Geoff Hobson

[tigershrimp]

I like the guy. He's the "road grader" of beat writers. Workaholic, too. I'm just wondering why every article ends with a one-sentence paragraph.

The Foschi piece's closer didn't work. Just sayin'. It's the compositional equivalent of an errant St. Louis snap.

Slow news day, so sue me. I've had opportunities to chat with fiction writers, journalists, PR folks, copywriters...the general idea is to mix it up, and the repetition of one-line closers screams "Deadline!" I'd like to see him end one with a paragraph that makes you want a cold longneck and a Marlboro.

[eakephas]

[battey60]

Originally Posted by tigershrimp

I like the guy. He's the "road grader" of beat writers. Workaholic, too. I'm just wondering why every article ends with a one-sentence paragraph.

The Foschi piece's closer didn't work. Just sayin'. It's the compositional equivalent of an errant St. Louis snap.

Slow news day, so sue me. I've had opportunities to chat with fiction writers, journalists, PR folks, copywriters...the general idea is to mix it up, and the repetition of one-line closers screams "Deadline!" I'd like to see him end one with a paragraph that makes you want a cold longneck and a Marlboro.

The guy writes alot of articles that are read by Fans that just want to hear about football. He isn't writing to impress the literary community. FAIL.

[tigershrimp]

Originally Posted by battey60

The guy writes alot of articles that are read by Fans that just want to hear about football. He isn't writing to impress the literary community. FAIL.

Meh. At least you didn't simply paste an emoticon. (Looking at you, eakephas.)

Just curious...do you feel the same way when you open a Sports Illustrated? When/if you read Paul Daugherty, or Chick Ludwig, or Hal McCoy? Are you as happy with the Gannon/Eagle broadcasts as you are the Nance/Simms?

You say "FAIL" pretty quickly, but think about it. What ARE your personal standards for sports information? Are you suggesting football fans should have none?

I could retort: "Carson throws a lot of balls. He isn't trying to impress the Monday Morning Quarterbacks. FAIL for analyzing his output last Sunday."

[CornerBlitz]

I'm not the biggest fan of hobson either but it really has nothing to do with this literary skills. I just dont like how he always spins everything. Every personnel move the bengals make he defends and never criticizes. I wish he was more balanced with his articles and predictions but what do u expect if ur employer is Mike Brown.

[tigershrimp]

Originally Posted by CornerBlitz

I'm not the biggest fan of hobson either but it really has nothing to do with this literary skills. I just dont like how he always spins everything. Every personnel move the bengals make he defends and never criticizes. I wish he was more balanced with his articles and predictions but what do u expect if ur employer is Mike Brown.

I really wasn't trying to bag him. He weaves this terrific human interest piece about "Who The Foschi Is This Dude?" through Los Angeles and Kansas City and friggin Florence, Italy, but he ends it with a stray thought. IMO, he belted out an off-key note.

What's more interesting is how quickly this thread was yanked from Jungle Noise! They don't mind 20 "Fire Bratkowski" threads...but this one got exactly 2 hits and it was whiplashed outta there!



I'm pretty much a homer, so I'm all about the spin. I'm even curious to read how he spins the disastrous into the optimistic. The guy's good at it, and they give him plenty to work with (heh heh). I wonder if he's his own editor?

[djam]

I like Hobs. Sure he can't just "tell it like it is" all of the time because he's a team employee, but he does a good job of putting out the right article at the right time. When fans are on here asking questions about a player or team or, status--something, there is usually a Hobson article touching on that very subject soon after. You gotta love that. I'm so glad we got him instead of some generic web guy who just spews out updates or syndicated content.

Geoff is a good writer, and maybe he ends in a one sentence paragraph sometimes, but it's the content that matters most to me, personally. Of course I respect others who disagree. We all have styles that we like. TigerShrimp is just expressing his thoughts on that format. No harm no foul. We all say 'Who Dey' in the end....

[tigershrimp]

Originally Posted by djam

Geoff is a good writer, and maybe he ends in a one sentence paragraph sometimes, but it's the content that matters most to me, personally. Of course I respect others who disagree. We all have styles that we like. TigerShrimp is just expressing his thoughts on that format. No harm no foul. We all say 'Who Dey' in the end....

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Joe Reedy could actually learn quite a bit from Geoff. That said, my guy is P-Doc. Paul Daugherty is a great writer. Strong voice. "Literary," I guess.

