Bill Conlin Probably Just Shouldn't Use Email At All

At this point, the worst thing a "mainstream" reporter can do is make one of those dumb "I hate bloggers" comments. There's no upside to it; even if they're still an excellent reporter, they come across as crotchety, anachronistic and old. It's not really fair to them — it's not like bloggers are trashed by their colleagues every time they criticize a newspaper guy — but these are the rules we play under. But hey, it happens: Their arrogance sometimes gets the best of them.

Today's fun entry: The Philadelphia Daily News' Bill Conlin, who wrote a ridiculous column that mocked sabermatricians, a column that was amusingly taken apart Fire Joe Morgan. Crashburn Alley emailed Conlin, rather gently, all things considered, and his response was somewhat less measured.

Know what, pal? Bash this. . .Tell your bloggers, my career against theirs ...

After another followup email, which wasn't particularly mean either (and written by a Phillies fan who explicitly revealed himself as such), Conlin kept firing.

Don't you need to contact the 30 electors-including the two Mets beat writers-who failed to give write a single first place vote instead of a commentator who does not vote for the awards. You're a Mets fan and you had your little bubble of arrogance and smugness burst. Your team choked big time, an epic gagaroo. At least the 1964 Phillies had an excuse-they were probably no more than the Cardinals, Reds, Braves, Dodgers and Giants that year. One question: When a Mets team chokes in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a gagging sound? Next time bring more to the table than wishful fan numbers that bear no semblance to reality. I wonder how it feels to be the Phillies bitch

As bewildered as we might be reading a major metropolitan columnist act like a crazed message boarder, we can't get over the first "my career against theirs" comment. Well, Bill, since most bloggers don't do this full time, and work from passion and analytical thought that you haven't had in decades, many of them are actually quite successful, coming from professions as diverse as law, medicine and politics. You write a column nobody reads for a glorified suburban paper from a perspective beamed straight in from 1963. So Bill: We'd be real careful about that whole career comparison.

Conlin's Losing Numbers [Crashburn Alley]