Michael Wilbon Has Strong Words For "Bloggers In Their Mother's Basement", In Related News, Old Man Yells At Cloud

Uh oh, someone is angry at something they don’t understand. Wilbon ain’t got time for all that analytic bullshit from your mother’s basement! Hey wait a second, I’ve seen this before.

But in all seriousness I’m actually not one of those guys that thinks beat reporters are useless. Good beat guys can find angles that I never could dream of unearthing from my apartment (not my mom’s basement although I don’t often put on pants). But why can’t both exist? That’s what I never understood with arguments like Wilbon’s, the internet is an enormous place, a beat writer and a blogger aren’t mutually exclusive things. What Wilbon is scared of is the popularity of bloggers. That unlike 20 years ago when you could only consume the newspaper in your town, fans can now seek out their favorite writers/bloggers and give those people their business. Wilbon no longer can be king just because he has a column in the Washington Post. He’s worried that a guy watching the game on TV with a bunch of twitter followers may be more compelling or funnier than he is. That’s not a bad thing, it means everyone has to work harder and be better. More competition in this space is a good thing, and guys like Wilbon are still incredibly valuable. Michael Wilbon has been around sports far longer than I have and probably knows the ins and outs of the business better than I ever will, but that doesn’t mean my voice shouldn’t also count. To be upset about that just speaks to your own insecurities.