49ers Writer Matt Maiocco On His Sports Fandom
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 11:30 AM PDT
in San Francisco 49ers News
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PrintEvery so often questions will pop as to who exactly Matt Maiocco is fan of in the NFL. Some folks think he's a 49ers fan, while others have never been too sure. Well, earlier today Matt put together an interesting post in which he discusses his sports fan history. Some of you may not care about this kind of stuff, but I find it intriguing given how close he is to the team with his job.
In writing about the 49ers here at Niners Nation I've never viewed it as a stepping stone to some journalism job. I know other bloggers who do this kind of thing because they want to eventually be the next Bill Simmons, or Peter King, or whatever. For me, I enjoy talking about the 49ers and I like having my own little milk box to discuss the team.
Over the almost four years I've been writing here at Niners Nation the 49ers have always been great to work with in terms of getting access as a blogger. They include me in press releases they send out and they've always been cool about hooking me up with access whether it be attending training camp or interviewing Jed York. We've had brief discussions about potentially covering games from the press box, but honestly I don't view myself as press and I personally love the feeling of writing about the game after watching it from my couch like many other fans. At this point I sort of get the best of both worlds with the 49ers. Some level of access but with the ability to write as I see fit.
Anyway, I figured there were some of you that would like to hear what MM has to say about an area that can certainly be touchy for beat writers like Matt Maiocco.
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Just read the article. Very interesting, but also saddening
I have a budding interest in writing for the 49ers beyond just little FanPosts (for instance, I would like to become the next Fooch! lol. Seriously though, I think you do great work, Fooch). But that article is very eye opening. For me, the reason I love writing about the 49ers is because I’m a fan. It’s kind of sad to see a guy basically sell his soul, which is sort of what happened to Maiocco’s 49ers fandom. The Giants/Dodgers game is a great example. To be a journalist like Matt you have no choice: You can’t be a fan.
And for the record, I think Maiocco is the best in the business (of the 49ers beat writers).
Touchdown Forty Niners!
selling soul
Whenever Commissioner’s are interviewed they always talk about how they don’t root for teams anymore. They root for quality events and basically nothing bad to happen. Stern talks about it the most but Goodell to a lesser extent.
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions
Yeah
That just makes me sad, lol. I love my teams too much. it has been a constant since my early childhood. In a way, the 49ers and Giants are like extended family for me. I couldn’t imagine looking at them as a business.
Touchdown Forty Niners!
Maiocco is my favorite sportswriter. He just does it all the right way, he never blows things out of proportion in hyperventilating columns, never tries awkwardly to be funny, never seems to speculate too much. He communicates the information I’d like to know cleanly and well and always seems like a genuinely nice guy. It’s great.
This article made me like him even more, too.
He does seem negative at times, or maybe it's his realism vs. my fandom
but it comes off negative at times, critical is perhaps the better word.
This team needs some real leadership from it's players.
Nitwitter
realism vs fandom
It’s possible he is a little more critical to prevent falling into his fandom trap? Or we really are off the reservation as fans and he’s being realistic!
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 12:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Maybe I'm a realistic fan
Because I’ve always found Maiocco realistic, not negative.
Touchdown Forty Niners!
depends on
which corner they turn…if it’s to the wrong part of town…
This team needs some real leadership from it's players.
Nitwitter
If that was you Tre9er, I think you had a good question and excellent response from Matt in the chat
Regarding Alex Smith not anticipating his receivers being open, but only throwing when they are open at the moment, unlike Peyton Manning who does it perfect.
That’s very interesting, I thought that was the point of all WR’s running routes so they know where to go and the QB knows where to throw.
Someone should just tell Alex to throw it because the WR will get there. Makes sense that he takes the short options to the RB.
So how does Barrows do it?
We all know he’s a 49ers fan.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
"I'm just like you, but 10 times better"
49ers
Is he? I thought he was a Redskins fan as a kid.
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 12:07 PM PDT up reply actions
I mean right now
He’s always excited about the 49ers and seems to share our pain.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
"I'm just like you, but 10 times better"
by SportsChicken on Oct 7, 2010 5:39 PM PDT up reply actions
Barrows > Maiocco
B-Rows simply gets the breathless enthusiasm that we all have for the team. I don’t know how he does it, but he does. Maybe he does precisely because he didn’t grow up a 49ers fan.
Start the young ones early, I always say.
twitter me @grantmp1
Maiocco is a far better reporter than Barrows
Barrows to me is a blogger who’s getting paid to do it.
Yeah right.
Quite the opposite I’d say.
"I'm blessed..... Thanks, God bless" ...hey, it worked for Tim Tebow.
