Wednesday, November 22, 2006

This is bad boys, bad boys


For anyone who thinks athletes are generally overpaid and oftentimes corrupt, there's a web site for you. It's called BadJocks.com and it's slogan is "Where COPS Meets Sportscenter."

This web site has a particular connection to Northwestern.

It broke the Wildcats women's soccer hazing scandal. And it's always looking to strap onto the next jock who does something "bad" and enters the ring of controversy. (Too many sports puns?)

This might be citizen journalism at its finest. Bob Reno, the head honcho at BadJocks.com, is standing by any time an athlete gets a DUI or a high school coach becomes embroiled in a sex scandal.

Check out the website at www.badjocks.com to get a blow-by-blow of the latest hazing scandal - insert Quinnipiac University baseball team here.

The web site seems part blog, part jounalistic and part voyeuristic.

Just about any former athlete can attest to hazing rituals or things a team does that the team would rather not mention. Now there's a web site that puts all of that front and center.

To any former jocks out there, what do you think of that?

And to all of us journalists, is this journalism or is Bob Reno just capitalizing off of stupid athletes? And is there anything wrong with that?

#12

2 Comments:

At Sunday, November 26, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This website is not good citizen journalism, it's advertising and, oftentimes, sexual advertising: "Calendar Pics of Sexy Lady Golfers Too Hot for Charity." While their headlines are meant to poke fun at sports, for the first time visiter, he or she may not pick up on that so quickly. The site is meant to be sarcastic, but it doesn't do the best job at that. It seems to focus on "soft" stories in favor of "hard" stories that are more difficult to attack. Another headline reads, "Crazed Squirrel Attacks Letter Carrier," which has absolutely nothing to do with sports. If you're going to have a website that's critical of sports (aka "bad jocks") then at least do that. Show some consistency in subject matter. This site missed the goal on that one.

 
At Sunday, November 26, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that this website is capitalizing on a sports/entertainment niche that many people are very interested in.

As a former college athlete, it doesn't really bother me...sports really has become a form of entertainment and the athletes are like hollywood stars.

Like it or not, people love gossip about athletes. This may or may not be considered journalism...I am not sure about that.

 

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