SITTING WITH SCOUTS

I first “met” veteran left-hander C.J. Nitkowski back in the days when there was a Baseball Weekly, as I wrote a feature about his involvement with this weird thing called “the internet” and how he would, when he wasn’t pitching, write stories (they’d probably now be called “blogs”) about baseball life.

If C.J. didn’t invent the Internet like Al Gore did, he did at least help pioneer the potential for interactivity between players and the rest of the world.

In the years since then, well, I don’t have to tell you how the advent of the world online has changed every facet of baseball journalism. You’re reading my Tumblr. Or maybe my Twitter feed that connects to my Tumblr.

The connectivity and availability of info has been a big boon for reporters, media and fans alike.

It’s also, in my opinion, had more than a little negative effect on the world of sports journalism.

But you don’t have to listen to/read my thoughts on how … because in his terrific blog, C.J. Nitkowski pretty much sums up everything I hate about what has happened to the coverage of baseball since the advent of these newfangled interwebz things.

And he does it even-handedly — acknowledges the good, but nails the bad.

Thanks C.J.