Sean Avery Fiasco -- John MacKinnon: Get over yourself

The Publishing Rules Media Covering the NHL

Player F-bombs? Not published in the newspaper.

Coach explosions? Sometimes.

Sean Avery? Without exception.

With all due respect to John MacKinnon and his professional career as a journalist, his article "Avery crosses line -- again" is exactly the sad, crappy reporting I was talking about in my post yesterday. This is the same cardboard cutout version splashed across sports sections across North America that attempts to dismiss Avery's call to attention as self aggrandizing while simultaneously maintaining that call to attention by publishing all his words in a shamelessly self-contradicting manner.

This sad excuse for journalism is why Sean Avery gets "the sort of media attention he seems to believe is his due" in all the newspapers and media.

Why would Avery make a point of saying something so base mere minutes after his own coach, Dave Tippett, a good man acting in good faith, defended the Dallas Stars' agitating winger, suggesting coverage of Avery's history of misbehaviour was overblown?

I'll tell you why: he just proved his point by the subsequent attention that was thrown his way. And you media yuppies all ate it up.

So get a grip on yourself John MacKinnon, I know it just makes you feel better about yourself to pick on Sean Avery because it makes you feel morally superior. If you don't think its newsworthy, don't write about it. If you're going to report the story then don't judge the subjects involved - they're giving you something to do. But by God, don't lecture about something you're making a big deal about when the lecture was about how small a deal it should be, otherwise you're the pot calling the kettle black.

For the record, I don't think the NHL is in the wrong to take action against Sean Avery. But the people who cover the story make their own responsible decisions about what they print and what they report and if they don't make a good one, they're no different than Sean Avery.