I tried to be constructive starting the thread, but it came off like I'm an insufferable d-bag. I appreciate you posting "no harm, no foul." Thanks. I read that Foschi article and found myself muttering "no, no, no" at the end. ::shrug::

[Toy Cannon]

Originally Posted by CornerBlitz

I'm not the biggest fan of hobson either but it really has nothing to do with this literary skills. I just dont like how he always spins everything. Every personnel move the bengals make he defends and never criticizes. I wish he was more balanced with his articles and predictions but what do u expect if ur employer is Mike Brown.

I beg to differ.

Hobson wrote at least twice that he disagreed with the release of Brian Simmons. Try finding on another team's web site where the team writer says he doesn't like one of his team's transactions.

When we played the Steelers last Oct 19, he reported that even though Roethlisberger was the NFL's most sacked quarterback, the Bengals couldn't managed a single sack. You say he "always spins everything", but I don't see any spin there. He accurately described what happened, even though it portrayed the team in a bad light.

Last year in the Houston game, when Johnathan Joseph failed to touch Kevin Walter down, and let him get up and score a touchdown, Hobson reported that Marvin called it "as poor a play as you can have on an NFL field." That's not spin, that's what happened.

When the team plays bad, which is often, he reports all the sorry details, the fumbles, the dropped passes, the missed tackles.

I think Hobson is one of the most independent of all the NFL team writers. I have yet to see anyone post a link to an article on another team's website and say, "Why can't we have articles like this?"

[eoxyod]

I think the Jags writer is probably the most independent of all the writers, but Hobson DOES actually disagree with personnel. Of course when we make a signing, draft a player, or whatever, he'll make them seem better than they are. He's reporting for the Cincinnati Bengals on the Cincinnati Bengals owned site. What do you think he should do?

[BengalOnTheLake]

Hobson's content is always fairly deep and interesting, but I just feel like he muddles his words sometimes. He's trying to get fancy when he doesn't need to. It can really break the flow of his articles and makes me want to stop reading.

[alac]

I enjoy reading his articles, they are highly engaging. But, I feel like we just aren't getting enough content updates - no doubt, I get a little obsessive with checking for updates (but I think we all do, which is evident because here we all are on the message boards, talking bengals talk to satisfy our cravings) but maybe they should hire some extra writers for the website? I've taken a look at a couple other team websites, they seem to have way more updates than we do.

I don't know. Just my 2 cents.

Pssst... I'll write some articles for you Hobson if it means more updates. Though, I'm a little far away to be as engaged with the team as you are


As a side note,

I'll be making the trip to Cinci for the game against the Ravens, looking forward to a beatdown, and proving once again, we are the better team this year. Who Dey!

[ShovelheadT]

A lot of it has to do with him being an employee of the team. We're never going to get full, unabashed info from this site.

[Megalicious23]

You guys have no idea what it's like to be a beat writer. I'd love to see any of you write something half as decent as the articles Hobson puts out.

[Bengal Dude]

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

You guys have no idea what it's like to be a beat writer. I'd love to see any of you write something half as decent as the articles Hobson puts out.

Meg, what would happen if Hobson asked you to make him some pancakes?

[Megalicious23]

Originally Posted by Bengal Dude

Meg, what would happen if Hobson asked you to make him some pancakes?

I give him a box of cereal..

[Bengal Dude]

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

I give him a box of cereal..

Going to impress him with those mad milk pouring skillz?

[Megalicious23]

Originally Posted by Bengal Dude

Going to impress him with those mad milk pouring skillz?

Who needs pancake skillz when you've got mad writing skills?

[Bengal Dude]

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

Who needs pancake skillz when you've got mad writing skills?

So should we be expecting Megalicious Online Q&A anytime soon?

[Megalicious23]

Originally Posted by Bengal Dude

So should we be expecting Megalicious Online Q&A anytime soon?

Not anytime soon, but wouldn't that be amazing?!

[wildcats forever]

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

I give him a box of cereal..

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

Who needs pancake skillz when you've got mad writing skills?

Nobody does breakfast food smack better than you Meg

[ishouldbegm]

google images

[Megalicious23]

Originally Posted by ishouldbegm

google images

you're really nerdy looking.

[ishouldbegm]

Originally Posted by Megalicious23

you're really nerdy looking.

so i guess you and i can't get together anytime soon?