Having Brad Sham Register & Post Made Me Nostalgic

[Hostile]

Good post Hos.

In the early 80's, Sherrod was trying to get out of his contract with The Dallas Times Herald, so he could take a position with the local leader in readership, The Dallas Morning News.

The Morning News launched a media campaign using TV spots, radio and print ads that consisted of two words:

Free Blackie!

I nearly popped an artery from first shock, then laughter, the first time I saw that on a billboard outside D/FW airport coming home from UT over spring break. I remember that like it was yesterday.

I never would have known this if you had not shared it. A buddy of yours, Gary Cartwright, had some great things to say about Blackie in an article I read one time contrasting him to today's media. I looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere. I wanted to use one of his quotes.

 

[Hostile]

"if I am asked" may have been alot to take in, if you think about it there is relevance in that comment beyond face value.

I think the message is clear as can be. Blackie could not simply hand him a recipe for how to be a good writer. He was inviting him to bring him his work and let him critique that, not throw out a blanket platitude that would magically transform Cowlishaw into the next Jim Murray. Cowlishaw did not ask, he sought a one time, magic answer. It's pretty much what is wrong with journalism today in a nutshell. I like Cowlishaw a lot, but if Blackie Sherrod had told me, "if I am asked," I would have seen that as an open invitation to sit at the master's feet.

 

[iceberg]

niec post hos.

Brad posting has just killed me today.

why? it's obvious many people miscontrued what he said and that's why he wanted to set the record straight. i don't think he came in here at you, he came in here to clarify his point because it wasn't clear.

like an adult professional will do and i admire him quite a bit for doing that for us.

you didn't do anything wrong but i can certainly understand the tense feeling around it.

 

[theogt]

niec post hos.

Brad posting has just killed me today.

Dude, don't let it bother you. You didn't do anything wrong. It was just a miscommunication.

 

[goliadmike]

I never would have known this if you had not shared it. A buddy of yours, Gary Cartwright, had some great things to say about Blackie in an article I read one time contrasting him to today's media. I looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere. I wanted to use one of his quotes.

Speaking of Cartwright, I think he had the greatest line ever:

“The Four Horsemen rode again Sunday in the Cotton Bowl. You remember their names: Death, Famine, Pestilence and Meredith.”

He wrote the day after Don Meredith threw an interception in the end zone when the Cowboys were on their opponents 1-yard line.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

Speaking of Cartwright, I think he had the greatest line ever:

“The Four Horsemen rode again Sunday in the Cotton Bowl. You remember their names: Death, Famine, Pestilence and Meredith.”

He wrote the day after Don Meredith threw an interception in the end zone when the Cowboys were on their opponents 1-yard line.

:laugh2:
I remember that. Classic, classic line!

 

[THUMPER]

i know all too well what you mean, hos. i so greatly miss those who reported the news, not try to stir it up. the JFE's and anyone making the story about them turn me off the local media so bad i don't even pay too much attention to it anymore.

luska - i LOVED reading his work back when we actually had newspapers.

where we diverge hos is i'll give full respect to people like this and of course brad sham for his coming in here to clear things up. but i can never respect the tabloid journalist who hides behind catch phrases and cliches, lobs in some insults any 4th grader would be proud of and call is journalism.

JFE comes to mind. i just won't read her crap cause it's "coach cupcake" and well, jones sucks.

it's like someone let a CBZ troll loose on the media.

i'm glad to see brad get some love in here for his work and hopefully others will realize that reporting and writing isn't only for the national enquierer crowd but there are many of us who just miss good news reporting.

Great post Iceberg!

I grew up in L.A. so I didn't get to read much from the local Dallas writers but we had more than our share of great ones in SoCal back in the day, Jim Murray comes to mind.

I miss the days when sports journalism was about covering the game itself not the tabloid journalism we see today where the mediots dig for every scrap of dirt and go out of their way to create controversy whenever possible. It also seems that BSPN leads the way in making the story about the mediot as often as they can.

I remember reading an article in 1973 about Johnny Unitas, who had been one of my childhood heroes, and was now with the Chargers. Unlike the crap that's spewed out today, the writer didn't treat Unitas with disdain even though his skills had obviously eroded from the heights they had been at when he was younger. He focused on how Unitas was a mentor to a young Dan Fouts and how much Fouts could learn from "The Master".

Today's mediots seem to look for every opportunity to find the chink in a person's armor, to destroy the aura of greatness, to pervert a previously untarnished image. No one needed to point out that Johnny wasn't the player he had been so the writer did his best to keep a positive spin on what was obviously a difficult situation for Unitas.

