News Article: New Sharks Beat Writer

[STL Shark]

No more Kurz?!?!?!

Click to read more...

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

No more Kurz?!?!?!

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

 

[LadyStanley]

As posted in NHL News thread and Sharks News thread, Kurz is going to NYC to cover Islanders. Goldman going full time to cover Devils.

Corey has been fan of Bay Area/Sharks for more than half a decade. He's in town soon to find place to live.

 

[LadyStanley]

Great endorsement

 

[STL Shark]

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

Pompous d-bag and consistent smartest man in the room type.

 

[Munnyro]

@MatthewBarnabysTears Kurz does good writing and is objective about the team...but a tad too pessimistic for a sports writer. When the fan base turned on him he got combative. I think if he had treated the fan base as a die hards instead of small market casuals he would have had better results.

 

[Red Light Lover]

As posted in NHL News thread and Sharks News thread, Kurz is going to NYC to cover Islanders. Goldman going full time to cover Devils.

Corey has been fan of Bay Area/Sharks for more than half a decade. He's in town soon to find place to live.

It's a Christmas miracle!

 

[one2gamble]

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

You will enjoy his writing as it pertains to person centric kinds of stories because he can paint a picture.

His actual hockey write ups from an assessment and strategic point of view are questionable and if you question them, he acts as though he is the best hockey mind ever to grace your organization.


tldr : he won't be missed

 

[NiWa]

There were kind of three Sharks writers.

• Sheng Peng (SJ HockeyNow) = Beloved and insightful.
  
• Curtis Pashelka (MercuryNews) = Respected.
• Kevin Kurz = Good writing, but terrible interacting with hardcore fans. If I was his employer I'd have forced him to take Community Management / Social Media training.

 

[NiWa]

Reading Corey Masiaks' introduction at the Athletic, what stands out as positive immediately:

• [...]I've been using advanced statistics to supplement how I tell stories for a long time[...]
• [...]a few more stories that lean on video clips and GIFs to help illustrate how someone or something is working - or isn't.[...]
• A lot of universally positive comments from Devils fans thanking him for the great coverage he provided over the years.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

There were kind of three Sharks writers.

• Sheng Peng (SJ HockeyNow) = Beloved and insightful.

......nah......

 

[Lebanezer]

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

He posts on the forum. You can learn a lot about him by just reading his interactions here.

 

[Church Hill]

Kurz has a well-earned reputation as a dbag. Won't be missed.

 

[SjMilhouse]

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

If you can take a joke and a little snark he's a great writer. People here got their undies in a bunch when he was snarky back to people constantly telling him he's shit at everything he does.

 

[WTFetus]

Unrealistic to have this all the time, but although he wasn't a beat-writer, what stood out for Brodie for example was that he grew up as a Sharks fan. Sure you need some impartiality as a writer, but felt like Kurz was never a fan and really just doing this because he had to. Definitely won't be missed.

 

[themelkman]

Kurz is a good writer, but hes not a good hockey writer.

 

[Lebanezer]

If you can take a joke and a little snark he's a great writer. People here got their undies in a bunch when he was snarky back to people constantly telling him he's shit at everything he does.

This is a total misrepresentation of his relationship with fans. Fans and writers disagree all the time. Kurz chose a profession and subsequent jobs that are often met with public criticism. He could’ve been professional and stayed above the noise but he went out of his way to mock fans who disagreed with him or who he disagreed with. Pretending he didn’t create his legacy here is disingenuous.

 

[OffSydes]

If you can take a joke and a little snark he's a great writer. People here got their undies in a bunch when he was snarky back to people constantly telling him he's shit at everything he does.

He created an account here to argue with people who called him out on things... he is a loser

 

[PacificOceanPotion]

Kurz, master at stating the obvious. Great at telling you things you already knew.

 

[The Nemesis]

You will enjoy his writing as it pertains to person centric kinds of stories because he can paint a picture.

His actual hockey write ups from an assessment and strategic point of view are questionable and if you question them, he acts as though he is the best hockey mind ever to grace your organization.


tldr : he won't be missed

Was going to post this.

He also is not a new stats/analytics person. He's the type that disputes contrary opinions or analyses to his that rely on non-traditional stats as evidence with a "yeah, sure. Watch the game, bud. It tells the real story, which is my story." kind of dismissive patronizing.

And he routinely would take passive aggressive shots over social media at "a segment of the fanbase" who disagreed with his takes even if it was totally unprompted and on a completely different issue.

I also agree with the statements that he needed some pr/social media training and that while the criticism of him was at times overly harsh, he should've handled it better than he did given that he had to know what he was getting into by taking a public-facing gig like being a beat reporter.


My tl;dr is that he's from Philly. And he is everything you expect of a guy from Philly.

 

[hohosaregood]

Visiting from Isles HF to ask what you all thought of Kurz.

We hate him lol. He writes good "human interest" stories and stuff like that but he's pretty useless for everything else like hockey analysis, scoops, beat reporting.

 

[sharski]

I'm in the minority in that I think you need both heels and faces in the media for the lulz

Kurz would regularly get nuclear heat

 

[OrrNumber4]

I'm in the minority in that I think you need both heels and faces in the media for the lulz

Kurz would regularly get nuclear heat

True enough. Plus, it seems to me that Kurz's irascibility was affected; it certainly gained him clicks and attention.

 

[Mafoofoo]

Smell ya later Kurz. Thank goodness. Condolences to any isles fans who disagree with his takes though (so basically most of the informed fanbase).

Unrealistic to have this all the time, but although he wasn't a beat-writer, what stood out for Brodie for example was that he grew up as a Sharks fan. Sure you need some impartiality as a writer, but felt like Kurz was never a fan and really just doing this because he had to. Definitely won't be missed.

Speaking of Brodie I really appreciated him more after seeing him also mentally die and physically age in disgust of the Sharks play like the rest of us.

 

[tealzamboni]

I'm in the minority in that I think you need both heels and faces in the media for the lulz

Kurz would regularly get nuclear heat

Heels can be fun too. Imagine if a heel posed as an Isles fan and asked about the heel. Quality entertainment. Kurz should find interesting opportunities in the new market.