.