In the old days, when players policed the game and umpires issued far fewer warnings for brushback...

In the old days, when players policed the game and umpires issued far fewer warnings for brushback pitches, the bunt could be a macho play. A well-executed drag bunt down the first-base line might allow a vengeful batter to trample the offending pitcher as he bent to field the ball.

My take: Absent a single documented incident, I think Livingston just made this up. And the piece is already bad enough.

about 1 year ago tabler84 22 comments 0 recs |

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I just read this and was going to fanshot it. The whole premise is absurd. And, not that he is responsible for writing the headlines, the headline is remarkably misleading. Here’s the link for anyone so inclined. Livingston is such an insufferable hack. I wish he would have taken the PD buyout.

My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts.

by Ockus_NYC on May 25, 2011 6:49 AM EDT reply actions

I’ll ask again why the total lack of turnover in the Plain Dealer’s sports page? Livingstone, Grossi, Shaw et al. were all on the staff when I was growing up in Cleveland 25 years ago.

by APV on May 25, 2011 9:42 AM EDT reply actions

The entire PD’s turnover has been seemingly nonexistent. I mean, plenty have left, mostly because of financial reasons, but few have come in.

My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts.

by Ockus_NYC on May 25, 2011 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Pluto was a pretty significant addition.

by Jay on May 25, 2011 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

He doesn’t count because he doesn’t support my argument.

My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts.

by Ockus_NYC on May 25, 2011 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions 4 recs

Brian Windhorst was a good addition as well, until he left for ESPN. But he always had great insight to the Cavs and the NBA in general. Another writer who is really good there is Doug Lesmeries, who covers OSU sports. He’s much better than any of the writers at the Dispatch. He has received significant national coverage over the past couple years for his AP ballots, which don’t always follow the methods of most pollsters but was supported by many people. I hope they can keep him around and maybe take over the Indians or Browns beat when those guys retire.

by Buckeye Brad on May 25, 2011 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I pine for the day when the Browns have a decent beat reporter.

"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway

by notthatnoise on May 26, 2011 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Brian Windhorst is LeBron’s personal Pedro Gomez.

And right now the best OSU football coverage is being done by the kids at the Latern. They’ll be churning out articles about OSU violations well into their graduate school years.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on May 27, 2011 8:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, but unless its picked up by a national source, the audience is tiny.

Mistake By The Jake

by emd2k3 on May 27, 2011 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Just because Windhorst left the PD for ESPN.com doesn’t make him a bad writer. He has covered LeBron since he was young but that doesn’t mean he’s his personal cheerleader; I’ve heard and read him criticize LeBron many times.

by Buckeye Brad on May 27, 2011 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Never said he was a bad writer – didn’t even imply it. What I met to imply is that Windhorst has no character.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on May 27, 2011 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions

I know you didn’t say Windhorst was a bad writer — that was a bad choice of words on my part and not what I meant to say. But you seemed to be implying that he made his career off of covering LeBron, as if he’s some kind of apologist for him or that he doesn’t deserve the success he’s had.

As far as his character, I can’t speak to that because I don’t know him personally and know very little about him at all, outside of his writing. But I don’t think it’s fair to say he has no character just because he left the PD for ESPN.com to cover the Heat, a job which gives him more national exposure and coverage and probably a nice raise. I think most people who have taken that job if they were in that situation and I really don’t see how that says anything about his character.

by Buckeye Brad on May 28, 2011 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Just because he’s not an apologist for LeBron doesn’t mean he hasn’t built basically his entire career around LeBron.

My watch is broken... it's stuck on Tribe Time
#suckitLaw

by Turkmenbashi on May 28, 2011 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions

He is an apologist for LeBron, at least as far as I can tell from his “coverage” of the #ESPNMiamiHeat.

by FredOx on May 29, 2011 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Like I said, he’s LeBron’s Pedro Gomez.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on May 28, 2011 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Pedro Gomez is a hack.

As a separate point, I think it’s important to note that Windhorst is making his living off of Lebron the Story, not Lebron the Player.

I gather that ESPN Miami was a huge pro opportunity for him. I have little doubt that when he tires of it, he’s going to find some other beat to cover with excellence.

by Jay on May 29, 2011 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

.And I have little doubt that whatever beat Windhorst covers he will compromise what little journalistic integrity he has in order to maintain access. Just like he’s doing now

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on May 30, 2011 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I would put the o/u of Livingston & Shaw articles that I have read in the last 10 years at about 5 (and I’d probably take the under). They did get rid of Roger Brown a few years ago, who was the worst sports columnist I ever read. Maybe those two have some appeal to the older crowd, that’s the only possible explanation for those two still being kept around. I think Grossi does a decent job on the Browns beat, I have no problem with his work. Mary Kay doesn’t do much for me with the Cavs, especially after having had Windhorst for the past few years.

I will not shed a tear when Livingston, Shaw and Hoynes ride off into the sunset. All three seem long overdue.

by millionairesrow on May 25, 2011 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Ahh, MR, Mary Kay (Cabot) covers the Browns along with Grossi. You’re thinking of Mary Schmitt Boyer – she covers the Cavs for the PD.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on May 27, 2011 8:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Livingston has been writing grade A jibberish for years. You always knows it’s the halfway point of the season when he writes his perennial “My Dad was a Cardinals Fan” column. He makes less and less sense every time he’s published.

by PBH on May 25, 2011 9:43 AM EDT reply actions

"My Dad was a Cardinals Fan When I Covered Doctor J"

-Fixed

"(We) did not generally despise those trades. We despised being in the position where we had to make them" -Jay

by stuart dean on May 25, 2011 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Baseball Digest, September 1955, page 80: “Are They Giving Jackie Robinson the Works?” by Herb Goren of the National Police Gazette (!). Jackie Robinson v Sal Maglie, Ebbetts Field, September 1951. “He tried to knock me down, so I bunt,” Goren has Jackie say, adding that he “took a severe roasting for this strategy.”

Could easily be a load of crap, but this is one example of an oft-told sort of geezer tale.

by YoDaddyWags on May 25, 2011 10:47 AM EDT reply actions