Whew! This new Online Magazine is hard work! Back when SBG was just a blog, posting was easy. Any old tripe would do. Now that we've upgraded to SBG, The Online Magazine (SBG, TOM), the work is tremendous. Writing articles, submitting them to an exacting editor, rewrites, deadlines, pressure... it's all so much work! But, our commitment to you is this. We here at SBG, TOM are dedicated to bringing you the best online magazine coverage of the Twins in the world! We hope you appreciate the fine attention to detail and the massive focus on all things important. And remember, subscriptions are free!

In our last online poll, we asked you, the SBG reader, to give us input on what you think of the Twins' broadcasting crew. Thanks for the response! Here are the poll numbers:

Back in 1991, the Twins broadcast team was Ted Robinson and Jim Kaat. Wow, what a team that was. Robinson called a great game, and did a great job interacting with Mr. Kaat. And Jim didn't need much help -- he's a premium baseball announcer, now working for the Yankees. Friends, Ted and Jim were a formidable broadcasting team, one worthy of a World Championship baseball team.

The current team of Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven are more suited to the team the Twins have now. Bremer's got a very good presence at the mike. He knows timing, he does a very good job of moving the game along. He's personable, fluid, and really seems quite likeable. Blyleven has good knowledge, he can clearly articulate his points, and has a very nice sense of humor. But, there's something missing in my opinion.

We wish that Bremer and Blyleven would be a little more objective. Or the course of the last several years, there's been a lot to be excited about as Twins fans. They've had four consecutive winning seasons and are working on a fifth -- unprecedented in franchise history. They've won three straight divisional titles -- also unprecedented -- and have a chance for a fourth straight playoff appearance. Even still, there are some things about this team that should be criticized. Don't believe it? Check out what the bloggers -- and those of us here at SBG, TOM -- are saying. And yet, Dick & Bert never seem to be able to say (at least in our opinion) a discouraging word.

As some have pointed out, they are playing to their audience, most of whom are either casual fans that the team needs to attract or fans who just don't want to hear anything negative about the team. Believe it when we say that there are a lot of people who don't like to engage in debate about the relative merits of players and managers if that debate turns negative even in the slightest. In that sense, Dick and Bert are probably doing what they should -- call a decent game, stay positive and sell the team. We don't care for it, but they are a whole lot better than the windbags calling the White Sox games on WGN.

The discussion here brings us to comment on an article over at the Twins Territory site. A while back, the Twins Geek had some things to say about the coverage of the Twins at the Star Tribune. He was generally complimentary of the writers at the Star Tribune, but he said some things that have stuck in our collective craws for a while. Again, the point of the Geek's article was to compliment the Strib, but he prefaced his compliments with this statement.

People ask me how Twins Geek started, and I have to admit, it was mostly driven out of disdain for local baseball coverage in late 2001 and early 2002. Since then, the Twins have become a bigger story, Jim Souhan has moved from baseball coverage to columnist, and the Twins beat coverage has received welcome reinforcements from some new voices, like Joe Christensen and occasionally Michael Rand.

Also, to be honest, I think the free internet coverage has caused a number of them to step up their game. There isn't a lot to incentive for any kind of journalist to take risks or make an extra effort. The union protects a wage level that they can't get anywhere else, and taking any kind of risk can only put that in danger. And it's not like the corporation is going to reward quality work - they want the content and to not be sued. And not in that order.

So these writers are left with what internal drive they bring to their job, in the same way that the quality of our teachers are driven by their internal drive. That internal drive is caused by all kinds of things, but one of them is pride. You can't convince me that when they read Bat Girl or Aaron Gleeman or Brad Zellar and know that these writers are cranking out great stuff for free - stuff that they aren't sure they can write themselves anymore - that it doesn't push them a little bit.

We here at SBG, TOM read this with just a little bit of disbelief. The first paragraph is all right. Back in the beginning of the Twins Geek, the coverage was not all that great. The team was struggling and it had been struggling for a long time. Interest was at an all-time low. Attendance was deplorable. The team sucked. Team coverage in the paper wasn't that great, likely because no one really cared (except for the die hards like, for example, SBG and TG).

