Billfer of The Detroit Tigers Weblog was nice enough to send me a link to Chris McCosky’s latest this morning just in case I missed it. I was so busy I didn’t get a chance to look at it until I got back from The Pistons – Hawks opener.
“Bloggers and personal, non-journalistic Web sites are starting to tick me off. Look, I appreciate and respect that in America, everybody has an opinion, especially on sports. And I respect everybody’s right to share their thoughts with anybody who happens to own a computer via blogs.
With blogging and Web sites, it seems the hard work, standards, accountability, courage all of that is bypassed. Who needs to study this stuff, or attend games, or conduct interviews when you can just sit in your basement and clack out whatever comes through your head, right? If I rip somebody, or if I get something wrong, who cares? Nobody will see me.
A lot of times these bloggers use the work of legitimate reporters. They will lift facts and segments of stories and cut and paste them onto their blog. Rarely, if ever, though, do they bother to credit the source.
They will write something like, “I am hearing the Pistons are going to start Antonio McDyess this year.” Well, wonder where you “heard” that. It was reported in the darn newspaper. Yet, the same blogger will go out of their way to ridicule the source they stole from.” Via CHRIS MCCOSKY at THE DETROIT NEWS
Let me start by saying this…
I have never claimed to be a journalist. Unlike Mr. McCosky, I do what I do as a hobby and for the love of my team. I have never used any information from him or any other for of media, Detroit or otherwise without quoting the source and LINKING to it, unlike most major media.
Most of us who read McCosky have watched the same game that he’s reporting on. Just because we aren’t sitting on press row doesn’t mean we didn’t see the same thing that he did.
“With blogging and Web sites, it seems the hard work, standards, accountability, courage all of that is bypassed. Who needs to study this stuff, or attend games, or conduct interviews when you can just sit in your basement and clack out whatever comes through your head, right?”
Guess what Chris, I lay out my hard earned money every year for season tickets and attend most every Pistons home game. I even make an effort to catch a few on the road each season. I have a closet full of Pistons apparel and have quite a collection of sports memorabilia from my favorite team. I have every right to do what I do, if I didn’t why would The Pistons organization acknowledge me or my fellow Pistons blogger Matt at Detroit Bad Boys? So I guess I must be doing something right or people wouldn’t be visiting the site everyday.
I didn’t start out doing what I’m doing to discredit anyone or steal their ideas, in fact I get complimented all the time about the websites creativity and what I have been doing with it the past two years. I believe myself to be a decent and honest person with high standards and that’s the only thing I take offense to in McCosky’s statements. Everything else comes across as if he feels threatened by us. Maybe someone has ruffled his feathers, but I know whatever he’s accusing bloggers of, or me for that matter, he should point it out to us. Because throwing out veiled references just makes him look like he’s pouting like a spoiled child.
More bloggers addressed Mr. McCosky’s rant.
- Billfer addressed it here: Newsflash: Reporter hates bloggers
- Ian Casselberry of Bless You Boys: Fear and Loathing in Detroit: Sports Reporters vs. Sports Bloggers
- Kurt at Mack Avenue Tigers: Attack of the Blog Destroyer!
- Detroit Sports Rag (this one is personal) : Chris “Officer Barbardy” McCosky – Super Journalist
- Christy Hammond of Behind The Jersey: Detroit News reporter hates bloggers
- Big Al from The Wayne Fonts Experience: Chris McCosky doesn’t like me
And I’m sure I will have more to add to the list.
Natalie is like kind of a big deal in the blogging game…
She is the voice of us, the fans.
WORD UP NAT!
I never liked the guy and he comes off as an arrogant jerk in the peice. I for one like reading blogs rather than major media for the simple fact it’s more entertaining.
Anyone can roll out a bunch of numbers but it you do it in a originally way (like need4sheed) it keeps us coming back.
I think he’s scared
This is pure garbage.
obviously this guy feels threatened so just let him cry in his beer if he wants to. won’t stop me from lovin’ this site!!
GO PISTONS!!!!
