Even before Sunday night’s game between the Cubs and Cardinals was postponed due to the death of Cardinals’ pitcher Josh Hancock, the series had gotten off to a rocky start as early as Friday morning. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch article poked fun at the Cubs’ history of futility and declared that they had “no chance” of ever winning the World Series. Cardinals’ manager Tony LaRussa took exception to the article and refused to answer any questions from the Post-Dispatch reporters during a press briefing later that afternoon. During the war of words that followed, the P-D writer denied any wrongdoing, and instead, put all the blame on his editor. “I don’t assign the stories,” he said. “I’m only doing my job.”
First of all, slamming any team, even if it is meant to be light-hearted fun, is poor judgment. Both the writer and his editor should take responsibility for that. But what bothered me more was the reporter’s snotty and arrogant attitude during the press briefing. I have some words of advice for this guy: As long as your byline appears in the column, you are responsible for everything you write. Wiping your hands clean and putting all the blame on your boss or editor is irresponsible.
Sports reporting is a tough job. So just do what your mom told you to: play nice.
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