When we first started reading the Twins Geek, we were amazed at his page. It was fresh, it was different, it was, well, great. We were reading the Geek when he had 50 readers or a 100 readers, or whatever. His page was new. Now, there are about 25 Twins pages (and an Online Magazine), and some of them are extremely good. We admit that we prefer some of the new pages to the Geek, even as we say very strongly that we love his page and recognize that he was the pioneer.

That second paragraph, though. Hoo boy. Geek implies that these guys are fat and lazy and have reached the end of the road. It is only the union that is keeping them from a substantial loss in salary. Come on, Geek. You know better than that. For example, Dan Barreiro, a long time columnist at the Strib (and a columnist back when the Geek started his page) left the Strib for his own radio show. It's fairly well known that Mr. Barreiro is making as much at the radio station now as he did when he was writing his column and doing radio. So, Mr. Barreiro is an exception to this statement. Further, we submit that the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market is a springboard for bigger things. Thus, there is plenty of incentive for writers to perform well -- the promise of a bigger market and better paydays are out there. Don't believe us? Jim Caple of ESPN.COM once covered the Twins for the Pioneer Press. Scott Miller, who we soundly criticized earlier this week, too, was a beat writer here in the Twin Cities (at the PP). There's three examples of writers in this town, at both papers, who got jobs that paid as well or better than what they had. The young guys writing in this town have exactly the same incentive, if they choose to follow it.

Perhaps the Geek was referring to Reusse and Sid. Well, for one, Sid is independently wealthy and he's also 100 years old. So, maybe the criticism is levelled at Reusse. Okay, we believe that Reusse is not the sportswriter that he once was. We also submit that he's not reading Bat-Girl and Aaron Gleeman. As for taking chances, well, what does that mean? Writing things that the editors don't like? I think we know that Dan Barreiro clashed with the powers that be there. We also think that a guy like Jim Souhan is getting his sea legs as a columnist over there. It takes a while. We know how that is.

Further, very few, if any, of the blogs that are written about the Twins are publishable in the paper. Yes, the Geek himself had an online column at the Strib. That's a long way from making it into print. Why do we say that very few are publishable? For the same reasons that we believe that ultimately Dick and Bert probably have the right tone -- the paper has to give the people what they want. We doubt, as much as we absolutely love Aaron Gleeman, that his Twins writing would fly in the paper. Aaron's writing is full of numbers, is pretty critical of the team at times, and focuses on certain topics over and over. We love it. We are in the minority of the general public. (We also think that Aaron could tailor his writing to fit the confines of a daily newspaper, if he were given that opportunity.)

It is certainly possible that Aaron's insightful, personal, and at times, downright funny writing does influence writers a little. Likewise, when Jim Souhan described Dodger Stadium as "sundappled," one could not help but think it was a nod to frightwig. And when Patrick Reusse called himself a "stick and ball guy" we knew he was talking about us. (Wait a second... we lifted that name from his column. Never mind.) But, there's a big difference between getting ideas from other writers and wondering if they can match the writing of amateurs. The only professional writer that we know of among the Twins Bloggers is Bat-Girl. Her style of writing, while fun and all just isn't a good model for game recaps in the newspaper. (SBG, brace yourself for the onslaught of negative letters to the editor.) Oh, and Zellar is a professional, too. His stuff is funny and irreverent. Great stuff for a magazine. We'd love to have the seats in the press box, too. [Update: Thanks, Aaron, for the link. We are apparently missing some professional writers. Aaron, of course, is a journalism student at the University of Minnesota and a paid writer for Rotoworld, among others. The guys at MPR are professionals, too. SBG is definitely an amateur. Our apologies to anyone who we've not identified as professionals. It does say "that we -- we being SBG, who has decided to write in the first personal plural for the time being -- know of."]

Further, we are pretty sure that the management of the paper, from the editor-in-chief down to the sports editor have a lot of say as to what is put in the paper. We also doubt that the Strib "only cares about content" in the sense of quantity of content and worries more about "getting sued" than quality writing. If the paper prints the truth, that is an absolute defense against any suit for defamation. No lawyer in his right mind is going to bring a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper for printing the truth. We are not First Amendment experts, but that sounds like a frivilous lawsuit, and the lawyers would be subject to sanctions for filing it. (Yes, readers, there are already measures in place to deal with frivilous lawsuits, despite what you may have been lead to believe.)