This guys got the bloggers Mafia after him now, plus Team Need4sheed, he better watch his back.
I stop by “Need4Sheed” daily and get my Piston info/fix here. Natalie puts real effort into a terrific blog that shows respect for our Detroit Pistons and their fans.
If this McCosky guy wasn’t working @ the Detroit News tomorrow I doubt he’d be missed. 🙂
LC
Chris makes a good point.
-Mike
Wow!!!
I can imagine that after each game, even McCosky takes a look at need4sheed.com . He’s just angry because he can’t write as good as Natalie 🙂
I mean this blog is anything else than making fun of reporters.
Although in one point, I do understand the man, but this blog isn’t targeted
Hey Natalie,
I am now reading what this guy wrote about bloggers or “about you”
but i just want to let you know the pistons players come on here daily and love what you do.
keep it up girl
Natalie, keep doing what you’re doing! Coming from another Pistons fan who has watched the past 10 years religiously, I very much respect what you have to offer. I would rather read your website than McCosky a thousand times over. Sure, he can get a quote from a player, but he doesn’t bother to analyze the game the way that you do. Thank you, Natalie!
Natalie,
Your site ROCKS when it comes to news and information about the Detroit Pistons (including Sheed of course!!) and I do take the chance to read some of the other Detroit blog links you include as well – personally I prefer reading those over reading the news on a newspaper site…
I’ve got a very unladylike gesture for Mr Mccosky too lol … just because most bloggers dont get paid for what they do, doesn’t mean they can’t write and also cite their sources just as well as some one who gets paid to write for a living!
Keep up the great work !!!!
Go Pistons 🙂 !!!!
He’s not the first reporter who has spoke out against blogging, and yes, they all feel threatened. The only thing I can say to them is they need to realize that it is real and here to stay. Blogging will also continue to have a huge following, especially a great site like this, so get used to it.
In case you are reading and wondering Chris, I am a Pistons fan who is out of state. I check this site multiple times a day, along with NBA.com. That’s how I keep up with my favorite team. The only time I see your articles is when they are posted on NBA.com or here. Here’s some reasons I prefer Need4Sheed to sports articles:
~ I respect Natalie’s hard work and dedication. She doesn’t get paid to do this like you. She is a fan like us.
~ Not only do we religiously read all the stuff Nat takes the time to put out here, she also pays close attention to what we have to say and is very responsive. I think I can speak for many in saying that we feel we have got to know her and following this site is like getting information from a friend. She also does a great job of including the information she knows we are interested in. I will take that any day over some elite snobbish newsreporter. How much time do you spend caring about what your readers think?
~ Don’t try to mess with Nat’s credibility. She does her homework and we trust what she has to say. Yes, you are probably a source for her, but so are many others. She does a good job of taking your junk and presenting what’s important from it. Maybe you should take some pointers.
obviously natalie’s doing something right if we all keep coming back. I’ll admit im pretty much addicted to this site, i visit it 2-3 times a day looking for new updates. Its the first thing i do in the morning and the last thing i do at night. I have the site open when i watch the games in order to see what other fans are blogging as they watch the game too. Most people are addicted to myspace or facebook, but im addicted to need4sheed. I LOVE the site Natalie…keep it up!
Did Matt from DDB say anythng about this Chris thing?
What I find weird about Chris is he is getting paid, most blogger do not. Take the money Chris and just do your job.
I wonder if he was pissed off at Tay for breaking the fact that Rip’s baby was a boy and not a girl…lol..
Nat
McCosky just mentioned your site and you on WDFN! He said he wasn’t calling you out that he had no problem with need4sheed.
Maybe you can get a clip of the show.
lol I wonder if that’s the real Amir up there? who cares what this guy says? he’s probably just jealous because nobody mentions his name since the day your site got famous.
