Colorado Avalanche Media Coverage Part IV

[madman]

Guys, stop bickering, and it's really nothing to worry about. Chambers is going to be phenomenal at The Athletic.

 

[henchman21]

Guys, stop bickering, and it's really nothing to worry about. Chambers is going to be phenomenal at The Athletic.

 

[Foppa2118]

Guys, stop bickering, and it's really nothing to worry about. Chambers is going to be phenomenal at The Athletic.

Presumably they want someone who does more than the absolute bare minimum to keep their job.

 

[MarkT]

I still don't think that you can objectively assess his passion for the game of hockey based on his writing. You can assess the quality of his work and if you really feel like it, speculate as to his expertise in hockey, but you still can't say that he just doesn't care that much about hockey and present it as fact. The Athletic went outside the hockey world to hire someone for their Avs beat. If you're taking exception to his supposed lack of knowledge when it comes to hockey, then you should probably aim your criticism at his employers, not him. Again, he put the work in, and it's not just me who says that. I don't see how that belies a lack of passion about hockey, and really at this point, I don't care that much.

You seem to be taking this really personally, like you're offended that I said negative things about Clark. For what it's worth, I think he's a great human being from what I've seen and I have no issue with him on a personal level. And yeah, I could be wrong about his knowledge and passion for hockey, but having read nearly every article he's written for The Athletic, I feel pretty confident in my assertions. And the idea of aiming my criticism at his employers is frankly silly. It's possible to be critical of both. Maybe Clark was the best candidate they could find at the time. That doesn't mean we aren't allowed to criticize him.

Yes, I know he isn't on the level of Russo or Portzline, but that's the very highest standard we're talking about here. Besides, The Athletic wanted him to do more long-form features rather than straight-up coverage, and that's what he delivered. Do I hope the next guy can offer more analysis? Yeah, sure I do. A great example of a young beat writer who offers insight and analysis as well as news and information is Murat Ates, who covers the Winnipeg Jets for The Athletic. If they can somehow find someone like THAT, I'll be thrilled. But I'm fine with Clark's work. It's certainly okay if you're not but I'm not buying into your "analysis" of how much he cares about hockey.

Great, so it sounds like we basically agree.

 

[Pokecheque]

The guy does not have hockey knowledge.

Now you’re just being hyperbolic.

 

[Pokecheque]

You seem to be taking this really personally, like you're offended that I said negative things about Clark. For what it's worth, I think he's a great human being from what I've seen and I have no issue with him on a personal level. And yeah, I could be wrong about his knowledge and passion for hockey, but having read nearly every article he's written for The Athletic, I feel pretty confident in my assertions. And the idea of aiming my criticism at his employers is frankly silly. It's possible to be critical of both. Maybe Clark was the best candidate they could find at the time. That doesn't mean we aren't allowed to criticize him.



Great, so it sounds like we basically agree.

We don’t but I’m not here defending Ryan Clark or anything. I just think it’s about three bridges too far to try and extrapolate something about the man’s character based on his writing. You don’t know him and neither do I. Judge his work, leave the personal stuff out of it. Another poster is far more guilty of this than you but it’s ridiculous to try and craft a false narrative about the guy.

 

[MarkT]

We don’t but I’m not here defending Ryan Clark or anything. I just think it’s about three bridges too far to try and extrapolate something about the man’s character based on his writing. You don’t know him and neither do I. Judge his work, leave the personal stuff out of it. Another poster is far more guilty of this than you but it’s ridiculous to try and craft a false narrative about the guy.

I think you're right in some cases, but in this case, I think if you pay attention you can tell a lot of Clark's character based on a combination of his writing, how he responds to comments and how he acts on Twitter. He seems like a nice, hardworking guy who genuinely cares about doing a good job and absolutely tries his best. What you can also tell is he's not someone like most of us here who spend a lot of time paying attention to the NHL and have been doing so for many years. He probably also doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about roster movement, player evaluation, play styles, on-ice strategy, coaching methods, etc.. Maybe that's due to a lack of interest, maybe it's due to a lack of knowledge, maybe he's been told not to focus on those things. It's hard to say, so I'll agree we don't know for sure if it's a lack of passion for hockey, a lack of knowledge, some combination, or something else. But the results are the same, and it is not about his personal character - it's about what ends up being written in his articles.

