Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2008 » Wow, Albom sucks. « Previous Next »
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Gplimpton
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Username: Gplimpton

Post Number: 246
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 - 9:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20080927/COL 01/80927038

This, his latest column, about Michigan's come-from-behind win over Wisconsin. The game was great...a shame Mitch couldn't string together an original thought or a line that hadn't been used a million other times about a million other games in a million other sports.

Honestly, it's time for the guy to go.
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Flyingj
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Username: Flyingj

Post Number: 321
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 - 9:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gplimpton, forget it-he's a name. He'll phone it in 'til he drops
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Duke_sims
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Username: Duke_sims

Post Number: 64
Registered: 05-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 3:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Albom used to be good, but it's gotten to the point where you know what his columns are going to say before you've even read them.

He's predictable. Like the sun coming up in the morning.

He'll pick one catch phrase, and sprinkle it liberally throughout his prose in between exercises of him bending over backwards to make himself seem funny or clever.

Like the sun coming up in the morning.

Then he'll make a pop culture reference -- usually an unoriginal snide remark at Britney, or whomever happens to be the whipping boy or girl of the moment.

Like the sun coming up in the morning.

Mitch also has a penchant for describing events he did not attend. If you think he learned his lesson after the MSU basketball fiasco, think again. Like a elf-earred Lindsey Lohan, Albom continues to commit the same sin, time and again.

Don't believe me? Look up Albom's description of the courtroom the day Kwame pleaded guilty. And then study the tape closely -- Albom wasn't even in the room.

Predictable. Like the sun coming up in the morning.
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Gnome
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Username: Gnome

Post Number: 1934
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 7:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

brilliant, it's always best when a swordsman is slain with his own sword.
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Detroitrise
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Username: Detroitrise

Post Number: 3635
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 8:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gosh, these threads just eliminate the purpose of a "Detroit YES Sports Sub-Forum".
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7andkelly
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Username: 7andkelly

Post Number: 1462
Registered: 04-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 9:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sour grapes!
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Commodore64
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Username: Commodore64

Post Number: 261
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 9:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mitch sucks.. There is NO ONE in media that is more irritating then Mitch. He thinks his crap don't stink.
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Vas
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Username: Vas

Post Number: 946
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 9:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think he's good. Better then anyone they'd put in his place. Much better then the 24/7 negative Drew Sharpe.
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East_detroit
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Username: East_detroit

Post Number: 2129
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 11:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mitch is a Scab.
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Youngprofessionaldetroiter
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Username: Youngprofessionaldetroiter

Post Number: 399
Registered: 07-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 12:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, Drew Sharp kills me. 50/50 on Terry Foster. But, hey...it's a business. You don't like it, don't read their paper.

quote:

Mitch is a Scab.



What? I don't get it.
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Downtown_lady
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Username: Downtown_lady

Post Number: 299
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 12:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mitch Albom crossed the picket line to return to work during the newspaper strike.
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Youngprofessionaldetroiter
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Username: Youngprofessionaldetroiter

Post Number: 401
Registered: 07-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 12:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

^Oh. Wasn't that like 10 years ago? I didn't know we were still fighting that battle.

Mitch is a nationally syndicated columnist. He's a big philanthropist in Detroit. He's one of the few national figures that people associate with Detroit and is one of our biggest advocates outside the state.

If you don't like his column, no argument from me. If you don't like that he crossed the picket line, remember he could've taken a job at any other newspaper in the country. Newspapers aren't trying to screw employees out of money. They're on the cusp of mere survival, having barely stayed relevant when cable news and other media hit the mainstage in the 90s...and now fighting off internet and bloggers.

Very few are privately owned because it's too hard to make money.

So with all that, I think it's ridiculous that we're hating on someone who brings so much positive to the city and the region. If you don't read his column, fine. I was never really that into Susan Ager, but I'm not get all juiced about it.

