Comcast Sportsnet Baseball Kickoff

I’d stick with your own rosin bag, Grant

Serious answer, though: you answered your own question by feeling kinda uncomfortable having close access to the Giants bigwigs, even for the duration of a luncheon. Having access might make for some interesting posts, but all of the sudden you’re beholden to the guy who gives you the “Eugenio Velez really wants to be a long reliever” scoop. Distance isn’t good, distance is great. And it’s what makes this site so enjoyable.

Besides, Sabes might not get your Truman Capote reference. Although Flem definitely would.

Um Grant SOU is NAIA div. II I know this because my college (Oregon Institute of Technology) is in the same conference and just swept a weekend series while SOU lost therefore pretty much taking taking the conference title away from SOU. But did you really go to SOU or was that just a joke?

i don’t see why you can’t have the best of both worlds. get the invites. schmooze. become a part of the in crowd, and then blow it up from the inside, firecracker-style. to paraphrase a great man:
 
don’t live the button-down life. want it all: the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the
creamy middles. Sure, you might offend a few of the bluenoses with your cocky stride
and musky odors — oh, you’ll never be the darling of the so-called “City Fathers” who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and talk about “What’s to be done with this Grant Brisbee?”

you are there to report what your audience wants to know; so get to know barry zito, have him open up to you about his deepest fears of failure, then threaten to rip him apart on your blog if he doesn’t join your church. it’s how things are done now man.

I’m here for the Bocock jokes

Just keep your toe on the rubber. Or something.

Grant, we love you just the way you are – tiny rosin bag and all.

One of the reasons I come here is because you do not have a press pass. Well that, and xanthan’s excellent computational skills :-)

It’s hard to be objective when the guy giving you the information can cut it off if he doesn’t like what you say. That whole “self preservation” thing always gets in the way.

Keep up the good work.

People still use Geocities?

I think getting an interview with Neukom or Sabean would be great and I would think they’d appreciate a chance to prove to a select audience that they do look at things more like we do than we tend to think.

The recent revelation of the “stat guy” is an example of something the mainstream media probably never cared enough to ask about.

The ultimate would be an interview with Sabes with reasonable question submitted by all of us like “What advanced stats do you use most when evaluating trade prospects?” or “How many years out do you think about payroll implications?” etc.

The thing that makes this site great is the whip smart humor that you just don’t get from John Shea. He might know which middle reliever is afraid to take the mound, thus losing Boch’s confidence, but he and the other beat writers play it straight. The inside guys don’t write from the fan’s perspective, they write from the team’s perspective.

Lowry & Sanchez wrestling? I’d pay to see that…

Alright, fess up Goofus, you made this comment on Schulman’s post didnt you?

this blog is perfect, but if you’re looking for change….
why not just join forces with someone who wears a different hat than you?
Baggs, perhaps? he’s got access, you’ve got that thing you do so grantly.
now make with the laugh laugh

This is a total STUG post.

This is a question I face just about everyday at work. I don’t come here to deal with work issues, this is where I go to avoid them.

Follow your gut here.
We now have 2-3 profession writers that seem open to finding answers for us if we ask in semi coherent voice using mostly polite tones (Baggs & Fletcher). What we don’t have is many places to talk about our team were a water cannon isn’t needed to subdue the chuckle heads.

You should do whatever you’re comfortable with. An occasional interview with a reporter or an executive would be cool — as you’ve done in the past, I think — but I wouldn’t worry about it.

You’re voice is an important one for many of us. I suspect I’ll keep reading as long you keep writing.

I forgot about that ballhype article, so now it made me laugh again. huzzah!

I would love to accompany Grant to one of these things as his PR guy/point person. Having a right-hand man* would make him seem far more important and probably give him the confidence to act like he belongs.

*Before any of you crack jokes, I’m left-handed

As cool as the idea of having an interview with Sabean or Neukom or the like, I think the fact that there’s some distance is a good thing.

if you want to be a journalist “when you grow up” then you should take advantage of this platform and do some news.

If you’re running this site for shits and giggles then don’t change anything.

Another Brisbee classic. Pure poetry.

If you couldn’t criticism them like you do, the site would be worse for it. I do think it would be cool for you have interviews with people, but not to the point where it would ever censor your content.

The Giants should be seeking YOU out to speak with the fans. Since you were invited to the Comcast Luncheon and I have seen McC referenced on Giants broadcasts, it seems like they are making some sort of effort, but they really need to try and put a better public face forward.

