Canzano Named Nation's Top Sports Columnist

[Stevenson]

Wow, I am surprised by the reaction here. Give the man his due! Who else here has been named the top in their field nationally? I write a weekly column and I would love to be named the best at what I do.

Way to go John. Congrats!

 

[PapaG]

Nice job Canzano! I love reading his stuff. Whether I agree with it or not, it is always interesting, it inspires debate, and his human interest articles reflect the deep and life-long passion that many Oregonians have for their teams.

 

[BBert]

I happen to think their governor looks very nice... in a bikini.

By the way, can I borrow your copy of "Nailin' Palin"?

 

[Natebishop3]

By the way, can I borrow your copy of "Nailin' Palin"?

 

[tlongII]

This is like the "english patient" winning all those academy awards. No one actually fucking liked it, but out of touch "artsy" types slobbered over it. Some people think that if something is incomprehensible, it must be profound.

Canzano as a hack, he is a shit-stirrer, he is Bill O' Riley with the class and charm (sar-fucking-casm).

Brian Windhorst, Jason Quick, and Tom Ziller are all infinitely better than Canzano. This award is a good example of why the newspapers are dying.

Bill O'Reilly is great.

 

[PapaG]

This is like the "english patient" winning all those academy awards. No one actually fucking liked it, but out of touch "artsy" types slobbered over it. Some people think that if something is incomprehensible, it must be profound.

Canzano as a hack, he is a shit-stirrer, he is Bill O' Riley with the class and charm (sar-fucking-casm).

Brian Windhorst, Jason Quick, and Tom Ziller are all infinitely better than Canzano. This award is a good example of why the newspapers are dying.

Jason Quick is a beat reporter and not a columnist. I'm not sure who the other two are, but a lack of knowledge on how one is qualified for this award would seemingly discount your opinion on the matter.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

IMO Brian Hendrickson is the best journalist in terms of writing articles and getting down basketball facts we have around these parts. His articles and blog are a real pleasure to read.

 

[MickZagger]

Canzano has said every year for the past five years that Mark Few will be Oregon's next coach. Every year I email him and tell him that Few isn't going anywhere. His last Ernie Kent bashing article, he said its a matter of when. . . not if Few comes to Oregon. The Ducks offered Few the coaching spot right after the tourney ended for the Zags, Few turned it down. Arizona offered Few a job as well, Few turned it down. Few is a man of loyalty and isn't going anywhere any time soon, he is paid graciously, he has above average facilities, he can recruit with the likes of any Pac-10 school and he isn't being controlled by Nike like he would in Eugene. His wife is a Gonzaga alum and has lived in Spokane all her life. It cracks me up that a columnist can continue to pound at something that he so strongly believes will happen that he will write it year after year and still be wrong.

 

[PapaG]

Pay attention to the 2nd sentence. They are all bloggers, but two of them do work for papers. My comment is not about who should of won that award, but rather, that the really good writers are blogging and their best stuff is found online, thus, Canzano wins an award.

Perhaps you should not be so quick to discount my opinion unless you are certain you understand the context.

Well, in relation to this award, your expanded stance is even less relevant. So, if the idea is to reward people who write about a basketball team exclusively or blog, you'd be correct. Since that isn't what the reward entails, you're incorrect in this instance.

Also, both Quick and Ziller and first and foremost "beat" writers. I don't disagree with your opinion, but I do think you are clueless as to the criteria behind winning this award.

Plus, put your name behind your opinion if you think Canzano winning this award is BS.

 

[Stevenson]

My comment is not about who should of won that award, but rather, that the really good writers are blogging and their best stuff is found online, thus, Canzano wins an award.

Perhaps you should not be so quick to discount my opinion unless you are certain you understand the context.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

1. Anyone can blog, but only great writers get hired to write for papers.

2. The award Canzano won is all the more impressive considering each writer submitted 5 columns and they were reviewed by peers - with no names and no bylines attached to the columns. It truly is an award of writing excellence by writers.

To quote you: "Perhaps you should not be so quick to discount [an opinion] unless you are certain you understand the context."

 

[Natebishop3]

IMO Brian Hendrickson is the best journalist in terms of writing articles and getting down basketball facts we have around these parts. His articles and blog are a real pleasure to read.

Really nice guy too. When he first took the job, he and I had a long talk after the training camp out in McMinnville. Very knowledgeable.