You shouldn’t take this so personally. If you as a blogger had a view which was so meaningless he wouldn’t even feel threatned. The fact is your material is good. so good it rivals that of the media. The people who should be insulted by his words are not the bloggers, you should be complimented that he’s that afraid of you. The people who should be insulted are the fans. #$@# You Mr.McCosky because what you are REALLY saying is that WE the fans are TOO STUPID to know the difference between well researched and intetllegent writing vs some person in their basement writing whatever comes to their mind. Lets face it, bloggers and the internet widens the arena of who can write, but it doesn’t make it so any trash is suddenly give the same respect journlistic garbage is, it just gives people a chance. . And the bloggers that become read are the blogges who actually do their homework and put up something worth reading.
Nat…
you are GREAT at what you do. Your site is great. And I have learned about so many other sites through the links that you add.
I don’t like most newspaper articles. They have rules to follow. And those rules often lead to a boring, factual article. That’s what they go to school for. Now blogs, are different. There aren’t those same rules to follow. It’s more entertaining. We have the opportunity to learn more about these players through your love and dedication to these guys.
I tell all my fellow Pistons fans about this site. It’s a great place for US to come.
I think that the greatest compliment that you could have is hearing that the Pistons, themselves, know about this site. I was proud of you when I saw the video of you and Amir.
Just keep it up! We love it.
nat keep up waht you are doing you are good at it and that is what makes this guys upset… when ever you post anything you havea link to where you may have gotten it from if it is not something of your own. That is one think I like about your site that you have links to articles so we can read teh whole story not just a quote… anyway I liked what you wrote here you go girl speck your mind and again thank you for what you have done with this site. The players and the pistons organization know what a good thing you hve done for the team and the fans by having this site and well that is what matters most not some guy who is jealous of what you can do and he can’t
very hypocritical on McCosky’s part…
dont sweat it Natalie…thanks for addressing this point
Anon 7:41 a.m.—–here,here
You said everything that I was thinking. Arrogance. It’s just plain arrogance. TV guys don’t respect radio guys…..newspaper guys don’t respect anyone but newspaper guys.
I wish he would have kept his mouth shut. I like Chris Mccosky. I think he is well spoken and well informed. But to dog bloggers just because some of them may not have received a degree in liberal arts or the like is re-dunk-u-lious. I will be one of many who will testify that I have never seen a quote that you have supplied that was credited to AND linked to whoever originally wrote it. You aren’t a hack blogger. (like some other blogs that just post endless links to articles..(cough) blog-a-bull (cough) )
Isn’t this what America is about? Someone finding something they enjoy doing and do it to the best of their ability? YOU Chris Mccosky are being VERY UNAmerican. We will come together in front of the Detroit News with out picket signs. Well maybe we will just comment on the blogs. Takes less effort. Isn’t that what you are getting at?? We as bloggers/commenters on said blogs are lazy??
Well maybe I am taking it too personally. I hope that someone out there knocked some sense into him. And no I am not talking about ACTUALLY knocking sense into him. But he should know by now that there is a place for blogs. Especially GREAT blogs like this one. Natalie is a fan. a DIEHARD fan. And we are all fans. This place that she has taken the time to design and update with new material is a place where we come together to discuss our fandom. And sorry CM…people aren’t reading the newspapers as much anymore.
EDIT- I have never seen a quote that you have supplied that wasN’T
LOL, how does that hook in your cheek feel there need4sheed? This is a recationary piece and look who’s coming out on top, all these blogs talking about the very same article. It doesn’t even matter if these are his true feelings, he did his job.
McCosky 1
angry bloggers 0
McCosky’s job was to look like an idiot?
Do you think more people will honestly read McCosky’s take on the Pistons because of it?
He’s not that kind of columnist….if it was Drew Sharp, you might have a point…
otherwise, you’re grasping at straws
If Natalie were 2 shut this site down, then comcast would instantly get a call tellin them 2 come and get this internet modem, right after i put my laptop on craigslist. This site is a BIG part of my life, and i come on here daily. I love the Pistons “GO FLIP MURRAY” And this is how i keep up with my favorite team. Nat makes u feel like u heard it from a VERY reliable friend. And thats what keeps us coming back. I could care less about our position in sports, or what u went 2 scholl for. If your not a TRUE FAN of my team, i dont wanna hear nothing u have to say… Unless Nat links you, lol.
