How backward and out of touch is Orange County Register sportswriter Mark Whicker?
Sunday afternoon he reported the Paul Konerko-to-Anaheim via Adrian Gonzalez-to- White Sox rumors. The one where the Angels surrender great prospects to the Padres for one year of an arthritic has-been.
The wholly false rumor, contemptible alone because there is no place to even put Konerko on the Angels, is the product of offseason speculation sprouting wings as "rumor" on days when there is nothing left to report and reporters are even to lazy to look at the needs of the teams they involve in their exotic fantasy threesomes.
But Whicker's sin is not in repeating a piece-of-dirt rumor... no his complete oafish incomprehension that online reporting has whizzed so far past him and made him a relic of a bygone time is evident in the mere fact that he is linking to a six day old piece-of-dirt rumor. Can someone please wake up the Dodo bird?

And when Whicker is not repeating week-old garbage (probably has to fill a bullsheet "freedomblogging" quota), he can play the stereotypical "old school" retarded sportswriter better than most... check out his defense of "Wins" as important for a pitcher's postseason awards worthiness and the retorts from the peanut gallery.
I hate to pick on writers with fewer readers than this blog. Well... actually, I kind of enjoy it.
UPDATE: Just found that the same Angels Blog REPORTED THE RUMOR and pronounced it mockworthy within a day of the rumor breaking. Mark Whicker doesn't even read his own paper's Angels coverage. What a hack amateur.
0 recs | 36 comments
Is it even close?
The man wrote crap about Jaycee Dugard.
vlad IS my man - November 22, 2009
Bloom and Youngman are alright
And Whicker bugs me but not as much as Miller.
TheAntiSox - November 22, 2009
Jeff Miller that is
TheAntiSox - November 22, 2009
To be fair
Due to budget cuts, reporters and columnists at the Register no longer have access to the global interwebs. Whicker just heard the rumor the other day.
George Kaplan - November 22, 2009
ha ha ha
probably read it on an i-phone over someone’s shoulder at downtown disney…
Rev Halofan - November 22, 2009
So tough to choose
I went back and forth, but ultimately settled on Miller. Both play the same tired old button-pushing roles, but at least Whicker has a semi-reasonable thought every now and then. Miller’s crap is simply unreadable.
dmhead - November 22, 2009
He wants to be a sensationalist.
Get credit for being unreal in his postings, and maybe plug some east coast in there. Then get hired for that opening at ESPN Baseball Tonight that some previous Angel hater ass of a man screwed up, and then got fired.
eyespy - November 23, 2009
Yes - homely old Jeff Miller would pretty much have to be an ESPN star
to ever attract a man-chick like Steve Phillips’ mistress.
Rev Halofan - November 23, 2009
Sam Miller, on the other hand, is very good
mattwelch - November 23, 2009
Mr. Welch speaks the truth.
halofan4life - November 23, 2009
Yes he is!
Clutch - November 23, 2009
Any relation, btw?
Clutch - November 23, 2009
I'm going with Miller.
Whicker can be at least readable. Miller, on the other hand, is consistently a douchebag.
halofan4life - November 23, 2009
Well, being an advocate for child rape does boost his online readership.
clover_black - November 23, 2009
growing up i used to think whicker was pretty good but the internets
has really exposed him and many others to be hacks who are contributing factors why the newspaper biz is going down the krapper.
thejd - November 23, 2009
Where is the 5th Option!!!
All of the Above!!!
Whicker is one of the reasons why I stopped watching Burning with Rome. Since Rome keeps having an idiot as a guest, I can’t stand to watch the show anymore.
Angelfan1983 - November 23, 2009
He should frame his story with a joke about teenage suicide or something
Brew Angel - November 23, 2009
Where is the Sam Miller option?
jk
blochead - November 23, 2009
Mark Whicker
The Ben Affleck of sportswriters
blochead - November 23, 2009
I was gonna say
Keanu Reeves
TheAntiSox - November 23, 2009
Whoa.
red floyd - November 23, 2009
yah because this is so important
grow up or kys
TheAngelsAngels - November 23, 2009
Hey Mark
I see you found how the internets work! You might to try out some other websites since it’s your first time.
www.youlefttheyard.com
www.rapeisajoke.org
MH252525 - November 23, 2009
Could we have a list of sportswriters who are actually good?
I personally would have no idea. Are there that many good ones? Could anyone here compile a top 10 list maybe? That might be something cool for the off-season…
Monkeyspanked - November 23, 2009
Sam Miller
red floyd - November 23, 2009
Mike DiGiovanna
From the LA Times,
Bill Plunkett from the OCR is pretty good too.
WiHaloFan - November 24, 2009
Bill Dwyre
constantly entertains and informs me.
wumbug - November 24, 2009
Eric Neel at ESPN is great*, ex-LATer Tim Brown at Yahoo is quite good
mattwelch - November 24, 2009
Disclosure:
no disclosures needed.
Rev Halofan - November 24, 2009
Better to err on the side of TMI, I always say. Now about that night w/ cupie....
mattwelch - November 25, 2009
Tim Brown
I enjoy his writing quite a bit. His style reminds me quite a bit of my own from my sportswriting days. Agree re: Neel as well.
jjackflash - November 24, 2009
Steven A. Smith
(Totally kidding)
Higz - November 24, 2009
(He's totally awesome)
linkbruin - November 24, 2009
Quite frankly
(he sucks)
Higz - November 25, 2009
validity of a rumor or not
i don’t understand how anyone can logically think this makes sense.
the chisox get gonzales, the padres get a shit load of prospects and somehow we end up with konerko, who we don’t even need now with the emergence of kendry.
whicker or not, how could a reporter even think about posting this?
retrohalo - November 23, 2009
Yeah. But we get GRANDERSON!
Stirrups - November 23, 2009
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