Thursday, April 21, 2005

In Case of Emergency Break out Alexander Story

This morning, I wake up, (after having spent too much time on the computer laughing at the new Cardinals uniforms and consequently getting too little sleep)and I opened my email hoping to find soemthing interesting in the world of Seattle Seahawks football. Instead what I find, is that apparently all the local beat writers are experiencing writers block or there is an utter absence of real news on which to report. In my minds eye, I can just picture, behind the desks of every local newspaper writers desk, a glass case with a hammer, and writing on the case which says "In case of emergency, break out Alexander story. Perhaps, that is what I too am doing right now. In the calm before the storm of draft day, there certainly seems to be little to report on today, but is that really an excuse for writing silly speculative news articles, which when read side by side contradict one another completely? I mean honesty, If I believe what I read today, I would have to believe that not only is Shaun Alexander trade bait on draft day, and therefore likely to be traded; but he is also most certainly going to remain a Seahawk. Perhaps it's my unusually strange sense of humor that finds this amusing, or perhaps it's the fact that over the last couple of days, several of us here at 12 Seahawks Street have made rather desparaging comments regarding the media and I am simply caught up in that; but I think that it is the fact that I have spent so many hours lately, diggin up any possible shred of news worthy items on my beloved Seahawks which makes me chuckle at the obvious laziness of our local beat writers. Perhaps they got weary of digging for actual news and felt they needed a break, or perhaps they were rushed to meet a deadline, but I still can't help chuckling at that picture in my minds eye of these media guys breaking the glass behind their desks.

In the Seattle Times article written today, I am told a whole bunch of information which I and presumably every other Seahawk fan have known for months, that Shaun Alexander is on the trading block, that there are three top of the line running backs available in the draft and that we have ten picks this year and are open to trades. DUH! Real breaking news there! But the real attention grabber in this article is a blurb next to a picture of Shaun Alexander which states that Shaun Alexander is most likely going to remain a Seahawk.

In the News Tribune however, I am given a rehash of yesterdays, (boring and utterly uninformative) .com interview with Tim Ruskell, in which he spends twenty plus minutes eloquently saying nothing and giving a tutorial in coach speak. I am also informed by the attention grabbing head line, that Shaun Alexander just might become trade bait in this years draft.
I know that the phenomenon of having nothing new or interesting to say, and consequently breaking out yet another Shaun Alexander thread has been going on in the blogger world for quite some time now, but I would expect more from our local beat writers. Apparently asking for the local papers to deliver actual news is asking a bit too much.

Here are links to the stories . If you have absolutely nothing better to do with your time and wish to read things which you already know and have known for months, or you would like to read yet another silly speculative article on whether or not Shaun Alexander will be traded, and which offers no real insight whatsoever; they are a great read. Personally I wish I hadn't wasted my time, but you are free to if you like.


Times Story

Tribune Story

BTW, I feel it necessary to explain why I keep reusing this picture of Shaun Alexander in my posts. Soemthing about the light at the end of his finger just makes me chuckle. I just seems so tongue-in-cheek that I just can't quite get enough of it.

3 comments:

  1. Good post Monkey. I love the imagery of the glass case and small hammer next to their desks.

    Ummm, let's see...you're a professional journalist working for the Seattle Sports Media, and you want to write about Shaun Alexander...ummm...I don't know...you think maybe you should pick up the phone and try to talk to him???

    It's one thing for those of us on chat boards and blog sites to prattle on about what we think might happen, but we don't have the access or ability to try to talk to the player or his agent for new input.

    I don't have to take a poll to know we all would if we could!

    But these lazy ass donut eating pessimistic hacks just sit back and bang out their 200 words on Alenxander without even ATTEMPTING to update the information, and they still get free admission to games, access to the locker rooms, and probably a ton of other perks for doing "this work".

    Geez Louise is right!

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  2. Do you think Shaun is talking though? I get the feeling his agent is telling him to keep pretty quiet except for his website. And I get the feeling that even those comments are carefully screened.

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  3. Probably not Paulie P, althoug he has apparently been talking at his foundations web site (if you believe that's really Alexander) and he has been saying that he doesn't want to be traded etc...
    Who knows, I just hate media laziness. Here at 12SS we have come up with far more interesting stuff and more interesting twists on actual news. We're just a bunch of amatuers (to quote alba) and yet we aren't having to rehash old info and make up silly speculative stories on Alexander to bring in readers.

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