I'm renominating the motto. Detroit: Where Beggars Can Be Choosy.
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Alfie1a
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Username: Alfie1a

Post Number: 77
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 12:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Albom is full of himself. The only thing I like about him is when he conducts interviews of athletes, entertainers and such on his radio show.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 3696
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 1:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some Freep writers were anonymously interviewed by another a few years back, and all commented on Mitch as being a loner, not in the least interested in mixing with his peers. He would be the absolute last in joining "the gang after work for a beer".

Since I would always be the first to "join the gang for a beer", that report just turned me off'n the guy.
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Duke_sims
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Username: Duke_sims

Post Number: 65
Registered: 05-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 1:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's what Albom wrote the day Kwame pleaded guilty to perjury. Mind you, ALBOM WAS NOT IN THE COURTROOM:

"Christine Beatty sat in the courtroom, staring at her feet, hollow as a ghost, even as the columns seemed to be collapsing around her in some Biblical destruction scene, the mayor about to plead guilty, the police chief quitting, helicopters flying over the Manoogian Mansion."


This is the exact same thing as the column about MSU players that got him into trouble, in which he wrote "You looked around the stands Saturday...." when he was not there.

The only difference is, Beatty was in the courtroom that day, unlike Mateen Cleaves, etc.

But the infraction was the exact same: You had Albom giving an eye-witness description of an event he did not attend.

That's not sour grapes -- it's fiction passing as journalism.
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Lodgedodger
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Username: Lodgedodger

Post Number: 631
Registered: 05-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 5:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Albom lost my respect after writing about the basketball game he didn't attend. The FREEP needed to drop him the moment they found out about this.
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Pffft
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Username: Pffft

Post Number: 1740
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 5:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

YPDetroiter,

The newspapers were in clover in '95, when the strike happened, the boom of the Clinton years was benefiting them as well.

Don't mistake today's doom-laden economic climate for the go-go years of the mid-90's. The strike was more complicated than a mere money dispute, too.
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Daddeeo
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Username: Daddeeo

Post Number: 161
Registered: 09-2008
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 9:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

He's starting to remind me of Joe Falls... a burnt out has-been.
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 8885
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The one major difference between Joe Falls and Mitch is that to the best of anyone's knowledge, Joe has never fabricated stories and has had to offer up apologies and retractions.

I've doubted the Freep's credibility ever since Mitch broke the cardinal rule of journalism years ago by making up a story and passing it off as authentic. Any other writer and they would've been shown the door. By keeping him, the Freep lost a lot of respect and readers such as myself.

As a writer, Mitch should stick to his fiction. Stay out of real journalism, please.
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Ravine
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Username: Ravine

Post Number: 2778
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 11:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Duke, your post was BRILLIANT, in both conception and execution. My hat is off to you, sir.
I know that Joe Falls could be irritating, but I don't like to see Albom compared to him. In my eyes, Joe Falls could be full of shit, but in a good way. Mitch, more full of shit, and ONLY more full of shit.

(Message edited by ravine on September 28, 2008)
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Cynknight
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Username: Cynknight

Post Number: 104
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No question that Mitch Albom has made mistakes. The mistakes he's made pale in comparison to mistakes other people make. Guess what? Mitch is human, and human beings make mistakes.

If you don't like what he writes, don't read it. I enjoy reading most of his articles. I think he did a wonderful job with "Tuesdays with Morrie" - AND donated the money from the book to help defray Mr. Schwarz's medical bills. Plus setting up a foundation to help people during and after the Super Bowl. How many of us on the forum have given as much?

And as for not being a 'joiner' in after hours gatherings...we can't all be alike.

If we all had to stand up to public scrutiny, I wonder how many of us would get glowing reports?
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East_detroit
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Username: East_detroit

Post Number: 2130
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Compared to him, hopefully most of us.

He is supposed to be a journalist, so you count on him providing the truth to you.

If the guy at Burger King said "Here's your all beef hamburger" and it was half pork, you'd have the same situation as you do with Mitch. He is being paid to do a job with an implicit or explicit assertion which is found to be a lie.
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 8887
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 1:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cynknight, when anyone enters into journalism they're expected a certain code of conduct or ethics to keep the public trust. Mitch violated this and should've been relieved of his job by The Freep. His credibility to be a viable witness to things was the most important thing he could have and he abandoned it.

