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If you're a moderate to die-hard Red Sox fan you no doubt visit BostonDirtDogs.com on a regular basis. If you've been paying attention to the site through this still-young spring training you've read the comment from Nomar Garciaparra, after being asked about the championship ring he would getting for his participation last season, supposedly said "I don't want it. They can keep it." Ouch, Nomah!
It gets a little more messy — the folks at Boston Sports Media Watch feel that such "reporting" was based on unsubstantiated facts, and hearsay, because a random woman who overheard "Nomaaah" in Ariz. emailed BDD to pass Nomar's word on. BSM states that the lack of research and verification of the facts is akin to a slap in the collective Boston Globe face, effectively humiliating their sports department.
From where Bostonist stands, a little background might help some put this in a little more perspective. Last May Dirtdogs was acquired by Boston.com in a bid to bridge the gap between their big-time parent publication, the Boston Globe, and the insatiable Boston Red Sox fanbase. What better way to reach out to the fans than to embrace the voice of one of their own? Enter Steve Silva, Mr. Dirtdog himself. In running the most popular Sox-centric Blog out there he reported on the things he knew the fans wanted to hear. When he was acquired by Boston.com he made it a point to say nothing would change in regards to the content on the website, and up till now there hasn't been any evidence of that.
This begs the question - where does the responsibility now lie? Is Dirtdogs obligated to abandon their voice-of-the-fan blogging roots and strive to be the next Bob Ryan or Peter Gammons? Or do we let sleeping (dirt)dogs lie, take the incoming bits of gossip with a grain of salt, and have a good time discussing our beloved Olde Towne Team?
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this raises all kinds of ethical questions about publishing and standards that i am not smart enough to talk about, so basically i have nothing to add other than BDD is a ridiculous site and if anyone takes it seriously then there are problems.
Watching the Cubs/Rangers game yesterday, the broadcast crew noted that Nomar called them to emphatically deny the story, and said he was honored to be getting a ring. Who knows the real story? (and who reads Dirt Dogs for the "facts"?)