Looks to me like we have another AA member to add to the ranks. The guy has issues alright.
I think anon 11:35am up there has the score a little bit wrong too — the guy did nothing but come off looking like a whiner and if anything he LOST some credibility himself. Nothing he wrote is going make people stop coming to this website or any of the others, so he accomplished nothing besides making an ass of himself.
GO PISTONS!!!!
and GO NEED4SHEED!!!!
Too bad you didn’t take the high road n4s. I think both sides comes out looking a shade more insecure after this.
what a dooshbag
Natalie,
I don’t think Chris was directing his comments at you or bloggers in general. I think he was irked by a blog in the Tiger baseball realm.
He actually made a comment about Need4Sheed this morning on the radio, either way I am sticking up for my crew.
I mentioned it in my post recap of the game but the post disappeared and I can’t seem to get blogger to republish it at the moment.
I’m 110% sure he was not referring to this blog (and even if he did, who cares? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The man is getting old..all he does in his articles is complaining most of the times about this or that).
This blog ROCKS!
Keep up the great job, Natalie!
I had the misfortune of reading this artcile in the newspaper yesterday. I immediately thought of N4S and how Nat is not like the bloggers he described. He obviously is a little insecure about his job and can’t handle the fact that blogging is becoming a new source of information. Sure sometimes it might be innacurate, but so is the newspaper and its up to the reader to discerne that.
That example about hearing McDyess would be the starting center was total BS too, I mean its not like it was some big secret that he uncoverd. If someone he trusted told him that McDyess was starting I don’t think he would put that person’s name in his article, he would probably just say his “sources” tell him, which is less credit than N4S gives, so he needs to calm down.
And as far as him doing his job by getting bloggers to talk about him, your definately wrong cause now every fan of a blog site, myself included, will purposely not read an article in the Detroit Free Press by him, because in my mind he just lost major credability. That could definately end up hurting the paper he writes for.
If I could give Chris McCosky a frowny Sheed face for bad karma like you can do in the forun, I would.
On a different note… what is up with Amir? Thought he was supposed to be back by now. Is his ankle still that bad or what? I am dying to see him get some playing time.
You handled this like a child Natalie. I feel like I’m reading a cheesy boy scouts journal. I’ve been coming here for years and I’m pretty sure this will be my last visit.
-Mike Herrington
Mike Herrington, if this was your last visit than I hope you enjoy your cheesy boy scouts journal or whatever it is you read. If sticking up for yourself and defending your favorite thing to do in the world is childish than I think being childish is a good thing.
Natalie didn’t make fun of McCowsky, she didn’t put down the quality of his writing or his newspaper and she didn’t call him any obscene names so I don’t get how she’s acting childish. but whatever, don’t come back if you don’t want to.
ummm excuse me?
of course Natalie was going to stick up for herself. who wouldnt?
Even if it wasnt directed at Need4sheed, its good that she stood up for her fellow bloggers. Kind of odd that CM is picking and choosing which blogs he was supposedly aiming at. And I dont think any of us will be too heart broken that Mike Herrington wont be visiting need4sheed. anymore. As a matter of fact, im already over it.
hahah boooo mike herrington…he screams CAV’S FAN or something gay to me anyways…
WOW!
Let me start by saying I rarely read by these so called “real journalist” anymore.
I love the Internet and the fact that people w/out other motives come online and write what they honestly feel.
People working for the FreePress/DETNews on the other hand write articles that will get them read, articles that won’t get them fired, and articles that will get them networking cred.
I have said this long before this incident, and I’ll repeat it again, McCosky writes exactly what the organization tells him to wrote, 9/10 times he is a parrot telling us what they want us to hear.
Remember the Darko trade, McCosky reported there was nothing going a few days before it went down, using Dumar’s words….I don’t believe anyone that close to the organization, a “journalist” had no clue what was happening, especially with all the rumors going around.