As a credible journalist working at what is supposed to be a recognized and respected information source, Mitch does not belong there by HIS own actions. The Free Press is just as culpable in this as well by keeping him on. Mitch can write all the fiction he wants- just don't try to be a source of credible news any more.
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Sumas
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Username: Sumas

Post Number: 294
Registered: 01-2008
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 4:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I used to be a big Albom fan until he violated the public trust. Don't bother to read him anymore.
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Higgs1634
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Username: Higgs1634

Post Number: 672
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 8:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

I used to be a big Albom fan until he violated the public trust. Don't bother to read him anymore.



Mitch violated the 'public trust" long before the MSU b=ball game fabrication. He was one of the biggest sports page shills for Chris Webber and the Fab (fraud?) Five. He has not retracted anything in his sycophantic book chronicling their rise... maybe he should have mentioned Ed Martin's role in that rise? Maybe publish a follow up describing how Uncle Ed's backstage payoffs led to the largest scandal in NCAA Basketball History; leading to mass forfeiture of whole seasons of winnings, return of hundreds of thousands of dollars, fines, suspensions, probation and the stink left on the program? Will Mitch ever discuss the lies, the loans, the perjury (except when compelled to testify..as he was in Webber's trial), the ruination of the vaunted UM's integrity and his role as a "see no evil" hack? Nahh... that doesn't really fit the narrative.

Besides, he'll just churn out another schmaltzy feel good 'novel' and sell millions of copies. Why should he care?
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Daddeeo
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Username: Daddeeo

Post Number: 163
Registered: 09-2008
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 11:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Free Press isn't going to dump their prize winning gravy train.
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 8892
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I guess which brings up the question- does anyone really really read the Freep BECAUSE of Mitch? Is he even a true draw for people to pick up the rag??
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Professorscott
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Username: Professorscott

Post Number: 1639
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I agree with Ravine: Duke's post was awesome, one of the truly memorable entries in DY.

I still read Mitch, not all the time but occasionally. I enjoy some of his stuff, despite the fact that his format is as obvious and predictable as a '60s pop song. Chorus, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, instrumental break, chorus, verse 3, chorus to fade. But despite the formula, some of the songs are worth listening to.

Describing the scene in the courtroom to me is not as faulty as what he did with MSU. He could at least see, on television, what was going on in the courtroom. The MSU story was fabricated ahead of time based on what he thought was going to happen; that was unconscionable. But I agree with Daddeeo, he sells papers (apparently), and not much else does that anymore.
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Sirrealone
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Username: Sirrealone

Post Number: 232
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This was the last good story I remember Mitch writing:
http://www.ashleysdream.org/re sources/articles/1997-A-Deadly -Decision-by-Mitch-Albom.pdf
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Gingellgirl
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Username: Gingellgirl

Post Number: 229
Registered: 04-2007
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 1:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Read a REAL sports columnist:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ sports/columnists/cs-mike-down ey,0,4523473.columnist

Mikey, I miss you!
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Udmphikapbob
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Username: Udmphikapbob

Post Number: 636
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 3:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

While we're bitching about Mitch Albom...

Anyone else find it insulting that his radio show on WJR is sponsored by the Metro Detroit Toyota Dealers?
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Higgs1634
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Username: Higgs1634

Post Number: 673
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 3:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

Anyone else find it insulting that his radio show on WJR is sponsored by the Metro Detroit Toyota Dealers?



A couple of weeks ago I happen to be in the car scanning a.m. talk for a traffic report and had to suffer through a few minutes of Mitch. He was called out on that very issue by a caller. From Mitch's response, it was pretty obvious that he must have been taking some sort of heat for it and the screener let her through so that Mitch could read from his prepared remarks about how local Toyota dealers employ lots of Michigan residents...Toyota has plants here (in the US) ....Toyota invests locally....they are good corporate citizens...etc.

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