Further, it's quite unlikely that the Twins will ever sue the paper for defamation. Fact is, the Twins need the Strib. Their coverage provides free advertisement for the team, even if it is negative. And if the New York teams haven't sued the local tabloids for their sometimes incendiary coverage of the local teams, it's hard to fathom that the Twins would ever in a million years drag the Strib into court for defamation.

Finally, the newspaper cares about the quality of its content. We can't possibly believe that it doesn't. The newspaper business has been squeezed like it has never been before. Subscriptions are down. The paper needs a strong sports page, one that appeals to as large a population as possible, to maintain readership. The paper wants writers to write that which the public will accept. Ultimately, we believe that it is the public that determines the kind of quality that is in the sports page.

Having said all this, there's no question that the free Internet coverage of the Twins has turned some heads in the mainstream media. Bloggers and online magazines can take some chances. They can do the unconventional. If we at SBG, TOM try something that flops, who really cares. In the grand scheme of things, nobody's reading (except for the billions of people who stop in here). If we try something that's wildly successful, you can be sure the paper will pick it up (if its content is not offensive), just not for the reasons stated by the Geek. Rather, they will do it because they do want content that the public will pay for, even if they aren't sure what that is. If the bloggers show the way, we think the papers will follow and co-opt. Furthermore, the mainstream sportswriters in this market (for the most part) have a tremendous incentive to do well so that they can cash in later.

We have been critical of Mr. Souhan at this page and we will continue to do so as is warranted. But, we don't believe that he or most of his colleagues are without incentive for the reasons discussed above. Further, our criticisms have been about his perspective, not his effort or depth of writing. We don't believe that the paper doesn't care about quality content. It might be misguided as to what constitutes quality and valuable content, or slow to adapt to changing public tastes, but we don't believe it doesn't care. Furthermore, we don't pretend to be better writers than the guys at the paper. Really, look at these articles. The need for a good editor is obvious.

As Aaron said, we think the Strib's coverage is pretty good, in fact, better than average. We don't think that the Strib should engage in flamethrowing. Rather, it should be measured (think New York Times as opposed to the New York Post). Perhaps, it should do a little more, especially at its website, with respect to the types of things the Geek has done. We'd like to see a salary chart at their site -- kind of like what the Geek has. But, we understand why that isn't in the newspaper. Most people just don't care. We, the Geeks who read these blogs are the ones who care. And the bloggers have done a great job of informing the Twins Geekdom about these issues. The blogs are a fine supplement to what we think is good newspaper coverage of the Twins.

Finally, let me reiterate that we love the Geek. We love his writing. We loved his column at the Strib. We love his page, his willingness to provide a forum for open debate and discussion. We also love that he is unafraid to take chances and write things that are controversial. It is because of his willingness to take positions that the debate has been moved forward. We applaud you, Geek. It's just that this time, we don't completely agree.

And now for your Holiday poll

Have a safe and sane Holiday Weekend, everyone.

Update: Okay, let me clarify again.

I think it's important to understand my purpose here. I don't mean to be incindiary, especially towards my fellow bloggers. I am not saying that bloggers aren't good enough to write in the paper. That's not my point. What I am saying is that the nature of the medium allows people like me to write things that just wouldn't fly past the editors. In other words, I can take chances and do really stupid things. I have nothing at stake.

The Geek's page has been absolutely incredible. I love the damn thing and have since the very first time I read it. He's accessible, he's smart, he's funny. And, he does take chances by saying things that just really can't be said in the newspaper.

The purpose of my "Online Magazine" (and there's an inside joke there, friends that is unrelated to any other Twins blogger) is to do what TG has done much more successfully than I. And that is to generate discussion. He's taken a position, I've taken an opposite position or a somewhat opposite position.

What I should have said last week, and what I say this week is I have a lot of respect for both B-G and T-G. And Aaron, Seth, fw, Shane, COD, and pretty much everyone else who devotes a lot of time for free to write their pages and share a little bit of their lives and thoughts with the rest of us.

Hopefully, my article today will get people to think about what the impact of bloggers are on the mainstream media coverage of the Twins... including the Strib and the television coverage. Am I right to say that most people don't really want the kind of stuff that we provide? Or am I wrong? Do you think that the paper doesn't really care about its content, or do you believe that it may not be able to react to changing tastes like a blogger can? Again, I do not want this article to be characterized as a put down of TG. It is intended to encourage discussion. Peace.

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