I usually wouldn't waste more than a nanosecond even thinking about Gregg Doyel. I quit reading him years ago because he seems to think the sports journalism world is a professional wrestling outfit. You see, he's playing the "bad guy" (heel, as they call it in the wrestling biz). His gimmick (the part he plays) is of that guy that simply writes things to piss people off. The more negative comments and e-mails he receives, the better -- then he gets to run his hate mail column! (I have no idea if he still does this because I quit reading him -- but he used to print hateful emails he received and he'd google the people's names and expose their professions. Something like, "you're a banker in a hicktown, what do you know?" It was an exercise that reeked of small man's syndrome.)
Anyway, the reason I'm here now is that I made a mistake last night. I saw the obviously-baiting headline, "Fix the World Series? Why Bother with America's Afterthought?" and clicked on it. I screamed about as loud as I do when I hear "Saved by Zero." Then I noticed it was a Doyel article. I can't bear the thought that I gave a page hit to this dude.
In this entry, he basically just undresses the entire sport of baseball. Hey, I get the point by now. Baseball's not America's favorite sport anymore. I thought we all understood that like seven years ago. Or 17. This is just another example of Doyel's penchant for sensationalizing any situation in a desperate attempt to feel relevant. This is not an original or off-the-wall thought, but Doyel needs us to hate him. Being hated is still being on the radar. Sticking with my wrestling metaphor from earlier, getting cheered or booed is good. Not getting a reaction is bad. If you get no reaction, you are unimportant, and he needs to feel important.
The apex of this farcical piece of "journalism" is where Doyel pokes at the best baseball writer in the world.
No less an authority than Peter Gammons, the Hall of Fame baseball writer, has forwarded the idea that the World Series be played at a neutral site, presumably at a warm-weather location in California or, unless he was kidding, Mexico. Sorry, Peter. I can never tell when you're kidding. My solution is to giggle every time you open your mouth.Again, you don't have to like baseball ... but if you write about it, you should know something about it. Doyel knocking Peter Gammons is like David Eckstein talking trash about Albert Pujols' hitting skills. And, to be sure, Eckstein is a much stronger, tougher, and cooler baseball player than Doyel is a writer. That's saying something.
You know who Doyel reminds me of? One of those 23-year-old kids who thinks they are an expert in their newfound career. This isn't painting everyone with the same brush, so please don't misconstrue ... but have you ever seen a kid who recently graduated college and then got a solid job in the business world? At first, they know they don't know anything, but then after about a year or two in the field, they become the foremost authority. The person with 25 years experience isn't smart and too old to this person. And this person is Gregg Doyel. He's the kid who just learned how to write, albeit poorly, and now thinks he's smarter than the best writer in the world.
I'm not angry, nor should you be. Don't pepper him with hate e-mails, because that gives him more material to slap together a lazy "column." That's what he wants, because he's an unprofessional and sub-par journalist. You just have to remind yourself that he's a clown. You know what you do when you see a clown. You laugh. Not because they are funny ... no, it's because they are sad. It's sad to crave attention this badly. It's sad to desperately want your inbox flooded with hate so you can feel important. It's sad to be so insecure about your writing skills that you need to take on a gimmick and play the bad guy.
It's just sad, and I can't help but laugh.
