Column not a fun read

Every morning I look forward to reading the Sports page with my cup of coffee. However, last Sunday it wasn’t much fun as I read another poorly written article by John Blanchette, The Mr. Know-it-All of The Spokesman-Review Sports Section. (“Whatever happened to Josh Heytvelt, anyway?)

Does anyone know if Mr. Know-it-All was an exceptional athlete in his younger years that allows him to have such high expectations for everyone else? He hates Tyrone Willingham, loves to berate Cougars football, and now his victim is a 20-year-old college basketball player from Gonzaga.

Mr. Know-it-All seems to relish the opportunity to kick a man when he is down. He hides behind his column to elevate his ego. He jumps on the bandwagon when the local teams are winning and condemns them when they’re not. As a sports fan, I have no respect for such a bully.

I love reading articles by sportswriters like the late Mike Royko, Rick Reilly and Mitch Albom. Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times is a great Northwest sportswriter. These professional writers usually provide an informative positive message and if they incite controversy, they make it fun. This is what makes them great sportswriters. Everyone knows we get enough negativity in the daily news so their sports articles can be a great diversion.

Maybe there is hope for Mr. Know-it-All. He could start by taking a few doses of humility and apologize to the 20-year-old kid at Gonzaga and explain to him that he used poor judgment in writing a stupid article about him. If he chooses not to, maybe he’ll end up wherever (former S-R cartoonist Milt) Priggee went and as readers we can someday ask, “What ever happened to John Blanchette?” On second thought, I doubt anyone would care to ask.

David Parks

Spokane