Why I like The Sporting News

Today, 4/19/07, they have an article by Tom Gatto, and on the same page is the following:

• "About Gatto: Tom Gatto picked up the Sporting News as a kid (back when it was still running hockey box scores!), and he's been hooked ever since. The New Jersey native and lifelong Mets fan worked for a dozen years as a newspaper editor/writer before joining TSN in 2000 as a senior editor."

They give you a little background about the writer and his fan-ship. On April 17, 2007, an article by Chris Bahr gives this info:

• "About Bahr: Associate editor Chris Bahr has been with the Sporting News since 1996 and has been writing for SportingNews.com since the launch of the website in 1997. He penned the daily, interactive Sports Bahr column until 2003 and now writes regularly about baseball and football for the Fantasy Source in addition to his MLB blogs on SportingNews.com."

His fandom isn't mentioned in the bio, but toward the end of his 4/17 article Mr. Bahr says,

• "And before you accuse me of wearing pinstripe-colored glasses, remember that this forecast is coming from a die-hard Red Sox fan." (Chris had made a somewhat optimistic prediction about 1 player who happened to be on the Yankees and was anticipating he'd be attacked for having a pro-Yankee bias).

I'm not involved in predictions but others are. It doesn't seem to have hurt writers/reporters who've simply given a few facts about their life experience.

• Many baseball reporters/writers and pundits say they're not a fan of any 1 team and have taken steps to keep their own backgrounds and team fan-ship unknown to the rank and file fan. I don't conclude that a reporter will always put his guys in a favorable light. But with today's instant communications, there can be hundreds of story lines put forth over the career of a player, and not too much checking on each one before it gains wide acceptance. It's just nice The Sporting News venue has some bios and fan backgrounds there along with the opinions.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon