Most Annoying Columnists

Though, I used to love him on SLAM;
Scoop. Jackson. Writes. The. Most. Annoying. Columns. Ever.
*insert 2pac reference here*
He. doesn't. even. make. sense. most. of. the. time.
*insert reference that everyone is always against black people here*

I also hate that Gene dude on ESPN.

I swear to god, we need more 20 to 30 year old's writing about basketball instead of the 40-55 year olds with distorted and hypocritical perspectives we often have to read nowadays.

 

John Hollinger. All he does is hate on the Nets.

 

i should be a sports writer

"The long lost position of Center, is shaq really the last one left?"


my first article lol

 

Sam Smith and his ridiculous trade ideas.

 

Hollinger's actually a pretty good columnist if you read more than the first couple paragraphs of his article.

There's several here in Toronto that I despise, but on a national/mainstream level, I agree about Scoop. You get the feeling that he's trying to be the Bill Simmons of "urban" America, but he fails miserably.

 

You can't compare Scoop to Bill. Scoop doesn't even make any sense. You really need to check this site out:

http://scoopwatch.blogspot.com/

It's pretty funny actually; I just saw the link to this today; the dude has a lot of time though.

 

No comparison. I'm just saying, that's what he's trying to be. I even remember him referencing Simmons and his appeal to "white people" in an article once. That site is great, though.

 

Simmons is almost as annoying as Scoop. He's a frustrated actor.

 

<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Simmons is almost as annoying as Scoop. He's a frustrated actor.</div>

I disagree. Simmons is kinda falling off nowadays because everyone's used to his references/article formats, etc, but he's always a great read. Scoop on the other hand, was powerful at SLAM, but his work is **** at ESPN.

 

At SLAM, his poor writing just fit in among even crappier writing and the emphasis on "keeping it street." Nowadays, his boldness just comes off as paranoia and, on a major site like ESPN.com, his lack of insight and poor writing are exposed.

Bill Simmons at least knows his limitations. He doesn't try to "overwrite" (not sure if that's a word) and isn't foolish enough to take his opinion too seriously. Instead, he knows that his strengths and appeal lie in his willingness to get straight to the point and be humourous.

 

Stephen A Smith.

 

96% of sports columnists aren't worth the fecal matter that they produce.

So instead of a way-too-long list of the ones I hate, I'll list some of my favorites, too.

On the local level, I really, really like Tom Oates, who writes for the Wisconsin State Journal. I wish more people around the country would take a que from him and not be so damn biased one way or another on issues.

Nationally, I like Michael Smith, but that's probably because he's a big Favre guy and he's usually defending him on PTI. I also enjoy reading Peter King; he sways a bit sometimes, but overall, I think he's about as good as it's going to get for such a prominant journalist. To have success writing about sports on a scale that large, for the Washington Post or L.A Times or what have you, it's likely that everyone in those jobs has sold their soul over the years to prop up certain teams or schools or whatever.

Now, the **** list

1. Stephen A. Smith - I'd like to think that I woul maintain a professional veneer, but if I ever meet him face to face I might just have to bitch slap him. He's the most worthless piece of trash to ever be considered a journalist.
2. Woody Paige - I'm not even going to get into it. Watch him on ESPN sometime, and you'll know what I mean.
3. Gregg Doyell - Remember him? He used to be Sportsline's top NCAA hoops writer, until he got fired this year...wait, what? He got promoted to NFL writer?
4. Scoop Jackson - he wouldn't be so bad if he didn't sensationalize everything he wrote about or blow things so far out of proportion
5. Peter Vescey - like Shape said, I figured he'd be on a lot more lists. He's never personally offended me by hating on a team or something, but he's just a moron and his voice makes my skin crawl.

 

Charley Rosen!