That's what I miss, the days when writes were on the player's side and not simply shills for the tabloid media machine that sucks the life out of everyone they can.

This is another thing I hate about today's mediots, this all-or-nothing pendulum swing from one extreme to the other and back again. Romo comes in for an immobile Bledsoe and he's a hero! He bobbles the snap on a FG try and he's a goat. The team struggles late in the season and he's a chump and the sooner the Cowboys can replace him the better. Oh wait, he's having a great season, he's a hero again!

I posted an excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt's "Man In The Arena" speech a few weeks ago. It speaks directly to today's mediots:

http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170910&highlight=arena

It is refreshing to see that there are still a few folks in the media like Brad Sham who actually care how they are perceived and have integrity in how they do their jobs.

 

[Hostile]

Just found these

Blackie Sherrod, on an auto wreck involving hard-living quarterback Bobby Layne: "After indulging is some heavy, late-night research with some scholarly friends, Bobby was driving back to his hotel, innocently enough, when he was side-swiped by several empty cars lurking at curbside."

"Bob Knight, the resident ogre at Indiana, was put on a short leash by the college president, who clearly would rather have been wading naked in the Amazon, trying to catch piranhas in a tablespoon(Sherrod 5/28/2000)."

 

[LeonDixson]

Just found these

Blackie Sherrod, on an auto wreck involving hard-living quarterback Bobby Layne: "After indulging is some heavy, late-night research with some scholarly friends, Bobby was driving back to his hotel, innocently enough, when he was side-swiped by several empty cars lurking at curbside."

"Bob Knight, the resident ogre at Indiana, was put on a short leash by the college president, who clearly would rather have been wading naked in the Amazon, trying to catch piranhas in a tablespoon(Sherrod 5/28/2000)."

 

[Austinrocks]

Don't forget Verne Ludquist!

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Brad Sham posted on here?

Sweet!!!

I bet tons of local members of the media read this message board.

 

[iceberg]

Brad Sham posted on here?

Sweet!!!

I bet tons of local members of the media read this message board.

good. then they just saw an example of what journalism SHOULD be.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

good. then they just saw an example of what journalism SHOULD be.

What did he say?

 

[iceberg]

What did he say?

just that he said it with class and responsibility.

that alone means it will fall wasted on 90% of his peers.

 

[percyhoward]

"...he was side-swiped by several empty cars lurking at curbside."

That's downright Vonnegutian.

 

[iceberg]

That's downright Vonnegutian.

but you see, that writing style is creative. it takes some thought and putting things together in an imaginative way to tell the same story.

what do we have today? nothing even close for the most part. it's more like we have bloggers on acid trippin out at our expense.

where have all the good writers gone?

 

[percyhoward]

If you're out there, this place suits you, Mr. Sham. A place for literate people who are able to engage in a minute's reflection, and who happen to love football and this team in particular.

 

[Hostile]

That's downright Vonnegutian.

:laugh2:

He had flair didn't he?

 

[Chocolate Lab]

but you see, that writing style is creative. it takes some thought and putting things together in an imaginative way to tell the same story.

what do we have today? nothing even close for the most part. it's more like we have bloggers on acid trippin out at our expense.

where have all the good writers gone?

Nobody cares about true writing anymore.

Those guys before admired great writing and actually worked at their craft. They probably spent much of their leisure time reading actual literature. Now we get JJT bragging about playing on his Playstation and JFE talking about how she loves to hang out on ********.

But I remember Blackie's scattershooting columns later in his life. The line about the parked cars sideswiping the drunk guy were every other line. He was that good.

 

[T-RO]

I was around for Staubach and the writers of his day. I was also around for the sport, movies and culture of that day.

Inevitably we will favor the athletes, writers and artists that we happened to grow up with. They were the peak and everything else pales in comparison from our inevitably parochial perspective.

Here in my opinion is how I compare the decades of my life...

1. The Godfather and a few other classics aside...movies are as good now as ever.
2. Football is as good now as it has ever been but I miss Howard Cosell and Dandy Don.
3. The Internet rocks. Cable is Cool. Computer Games are cool. BUT....
4. People are more isolated and lonely than ever before
5. Almost all products are in real dollars ridiculously cheap now, including gas
6. It's far harder to make a good living than anytime since the great depression
7. Radios play more crap music than ever, but the Indy artist scene is better than ever.
8. Romo is the Staubach of today, easily as talented if not more. Who knows how that will translate to titles? Keep in mind the game is faster, bigger and more sophisticated now.