Sabean talking to you would be loved by fans and would probably be far more informative (although not as entertaining) as his interviews with BArbieri. I bet Sabean would himself would even prefer it if given the chance

I’d love to have some interview stuff, but not from people deep in the organization. Try and interview the beat writers, or maybe try and find the assistant to the traveling secretary. They’re usually free.

They ask too many questions. I like Grant because he forces you to think the way he does and then laugh at his jokes.

Press Pass? You don’t need no stinking press pass…. The reason why most of us come here is because your funny, man… You think I read Shulman, Verducci, and that creep on ESPN that homers for the Red Sox cause they’re funny? HELL NO!!! I come here and get a mix of comedy, baseball and an occasional piece of hilarity known as MS Paint, and no press pass in the world can substitute a good sense of humor and baseball knowledge.

Besides, I think there’s some journalistic (is that a word?) unwritten rule that once you get a press pass you can no longer use MS Paint,…. F-that!!

There’s nothing wrong with creating a genre. Nobody thought humor and science fiction blended together would be successful till Douglas Adams did it. So you are a pioneer of satirical baseball infotainment. Don’t change a thing!

Now is a great time to be an obsessed baseball fan.

You’ve got Grant combining Choose-Your-Own-Adventure with reasoned analysis, Henry Schulman and Andy Baggarly covering the games and front office, El Lefty Malo for caption contests, xanthan for stats, Fletcher entering the blogging world …

It creates a rich discussion, and I’m enjoying baseball more than ever.

And, of course, there are incredibly intelligent, clever and funny people hanging out here at all hours of the day and night.

I dunno if there’s an advantage to having a press pass for access. Brian Sabean wouldn’t talk to me and I had the green AFL press pass sticking out of my pocket.

As for the question about when and if bloggers will get the same access as the writers, I guess it depends. A media relations guy with of the Giants minor league affiliates once told me he usually didn’t extend press credentials to blogs, but he was happy to work with SF Dugout because we do good work. SF Dugout isn’t a blog, but he thought it was. Whatever. We still get in. With the way the media is going, newspapers and other print sources dying and the Internet taking on a bigger role, who knows?

I’m officially a member of the loathsome professional journalism ranks come April. Let them throw garbage at me, Grant. Continue to have fun and write great stuff—it’s what you do best.

Better to have the credentials and not use them, than want the credentials and not have them. Seriously Grant, get the press pass… what is the downside? It would be good for your career and overall development as a journalist. (BTW, my grandfather is in the broadcasting hall of fame, and I am currently V.P of a broadcast media group, so I’m not just talking out of my ass here).

Your writing is stellar, it couldn’t be better. If you feel your “mingling skills” (interaction with Giants players/brass/fellow journalists) could use some improvement, then this is the next logical step for your career and this blog. Good luck with it all.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you want the blog to stay the way it’s been since I joined (read: hilarious and a great place to read/talk about the Giants), then you don’t need to do anything different. If you want to move on and try something different (nothing wrong there), then go for it.

I, for one, don’t think you need a press pass. Quite frankly, I think if you got a press pass I’d probably stop coming here so often. I love blogs because they allow normal fans to write what they think to a very very large audience without having to worry about stepping on egos or hurting feelings.

You rulez, Grant!

I never had any hesitance for trying to get a press pass, and I tried for years to get one from the Giants as we struggled as the peon lapdogs of the Fox-owned corporate black hole known as Scout. We had gotten some from the minor league squads, but the major league team didn’t even bother to turn us down; they just didn’t return our calls. Finally, one spring, I got a callback. It wasn’t a yes, but one of the Giants’ media guys was impressed with a bit of my knowledge, specifically, noting that Brian Anderson was no fireballing closer like some thought he was. So I laid down a nice little ancedote about how the closer whom Anderson set-up for at Long Beach ended up being Anderson’s 8th-inning guy in the California League All-Star Game.

Boom. Major League Press Pass.

I won’t lie, the first day there scared the crap out of me. I stood around the clubhouse, barely talking to anyone but the media guys, intimidated. I could barely talk to anyone. Down in the photog’s booth, I nearly got my head taken off by a Ray Durham foul shot.

I got over it. I had nice short talks with guys like Aurilia and Ortiz. Longer talks with the younger guys, who did know my stuff. A couple of the ‘big’ writers were nice…others, not so much.

