Howard Berger: Shut your stupid mouth.
Posted 2:16 PM ET | Comments 0
Now, although I cover the Tampa Bay Lightning in my blogs, and they are one of my favourite teams (I've always loved teams that play in Southern areas. No idea why, but I always have a soft spot for them), but I grew up and lived in Leaf nation until a few short months ago when I moved to Newfoundland. St. John's is actually a place that has no favourite team. There are Habs fans, Leaf fans, Bruins fans, and Sens fans. Pretty much any team in the Northeast division, except for Buffalo. Nobody likes Buffalo (the team OR the city).
Growing up Leaf fan, and always loving sports journalism, I've read my fair share of Howard Berger articles and blogs. The other day he wrote a bit about the Leafs, and pretty much just ripped them apart as he always does. It's funny how little respect he has for the team, considering that if they didn't exist, he wouldn't have a job. That's find and dandy to lay out your opinions on the team. If they blow a game, call them on it. If they win, it's alright to say they played well, or maybe even they played poorly, but snuck away with 2 points.
What isn't ok, is to rip into readers. He wrote a bit saying his previous article was all sarcasm. Only nobody got it. I actually believe the quote was "some people got it, some didn't, some couldn't". That, set me off. I get it that he writes with an edge, and pushes buttons, but to come out and say that some of his readers just "couldn't get" his high-brow hockey humour, is just disrespectful to the people that choose to read his writing. I know he's got his fair share of haters, but until now, those people simply hated that he always ripped up their favourite hockey team.
Now, I hope that some people will take the stand that I have, and stop reading his trash. Let him hate the Leafs but claim he loves them. He can do that on his own. When you start questioning the intelligence of your audience, you don't deserve to have a platform to speak your voice. The worst thing is, he's getting paid to write. He's not a comedian, he's just another Leafs blogger. There are literally thousands, and while most of them don't provide anything new or creative, there are loads of them that do. Mike Augello, Ken Beckett, both of them write for Hockeybuzz, and provide better insight. They call out mistakes, praise a job well done, and do it in their own way. Berger even admits that he doesn't write when the Leafs win. What a guy. They practically sign his cheques, but he won't write a positive thing about them.
Well, forget him. That's enough of the guy who makes a living hating the team that makes it possible for him to feed his family.
Rob Mann
@yeahwrite
Growing up Leaf fan, and always loving sports journalism, I've read my fair share of Howard Berger articles and blogs. The other day he wrote a bit about the Leafs, and pretty much just ripped them apart as he always does. It's funny how little respect he has for the team, considering that if they didn't exist, he wouldn't have a job. That's find and dandy to lay out your opinions on the team. If they blow a game, call them on it. If they win, it's alright to say they played well, or maybe even they played poorly, but snuck away with 2 points.
What isn't ok, is to rip into readers. He wrote a bit saying his previous article was all sarcasm. Only nobody got it. I actually believe the quote was "some people got it, some didn't, some couldn't". That, set me off. I get it that he writes with an edge, and pushes buttons, but to come out and say that some of his readers just "couldn't get" his high-brow hockey humour, is just disrespectful to the people that choose to read his writing. I know he's got his fair share of haters, but until now, those people simply hated that he always ripped up their favourite hockey team.
Now, I hope that some people will take the stand that I have, and stop reading his trash. Let him hate the Leafs but claim he loves them. He can do that on his own. When you start questioning the intelligence of your audience, you don't deserve to have a platform to speak your voice. The worst thing is, he's getting paid to write. He's not a comedian, he's just another Leafs blogger. There are literally thousands, and while most of them don't provide anything new or creative, there are loads of them that do. Mike Augello, Ken Beckett, both of them write for Hockeybuzz, and provide better insight. They call out mistakes, praise a job well done, and do it in their own way. Berger even admits that he doesn't write when the Leafs win. What a guy. They practically sign his cheques, but he won't write a positive thing about them.
Well, forget him. That's enough of the guy who makes a living hating the team that makes it possible for him to feed his family.
Rob Mann
@yeahwrite