2009 Tom Haudricourt thread

[RU Rah Rah]

I don't typically read the comments for Haudricourt's blog posts, but the following two -- apparently made by Tom himself -- really caught my eye, especially because of last year's fracas. (They followed the blog entry for "Early Exit for Gallardo.")

 

Apparently, a poster ID'd as "Hornsby" tweaked TH for misspelling "walk" as "wall." Here's how Tom responded:

 

At 4:56 p.m.: "Hornsby, I also am just curious. Why do you NEVER have anything to say but critical, negative, wise-guy remarks? You must be a miserable, hateful person. Hey, of the several hundred words I filed in blogs today, I had a typo in one word. Get over it. And try for just one second in your life to be positive. You'd be amazed how good it feels."

 

At 5:11 p.m.: "Yeah, Gagne being released and the most talented pitcher on the staff getting shelled in one inning isn't relevant at all, is it? If you don't like my posts, don't comment on them. All of those who want information on the club -- unlike you -- would be more than pleased if you'd vacate the premises. You add nothing but venom. That says all we need to know about you. Like I said, you must be a miserable, hateful person. All you want to do is attack people. What a great way to go through life. Congratulations."

 

I imagine that this could be a troll posing at TH, so I don't want to necessarily call him out for having overly thin skin.

[brettac1]

I strangely read the comments, too (just because I wanted to get a chuckle out of people freaking out about spring training). The guy that was calling him out was pretty much an ass. I'm with TH on this one.

[BrewCrewForever]

I'm a big fan of Tom's. I enjoy reading his column's and blogs posts.

 

I do wonder if it was Tom actually posting those comments. The name said "Tom Haudricourt". I thought Tom's name when he posts in the comments is "tomhaud"? Anyone confirm this?

[RU Rah Rah]

I'm a big fan of Tom's. I enjoy reading his column's and blogs posts.

 

I do wonder if it was Tom actually posting those comments. The name said "Tom Haudricourt". I thought Tom's name when he posts in the comments is "tomhaud"? Anyone confirm this?

It might very well not be him. But the tone sounds kind of similar to the exchanges from last year (when he published that dude's email address) that earned him a vacation from blogging. (But who knows? It could be somebody just trying to make him look like a crybaby.)

 

Edit: But now I do think it's actually him. Here's another posting:

 

"You guys are all right about Hornsby, so this will be my last word on him. My point is that the negative nonsense gets old. If you make a typo, he crushes you. If you make a post he thinks is not relevant, he crushes you. It's all he lives for. I just don't get the negativism. It's all he has going for him. It's like the boy who cries wolf. You get tired of hearing about it. Critical comments and differences of opinion are what make blogs go 'round. That's a different thing. But just to continually take shots with never a constructive word or decent thought, I just don't get. How can you be so angry and bitter? It's just baseball, and we're trying to get out info on the club that people might want. There's an old saying: "It's always the same guys." And with Hornsby, that adage is so true. If you want a negative, wise-guy remark, you can always count on him. And, with that, I'm done talking about the guy. As all of you non-hateful folks have noted, it's not worth losing any sleep over."

[BrewCrewForever]

Yeah does seem his tone, maybe he posts under a couple different names. But either way he is right, that dude is a jerk. I never post on the blog but I do read them now and again.

[brettac1]

Way it sounds is that guy is just a troll.

[RU Rah Rah]

Yeah does seem his tone, maybe he posts under a couple different names. But either way he is right, that dude is a jerk. I never post on the blog but I do read them now and again.

Oh, I totally agree that TH is right, and that the guy is a jerk. But it just baffles me that Tom gets gets so worked up over this kind of stuff (which really was relatively mild -- and accurate -- criticism). I mean, we're barely into spring training; how's he going to make it through until October without having a complete meltdown?

[Sundown Kid]

If indeed it is Mr. Haudricourt, he is apparently going back on last season's vow to not post commentary beyond story updates in the comment section of the blogs.

[davego]

TH might be better served not to comment on clowns that rip him. I don't see the upside for him engaging.

[pete]

i have to say I find criticism of typos pretty pathetic. It is a blog. I read criticism wondering if they don't use copy editors at jsonline. Why would anyone want the information delayed to prevent typos?

 

Is there any other team that has as much information as quickly as Brewers' fans do? Now McCalvy is chipping in and I think its great.

[Brian the Automator]

"Why do you NEVER have anything to say but critical, negative, wise-guy remarks? You must be a miserable, hateful person."

http://www.brokencredit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/Irony.jpg

[endaround]

Was Hornsby being an ass? Yes. Did Tom pick the worst way possible to deal with this? Yes.

[azcheesehead]

My father in law is a sports editor in Wisconsin at one of the largest media outlets in the state. Whenever he writes a column, it gets TONS of comments. The comments range from "great article" to "you're an idiot" to "you should be fired". One of the joys of his job is to read the comments and get people riled up. He considers it a perk of the job. I have to admit, you need tough skin, but that is part of the job!!! There is a way to handle such criticism, such as personally emailing people back that email you. However, undressing someone in a blog the way TH has done on a couple of different occasions is NOT the way to do it. I think this alone warrants some talking to from his higher ups. It won't happen, but it should.

 

TH should just stick to what he does best, reporting Brewers' news. He does a really good job and I enjoy the blogs a great deal, especially when he, and not the egomaniac Witrado, is writing them.