Since then, the Press Pass has been a burden, but more to perform and ‘earn’ it than anything. That first day was more a waking up that getting the press pass wasn’t the culmination of my dreams; it was a challenge to prove I was worthy of them. I’d like to think I’ve earned it. I’ve never been pressured to uptalk anyone. I actually had one media contact imply it was no problem if I was negative in my comments.

Thats not to say all people are okay with it. I’ve had players not happy with what I’ve written. I know who the assholes are. But I choose not to write about them. It’s not worth it. It’s not like the teams don’t know who they are, and they have never once asked, implied or otherwise that I not write about them. They have even explicitly apologized for them. But that sort of publishing isn’t for me.

For what I do, and want to do, is inform. I don’t have the talent for humor that Grant does. But I enjoy sharing stories of players, and informing people of the minors in a way that the access of a press pass can only grant. I take that pretty seriously…at times, I feel, more seriously than some ‘big’ writers.

Press Pass access won’t give anyone the access to the players or execs many people want to hear from or enjoy. They can, and probably will, refuse to talk or give any juicy tidbits, and even with such access, you very well may feel the pressure to not ask anything tough. And that might turn people against you…as many have accused me of being a fluff journalist for not asking said questions.

Grant, for you, I wouldn’t want you to become a regular in the clubhouse/press box gang. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I think it’s the outside-the-club perspective that makes you great. That said, I would definitely think that you would give a great interview for guys like Neukom, Sabes, or anyone else. For the same reason…you’re outside the box with nothing to lose.

That said…if you could ever hear Jon Miller cracking old baseball stories with scouts…only to be interrupted by some old guy named Lon Simmons to tell his old stories….wow. Yes. I’m still a fan, somehow.

 in other words give it a shot—of course I personally am having the same debate with myself about working up the nerve to ask the Defenders for a pass this season .

Greg if they did not get you one I think they are crazy. But then in my opinion minor league ball has a much stronger Bill Veeck tradition of embracing what might work before it’s proven.

First step: Press pass
Second step: Pay site
Third step: HOF vote
Fourth step: Someone writes a blog about what an idiot you are.

/cue montage scene

Grant, I encourage you to do what you want in your career— you are a great guy and a great writer, and I know how to discern both of those things. So this is from a purely selfish point of view: please don’t pursue access. It is killing modern journalism, and maybe it already has. (The other cause of death of modern journalism, like shooting a guy who is already falling off a skyscraper, is their mania for pretending to offer equivalence as if that’s objectivity, but that’s another rant.)

First, I would point out that there is plenty of data or data-like things out there; I’m not sure we need someone else to offer that. What IS missing is great op-ed stuff, great analysis or perspective or just sheer fun with the information we can already get.

Second, it is so common that when correspondents (sorry, I choke on the word “reporters” when it comes to most sports writing) get the press pass, they get unconsciously but inexorably co-opted a bit. They spend time with these guys, so they don’t want to hurt or insult people they now know. They also want to preserve their next opportunity to talk with the guy. That is what sucks. It has killed almost all important reporting about politics and government. I don’t think it’s conscious; I don’t think anyone says, “Hey, I think I’ll shill for the corporation that has deemed me Worthy!”

But perspective is a funny tricky thing. If you’re too far away from something, you can’t see it at all. If you’re right up next to it, you can only see a little piece of it. At varying distances in between, you can see it close enough to get a version of the truth of it, but not so close that you miss that bigger view. Looking at an impressionist painting provides the same experience. Up close, it’s mismatched dots and gaps and the occasional hair of a Parisian hooker from the Left Bank, near the Sorbonne, but she’s not really a student, more like a - oh, sorry, nevermind.

I think you provide something far more valuable than yet more data and information that is probably already available elsewhere: you offer informed perspective, well written op-ed, and analysis from the point of view of someone who cares and is knowledgeable. I think Jeff Fletcher offers some great cautionary advice up there, and BruteSentiment offers some good texture. I think they’re telling you what you already know or else you wouldn’t have written this essay: Gaining access is a trade-off, and the upside of that trade-off is not so clearly greater than the cost of it. I personally think the opposite, that cost > gain.

I saw this on CSN a few days ago too, at least the edited “highlight reel” portions of it. No Grant as far as i could tell, although I did just catch the end.