I've always liked Mitch Albom. One of my favorite books as a kid was "The Fab Five" by Mitch Albom (this was during the time in my life when I wore blues and golds around the house and my birthday cake had a gigantic block 'M' in the middle). I read the book cover to cover, and when I finished it, I read it again. I remember watching "Sports Reporters" with my dad with Dick Schapp and Mitch Albom was always on. He was my Michigan guy before I ever lived in Michigan.
To be honest I've never heard a bad word about Albom. His books have always been highly praised, from "Tuesdays with Morrie" to "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". He's the veteran Detroit sports guy. I mean, who has more clout as a Michigan sports journalist? Hell, he might be considered the best journalist to come out of Michigan (one could argue).
But apparently there's another side to Albom- a side that is seen by his peers in the industry and one that paints Albom in a completely different light. I find it interesting that so many writers are finding their voice to speak out on Albom now, as opposed to any point in the last five years. Perhaps there's just strength in numbers, and all it takes is one to open the flood gate. Here's a few good articles (short reads) that speak about Albom:
1) Joe Posnanski, "The Atomic Albom"
2) Dave Kindred, "Raising a little hell about this year's Red Smith Award winner"
3) Jason Whitlock featured on "The Big Lead"
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A few points are made pretty clear from these articles:
1) Mitch Albom seemed to be an anti-social, and not well-liked amongst his fellow sports writers.
2) There is great resentment towards Albom because of his hypocrisy.
3) While there is a lot of anti-Albom sentiment amongst writers, many can still recognize the contributions Albom has made to sports journalism.
This was just a different side to Albom I had never known. I always felt he was looked at the same way I looked at him- as a legend.
I suppose he is still a legend, considering the numerous awards and recognitions he is still receiving. But he's not as well-liked of a legend as orginally thought. What's the sports equivalent of that? LeBron? A-Rod?
~Mikey D
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I do recall when I was in elementary or middle school, there was some kind of incident at the high school. I think it was some kind of racially charged incident. He wrote a story on it that was very overdramatized and lacked a lot of supporting facts. He said something like 'the issue divided the small town with a line drawn in the snow'. It really wasn't that big of a deal, but he was trying to make it into more than it was for the story. He also said something about us having a Taco Bell, but we didn't have one at the time.
I think he's ok, but I don't consider myself a fan (except for Tuesdays.. that was good).
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