Monday, May 19, 2008

Irresponsible Blogger Claims That Yost Will Be Fired Today

A blogger of all people is claiming that Ned Yost will be fired as Brewers' manager today.

If he's right, score one for inside dirt from anonymous tipsters. If he's wrong, cue the Bissinger/Wilbon/Chass/etc. chorus for their latest version of the Irresponsible Blogger Cantata. My view on this kind of stuff is that bloggers should feel free to break all the news they want, but they need to be held every bit as accountable as a paid reporter is when they screw up. So, good luck Badger Blogger!

For what it's worth, I'd probably can Yost too. This is a team that should be contending right now.

UPDATE: It's after 5PM and Yost appears to still have a job. This doesn't mean he won't be fired, but it implies that one fact in Badger Blogger's story -- i.e. that it will be done on the off-day -- is wrong. I mean, would they really let Ned check in to the hotel in Pittsburgh if he was really going to be axed today? Think of the minibar charges he'd run up!

5 comments:

Mac said...

When I wrote my wild-assed predictions post and had the Cards second (which makes me look like a genius right now) and the Brewers third, the Milwaukee fans jumped all over me... but they didn't have any problem with my pick of Yost as first manager fired. I could only wonder what they think are the reasons managers get fired.

dubbschism said...

Yost just doesn't have the right mentality right now to be manager. Doug Melvin is going to give him a break and try a "manager by committee" approach. Gabe Kapler gets first crack tomorrow night. This will continue until Yost feels he is ready to manage again.

Anonymous said...

I love blogs. I love that I can get good, insightful analysis from people who happen to get paid for something other than writing. So I'm glad blogs are out there and available.

But how do you keep a blogger accountable? The only way I know is to stop reading his/her blog. For a few that may be effective, if they get paid advertising money based on impressions. It seems like most aren't doing it for money, though. There seems to be little downside for the author of the blog: on the one hand, if he's right, he gets lots of publicity. If he's wrong, nothing happens, except maybe a couple of posts calling him a liar and a few lost readers.

Craig Calcaterra said...

Daniel -- I guess I'd say that if a blogger got famous for wiffing on breaking stories, they would soon become marginalized and ignored. Yes, he'd still be out there posting, but who would take him seriously? There are cranks running independed presses in every city and have been for centuries. Somehow we've managed to figure out what papers to pay attention to and what ones to ignore.

Blogs are almost given too much credibility. I think it's because (this amateurish site notwithstanding) it's easy to make it look professional, compared to the hacked up looking crank papers of yore. Ultimately, however, it's the product that will make a break a blog. Not financially, but in terms of whether or not it can be trusted with news and whether the opinions are worth a damn.

You think the New York Times sprang from the head of Zeus as The Paper of Record? Of course not. It was around for 30 years before anyone thought of it as anything more than a rag.

Anonymous said...

Think of the minibar charges he'd run up!

Management would just deduct it from his buyout. Drink up, Shriners!