Chambers makes mountain out of molehill, freaks out about size of mountain

Generally, I've preferred Mike Chambers's Avalanche coverage over Adrian Dater's... he seems (in my opinion anyway) to have a bit more knowledge of how the game is played (not that this is a requirement for a sportswriter, but it helps), and resorts a bit less often to the subjective, I-statement writing than Dater does. Lately, however, they seem to be coming together near the middle, and I'm not entirely sure how much of this is Dater improving, and how much is Chambers slipping.

If Chambers has a blind spot, it's Ryan O'Reilly, of whom he gushes at nearly every opportunity. Today's comment is on a recent blog entry in which Chambers explores the fact that O'Reilly, a restricted free agent, has yet to agree to a contract with the Avalanche.

Odds and Ends

Hello! Here are a few brief (we can only hope) grades for some recent work found on the Denver Post. Enjoy!

Deadmarsh, Lefebvre looking set to return

Few people remember what
great, great hair this guy had

In this blog, Adrian Dater uses some very odd logic to explain why he believes that Avalanche assistant coaches Adam Deadmarsh and Sylvain Lefebvre will be with the team next season. He begins by explaining that the Avalanche do not allow their assistants to speak to the press, nor do they announce any upcoming coaching changes. "For instance, if an assistant coach is not coming back, they will not release that information publicly." With him so far? He then tells us that when he asked somebody (he doesn't say whom) about Deader and Lefebvre, he was met with silence. His conclusion from that is, oddly enough, that they are coming back... despite the fact that he just wrote that when the Avs say nothing, it usually means a coach isn't coming back.

Confused? You're not the only one. When a few commenters questioned this very issue and raised a couple very good points about it, the response was the tired-out "It's a blog, he can write whatever he wants." Even Dater (or somebody using his name, anyway) himself chimed in, writing "I just love getting lectures on "accountability" from people who don't use their real name." Well, even though a blog can be used to inject some more opinion into things than would be proper in a regular article, a blog is not an excuse for amateurish journalism from a professional journalist, whether he uses his real name or not.

Grading Mike Chambers

AD, the spotlight's off you today!

Yes, this blog is titled "Grading Dater," and for as long as Adrian Dater is the primary Avalanche beat reporter, it will stay that way. Besides, it's catchy in a way that "Grading the Denver Post" just isn't. However, Dater is not the only writer at the Denver Post who covers the Avalanche; Mike Chambers chimes in from time to time, and because the real goal here is to improve (or failing that, to complain about) the local media coverage of the Avalanche rather than to just rip on Dater all the time, it's time to give AD a break, and take a look at Chambers' work for a while.

I can practically hear Dater's sigh of relief from here!