 

[Natebishop3]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

1. Anyone can blog, but only great writers get hired to write for papers.

2. The award Canzano won is all the more impressive considering each writer submitted 5 columns and they were reviewed by peers - with no names and no bylines attached to the columns. It truly is an award of writing excellence by writers.

To quote you: "Perhaps you should not be so quick to discount [an opinion] unless you are certain you understand the context."

I personally do not agree with this statement. In this day and age, really good writers CAN be found online. Sorry, but most people can see the writing on the wall. If you are an aspiring journalist, why would you want to get into print, when print is so obviously becoming obsolete? The Chicago Sun-Times just declared chapter 11 for pete's sake.

Also, I constantly found grammatical errors and false information in articles published in newspapers around the country while I was working for ESPN Insider. Great writers my ass. Sure, there's some really quality guys working out there, but just because someone is working for print, doesn't mean they are the cat's pajamas.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

Yeah sorry, I don't buy that only great writers get hired to write for papers. That's like saying only great editors get hired by newspapers to edit their great writers - I think we have seen over the last several years from The Oregonian and The Portland Tribune sports sections alone that this assumption isn't true at all.

 

[tlongII]

For Jon Stewart's career, yes.

Highest rated news show on cable TV.

 

[tlongII]

Canzano has said every year for the past five years that Mark Few will be Oregon's next coach. Every year I email him and tell him that Few isn't going anywhere. His last Ernie Kent bashing article, he said its a matter of when. . . not if Few comes to Oregon. The Ducks offered Few the coaching spot right after the tourney ended for the Zags, Few turned it down. Arizona offered Few a job as well, Few turned it down. Few is a man of loyalty and isn't going anywhere any time soon, he is paid graciously, he has above average facilities, he can recruit with the likes of any Pac-10 school and he isn't being controlled by Nike like he would in Eugene. His wife is a Gonzaga alum and has lived in Spokane all her life. It cracks me up that a columnist can continue to pound at something that he so strongly believes will happen that he will write it year after year and still be wrong.

That's a good point. It's definitely odd that Canzano keeps that "Few is coming to Eugene" going. He seems to have a hard time admitting he's wrong.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

That's a good point. It's definitely odd that Canzano keeps that "Few is coming to Eugene" going. He seems to have a hard time admitting he's wrong.

Canzano is the kind of guy who corrects his blog and online articles without mentioning what he corrected and why it was corrected. It's pretty embarrassing considering the numbers of times he's corrected things without nary a word.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

This sucks, this means we are stuck with his ego for many years. If the voters read his regular columns there is no way he would have won. It's like watching a highlight video that makes draft picks look like the next Michael Jordan, but watch the entire game film and you soon realize how average the player is.

 

[Stevenson]

FAIL

the papers don't have the money to hire the great writers. This is why so many are going out of business. DO the great writers suddenly become less great when they don't write for the papers because the local one failed?...

Anyone can blog, but not anyone can be a successful blogger. Blog readership is the ultimate democracy, everyone votes with the clicks of their mouse. Blogs that people love get read, sucky blogs don't. To make a living off a blog, you have to be a damned good writer with your finger on the pulse of what will appeal to your demographic. You also have to work for access, research, and create quality content on a regular basis.
So yeah, sure, anyone can blog...
.

Look amigo, I know a little bit of what I am talking about. I have written an online column for USATODAY for a dozen years and have written 15 books.

Newspapers are going out of business because they present news that is a day old, because of Craigslist, because of Google, NOT because of their writers.

My point is, of course you can find great writing online - that is how I make my living - but blogging usually isn't that place. Successful blogs can be well-written, but more often they are just inflammatory. There are no editors and no standards for most blogs. Again, anyone can blog, just like anyone can have an opinion, that does not mean they are written well.

And by the way, I blog too - for Huffington Post, etc., but just because someone blogs, it does not mean they can write. Maybe they can, but not all that often.

 

[PapaG]

Highest rated news show on cable TV.

Um, OK.

 

[tlongII]

It is the highest rated news show on cable TV.

 

[PapaG]

It is the highest rated news show on cable TV.

I really don't consider any of those shows to be "news" shows, and O'Reilly, when I watched him, seemed to be more interested in selling his book than in having a thoughtful discussion of the issues. Same goes for all of the others in the genre as well.