[sgtcluels]

I'm not fan of Tom H. For as much "access" he gets, he really doesn't bring all that much unique insight to the club. I think he's to much of a traditional news journalist (aka print media) and is lost in the new digital age of electronic format. He needs a thicker skin, don't like the dudes comments? Talk to the IT staff and hit them with a ban hammer. Or get this, don't read them.

 

At least Tom H generally posts correct information. Anthony Witrado is pretty horrible at reporting. Both with typos, and with content. Check out BCB Poking fun at em So what am I trying to say? JSOnline coverage isn't anything great.

[thebruce44]

Personally, I think its fairly pathetic that he has to engage someone like that. Then to call him a hatefull person...Tom represents the newspaper and he should be above that kind of bickering period. If he wants to do that he should post on the ESPN board. It makes absolutly no difference if somone was being an "ass," Tom should ignore him just as his bosses have repeatedly told him to do.

 

I enjoy his blog because it is the easiest way to get information, but honestly, I sometimes think I know more about the Brewers than he does, and I don't have any access and a full time job. If I could spend 40+ hours a week following the Brewers I think I could do his job better than him and I think most of the people here could as well.

[pete]

BCB having immature rants about typos or criticizing because Gwynn is ambivalent about his injury and the headline writer (not Witrado) didn't fully conceptualize it is meaningless.

[RU Rah Rah]

Another minor blog fiasco today for TH regarding Escobar's supposed marital problems. Yikes.

[DougJones43]

Sometimes I'm surprised Tom hasn't been fired. Badger Blogger fiasco last year. Repeated warnings from his superiors to stop childish bickering, and set aside the condescending tone he takes with most readers. As was mentioned, he vowed last year to stay out of the comments section, but he obviously can't help himself from jumping down in the mud.

 

Oh yeah, and he rarely has anything insightful to say. He constantly lapped up the meaningless "stats" and "knowledge" Ned Yost would spoon-feed him, and call it analysis. In addition to all of this, he continues to antagonize the JS customers. Enough is enough with this guy. He's unprofessional, unknowledgeable, uninspired, and uninteresting.

[homer]

Another minor blog fiasco today for TH regarding Escobar's supposed marital problems. Yikes.

Not really. There's just one guy questioning why the JS doesn't report on this stuff. Everyone else backs TH and the JS.

[tristarscoop]

The tone and the defensiveness, along with the old school, stuck in his ways manner in which Tom H comports himself reminds me of Yost so much it's not funny.

[Brian the Automator]

Another minor blog fiasco today for TH regarding Escobar's supposed marital problems. Yikes.

I'm disappointed that Tom wrote a blog post about this (although I'm MUCH more disappointed that Keith Law stated the stuff Escobar's wife emailed out as fact). We've [brewerfan] been sitting on this info for quite a while now (late January), as we were also included in the seemingly large number of outlets that Escobar's wife emailed. The whole thing was pretty shocking to us, since all we've heard about was how great a kid Escobar was.

 

Obviously, the only people that really know the facts here are the people that are close to the story (Alcides, his wife, and their familes). I wish media outlets would be more discrete about these kinds of things, especially when it's a he said/she said thing right now. We've sat on this kind of info before, because I really feel it's irresponsible journalism (not that we're even really held to journalism standards here).

 

While Tom could have handled the situation much worse, I really wish he would have not discussed it unless it has legal ramifications or ramifications to the club. It was bad enough while it was in a blog post at ESPN, but now it's going to serve as an even bigger distraction now that it's come to light in Milwaukee. And personally, I hope Alcides and his wife get stuff squared away. Even *if* she was lying about 100% of what she was saying, she's obviously hurting, big time... and since there's a child involved, I hope there's an amicable solution.

[logan82]

My favorite so far this year is the blogging about Lawrie's position switch to 2B when it was in a thread here for a few weeks before that. Oh, and the number of arbitration years Weeks had.

[TooLiveBrew]

Was Hornsby being an ass? Yes. Did Tom pick the worst way possible to deal with this? Yes.

 

Yeah, Tom really would do well to not participate in the public comments. He certainly has demonstrated that he isn't able to keep from getting into schoolyard interwebz warz. That wastes everyone's time, especially his employer's...

[RU Rah Rah]

Another minor blog fiasco today for TH regarding Escobar's supposed marital problems. Yikes.

I'm disappointed that Tom wrote a blog post about this (although I'm MUCH more disappointed that Keith Law stated the stuff Escobar's wife emailed out as fact).

The whole thing seemed odd to me. He claimed that the paper doesn't really concern itself with essentially non-baseball personal issues, etc. I completely agree with that -- especially in this case, when there appear to some credibility/objectivity issues involving the player's estranged wife. But then why in the world would he devote an entire blog posting to it? It just adds fuel to a story that the he claims to think is a non-story.

 

And could the headline be any worse? "Law talked to Escobar's estranged wife" sounds like she was interviewed by the police about something. (Honestly, that's what I thought I when I saw it.)

[1992casey]

I perceive a general lack of competence over at that paper. There's a really super-egregious English error by Anthony Witrado in yesterday's Escobar article. A copy reader definitely should have caught it. Still, it's the type of error that Anthony shouldn't have made in the first place. Heck, this paper couldn't even print my name right in my mom's obituary; the other major paper that published the obit had no trouble at all.

 

I will grant that Haudricourt seems to have his English skills down pat. His issues involve playing fast and loose with the facts or relying on his memory when he should be double-checking--not to mention the ability to remain civil when communicating with the readers.