The other real “journalist” Langlois (sorry if I got his name wrong) who writes on the Pistons.com wrote something about how great the Delfino trade was, because it opened up space for Ronald Dupree!!!! Come on, people were laughing at the organization for blowing 2 great picks and then trading Delfino, who might still be soemthing somewhere else, and he gives us a organization-approved article about the trade being good because of Dupree (has he even seen a minute in the last 80 regular season games???).
Or take Drew Sharp, another real “journalist” who’s sole purpose is to wrote ridiculous articles to make people upset. I bet he doesn’t believe half the nonesense he writes. A great example was on Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Spike said Sharp called him to talk about Kitna wearing the naked coach costume and about how upset the coach was, Spike said he told Sharp Kitna ran it past the coach and the coach didn’t mind, thought it was funny and in the past. The next day Sharp writes an article about the embarrassment to the coach and his family anyway!!!! WHY??? Because that is his job, to write silly stories, regardless of merit and value, but to get more clicks on the newspaper website.
So, I’m sorry if McCosky is upset that “real journalist” are not getting read because people enjoy more honest and more real stories from bloggers who write from their basement without having to worry about meeting their boss’s demands for net clicks, or people who write articles without having to worry if the Pistons organization will be upset at what they said.
I agree, that people should give credit to those they use material from, as does Natalie, but truth be told Chris, people are reading blogs for the great opinions and honest/raw analysis, not stats you compile or rumors of who is starting and who is being traded, all that info comes out soon enough, most don’t check a blog rather than your article for that sort of stuff!
Sorry Natalie, I know that was long, I don’t mean to overtake your blog, but these things make me so mad!!! These “journalists” are jealous that we love your stuff more and they don’t have the freedom to write like this and are making desperate attempts to try and stay relevant.
Keep doing what you do!
~Sheedfan
Hah, that’s a shame. Don’t sweat it, Nat. It’s not your fault that your credible use of outside sources and your creative displays of Pistons interests are more entainging and engaging to us than his. We value your opinions more highly than his because you’re one of us, and that’s not going to change.
~Richie~
as you acknowledge, mccosky was on the radio this morning and mentioned your site in a POSITIVE manner.(if he didnt i wouldnt even be here) while reading his article i never saw an accusation directed at this site.
I find it funny that his accusations and rant agaisnt blogs comes up right after NEED4SHEED gets really big and starts getting mentioned multiple times in press/by players/by Pistons organization/by radio….etc… seems fishy to me, even if he did mention this site in a positive light, the overall attack hits the right notes, IMHO.
He’s just threatened and he should be. I find myself reading blogs moreso than major media outlets and that’s mainly because Bloggers know when to move on! We don’t dwell on a story for weeks at a time. We say what we have to say and keep it moving. Don’t sweat it, just keep doing what you do.
I guess some people just don’t get it. Even if he wasn’t directing the article at me, he attacked all Bloggers and put them in a bad light.
I honestly have no problem with how I handled the situation.
If his accusations don’t apply to you then what’s the point? If they do then big deal! Aren’t you like 40? Never heard of the saying sticks and stones.
McCosky looks petty and so does this site. Definately not what I thought I waste time reading when logging on Natalie. Can you get back to Pistons?
Some people aren’t getting it. McCosky didn’t attack this site, he attacked EVERY BLOG out there with blanket statements.
And like others have pointed out, there is nothing original about his article. Most of the stuff he was spewing has been said before by other columnists (though I didn’t see McCosky reference them..)
Fuck McCosky and his garbage opinions . He is just angry because not enough people give him credit for what he does. I don’t blame them he is an idiot and the only attention he deserves is my foot in his mouth. Anyways FUCK EM…
peace
Attention? He’s got everyones attention with that artcile just like he/his bosses wanted. Look how many bloggers linked right to that article, and not only detroit bloggers. In my opinion McCosky outsmartered bloggers and most of them are too self righteous to realize what ACTUALLY happened.
^^ You are an idiot gblanc_golfer. Possibly illiterate also because Natalie did not handle this badly nor did she make herself seem petty in any way. Some of the other blogs I read that addressed this were a little petty and vulger in their dealings with this, but I think Natalie went pretty easy on this asshole considering he is…well, an asshole.