View Full Version : Michael McGuire in the Sunday Mail
Did anyone else read new staffer Michael McGuire's account of the Adelaide/Collingwood game in today's Mail and think that this was the first time in living history that an Adelaide journalist managed to describe a game as if he or she had actually watched it?
There was only one paragraph with statistics.
There were no paragraphs using dumb quotes from the coaches.
There were no paragraphs using dry fake-scientific strategical analysis.
McGuire started his first column with wit and emotion and continued with some fine writing:
Professional miserabilists looking for evidence that football has gone to the dogs would have had a ball at AAMI Stadium last night. Adelaide was awful. Collingwood merely horrible...
Is this the dawning of a brave new era for Adelaide journalism?
kimirocks
7 Aug 2006, 03:08
Let's honestly just hope so.
RogerRabbit69
7 Aug 2006, 09:56
McGuire's a good writer, agreed ... he's been around the traps for ages.
Personally, I reckon match reports are a touch overrated. I honestly can't see the point in them if you've attended the match - or even if you've watched it on TV. Certainly, it's interesting to get someone else's spin on things. But reading a description of something I've sat down and watched for a couple of hours .... well, it doesn't add a whole lot to my footballing experience.
I'm interested in reading about something I couldn't work out for myself simply by watching the match .... like how serious is Burton's hamstring injury, is Dale Thomas OK, will Ricciuto start to spend more time in the midfield.
Having said all that, I still read pretty much every footy story that appears in the Tiser or Sunday Mail. But match reports - including the one written by Michael McGuire - seldom reveal anything we didn't already know.
arrowman
7 Aug 2006, 11:05
Yes, you're right John, that was the best match report from the TiserMail for a long time, I noticed that too.
My one criticism was that there was no mention of the Collingwood flood; he made it look a bit as though it was just a tight contest where Collingwood took on Adelaide at their own game.
I agree with Roger that the newspaper match reports are usually a waste of space - if you watched the game they tell you nothing new, if you didn't watch it they don't actually give you much feel for the game. But I acknowledge the tight deadline these guys have to work with. Don't forgat that McGuire would have had - what? maybe 30-40 minutes max to write that?
RogerRabbit69
7 Aug 2006, 12:02
It wasn't a criticism of Michael McGuire - I think he writes very well. It was more a general observation about match reports and their real value. I guess there's something in them if you didn't get to see the match (but I'm never in that situation).
Capitalist
7 Aug 2006, 12:10
Well I didn’t mind his article (as I missed most of the match) however from reading his article I got the feeling that the game has been tight and Adelaide had flooded and played prossesion football.
However talking to people at the game they mentioned that Collingwood flooded at every possible moement which lead to the game being fairly tight.
Saying that – has John K got a new Alias ? Trying to Replicate Eddie McGuire :D
Blind Fred
7 Aug 2006, 23:21
Can't agree about Michael's stuff. Tried hard but it must have been written by half-time. Lots of stuff in there that people with any deep knowledge of football would understand is off the mark.
RogerRabbit69
7 Aug 2006, 23:24
Well, he is Scottish apparently (or so I heard them say on radio).
It's good to read an opinion that is just that, an opinon; unlike others that have agenda's that they are trying to force.
McGuire started his first column with wit and emotion and continued with some fine writing:
Professional miserabilists looking for evidence that football has gone to the dogs would have had a ball at AAMI Stadium last night. Adelaide was awful. Collingwood merely horrible...
Is this the dawning of a brave new era for Adelaide journalism?
Those first few sentences put me off the whole article.
Those first few sentences put me off the whole article.
Yeah, ditto.