 

[Metallo]

Now you’re just being hyperbolic.

His knowledge is below the average of posters here so that is nothing impressive. We have been so poorly served for so many years than we got satisfied with any improvement.

 

[5280]

It is seriously funny that numerous posters around here could do a better job as a beat guy than anyone we have or have had. I have a twitter account for hockey but I really don’t go anywhere else for my opinions or information.

 

[dahrougem2]

Why have I never heard of this Aarif Deen fellow?

 

[Balthazar]

Why have I never heard of this Aarif Deen fellow?

Had to google him. Did he get the job?

 

[klozge]

It is seriously funny that numerous posters around here could do a better job as a beat guy than anyone we have or have had. I have a twitter account for hockey but I really don’t go anywhere else for my opinions or information.

I highly doubt that.

 

[McMetal]

Why have I never heard of this Aarif Deen fellow?

He's been covering the Avs for a bit, he gets called on in pressers often, but I don't remember what outlet he's with.

 

[tigervixxxen]

He's been covering the Avs for a bit, he gets called on in pressers often, but I don't remember what outlet he's with.

Mile High Sports.

What makes a reporter is connections to get info outside of what the org gives. So it really is a job for someone to build into but the reporting is so poor into this market that I find just as much info on google or twitter myself as what gets “reported”.

 

[5280]

I highly doubt that.

I dunno, can’t be worse than some people like Dater or Chambers. The problem is who would want to do it?

 

[Chileiceman]

The problem with Clark was that it seemed like every article he would write would not be aimed at Avs fans, but for people who don't follow the team. How many times do you need to recite all of Sakic's off-season acquisitions for the past 2 years? We all know this, stop wasting the reader's time with along ass article that could have been written with a quarter of the words.

His human interest stories were good, but it would be nice to have a person with more in-depth knowledge (or interest) of hockey covering this team. Crazily, the person who most fits that bill that has covered the Avs is AJ Haefele, which isn't saying much.

 

[The Merchant]

 

[The Abusement Park]

Well. He’s right

 

[Qurpiz]

Liked Clark. Bummed he's going out. Worried about the next guy. Scared it's Chambers.

 

[Hasbro]

The problem with Clark was that it seemed like every article he would write would not be aimed at Avs fans, but for people who don't follow the team. How many times do you need to recite all of Sakic's off-season acquisitions for the past 2 years?

You don't need to, but it sure is fun!

 

[McMetal]

Adrian Dater is having a meltdown on Reddit tonight. I gotta say, I've made jokes at his expense before, but I feel bad for the guy. He clearly has some mental issues, I hope he gets help.

 

[Balthazar]

Adrian Dater is having a meltdown on Reddit tonight. I gotta say, I've made jokes at his expense before, but I feel bad for the guy. He clearly has some mental issues, I hope he gets help.

He's on Reddit? Where?

edit: found him

 

[LostInMosEisley]

Liked Clark. Bummed he's going out. Worried about the next guy. Scared it's Chambers.

When The Athletic first started covering Denver sports they notably plucked former Denver Post employees to cover the Broncos, Nuggets and Rockies. Got to imagine they had a reason for not doing the same for the Avs, and I don't think anything has changed. They might hire someone from outside the Avs sphere, I'm gonna guess if they hire someone already covering the Avs it would be Aarif Deen.

 

[Balthazar]

Some assholes on reddit are downvoting all his posts. I don't think he should go there.


I respected everyone at BSN, and I know that they know I worked very hard for them, much of the time for little or no money. I ended up leaving, and yeah there were some hard feelings against Spano for a day or two, but it wasn’t long before we essentially shook hands and wished each other well. And I do wish DNVR well.


Jesus...

Here's the whole wall of text (worth reading IMO):

 

[Ncit3]

Man, I can't do it. It is ramble-y and not formatted at all. I got a headache about halfway through.