I know you hate Maiocco
but Barrows doesn’t ever report his own news—he repeats the news that others report.
I’m not talking about writing styles here—there I prefer Barrows, and I think BArrows does a better job when he speculates about the team.
That Maiocco article was tremendously unimpressive
I like Maiocco as a beat writer, but I was surprised to see how much he seemed like a beaten writer. He works hard, but he certainly seemed to make it sound like a punch-in, punch-out affair.
Start the young ones early, I always say.
twitter me @grantmp1
by grantmp on Oct 7, 2010 12:48 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
You seem to view it the wrong way
Saying his article was “unimpressive” is irrelevant. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He was answering a question with a 100% true-to-life story. It is a sort of sad reality that he had to remove the emotion from his job, but that is why he is so good at his job. I really can’t understand your problem here.
Touchdown Forty Niners!
That's more a statement about what kind of articles are in his wheelhouse...
and which aren’t. I can imagine it’s an issue he has had to struggle with, but weirdly, even when he’s clearly trying to give us some insight into the sense in which it is a struggle, it’s not put in a way that’s particularly articulate. And your job, as a writer, is to be articulate.
Start the young ones early, I always say.
twitter me @grantmp1
maybe it's just a 'taste' thing
and my criticism is just as much a criticism of the entire journalistic ‘article-factory’ system.
Start the young ones early, I always say.
twitter me @grantmp1
Yeah, I guess so
I respect both guys, but I really don’t see how you find Maiocco less articulate. That seems to be a strength of his in my view. Barrows is maybe a bit more to-the-point, but Maiocco is very detail oriented, and I like that. At least that’s how I see it.
Touchdown Forty Niners!
I thought it was very well written
and unfortunately, sad but true.
This team needs some real leadership from it's players.
Nitwitter
I think we all can respect this:
I was raised a diehard Giants fan. My second-favorite team — and I’ve already taught this to my children — is whichever team is playing the Dodgers.
Well said.
big respect for Maiocco
really interesting article. I think he does an excellent job of reporting on the team, does his homework, gets the nuggest of info fans crave, and always indicates when he’s offering opinion as opposed to facts – a line too many journalists seem to blur these days. Funny thing though – I don’t believe him when he says he’s not a fan. If you watch him on the CSN broadcasts, you can see it i his face when he has to call out the team, or a player – he cares.
gets the nuggest of info fans crave
…What is this?!
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
ha. meant to write "nuggeTs". I have no idea what a "nuggeSt" is. I think I don't want to know.
he often provides insight/information that as a fan I enjoy reading… little nuggeTs of information that provide more detail and color than some of the other ’niner writers. Does that make sense?
I was implying that I do the Golden Nuggets and that you're a traitor.
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
Uh... kernels... I meant kernels...
No one does nuggets like you. He delivers fine kernels, but you are the nugget master. King of nuggets. Nuggets are way better than kernels, everybody knows that…
by mwright84 on Oct 7, 2010 11:21 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I want this to end up being a career for me, and I can already feel myself changing to some extent.
The first change I noticed was an immediate softening stance on the Raiders. I don’t hate them anymore, and in fact, whenever I have to write about their struggles, I no longer take solace in that fact, and find myself pulling for them in some form or another. Will this end up being a career for me? Probably not, I’m not good enough, I imagine, but ya know. I’ll set all bias aside the first chance I need to, but if that ever happens, I hope people understand that the fandom will never go away for the 49ers, Sharks, Warriors and Giants, I’ll just have to … disguise it, I guess.
Again, assuming that happens, which it probably won’t.
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
I always thought..
That you would wind up on Entourage as Vince’s rival.
The SF 49ers: It's FAIL, done better
Entourage
Is Ninjames the Turtle to my E? Or maybe the Johnny Drama to my E?
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 5:38 PM PDT up reply actions
See, I've never watched that so I'm lost.
Lost, that’s another show I’ve never watched.
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
It's funny, but to a lesser extent I understand what MM is talking about
even in the little bit from moving from writing fanposts to becoming a front page writer. I find myself toning down my subjectivity when I’m watching other teams because I’m trying to get an unbiased view of their capabilities. When I write front page articles I try to present as unbiased a view as I can.
Like Ninjames I’d love to be able to do sportswriting (specifically the NFL), but there’s always that danger of losing your fandom.
I toned it down too...
Now I don’t want to be a sportswriter or anything, but it was a nice change of pace and approach. Too bad this team pisses me off so much and the real fan comes out during the season. It stems from years of this crap after the mid 90’s.
The SF 49ers: It's FAIL, done better
I was sick to my stomach after last Sunday's game..
I would almost rather the team get blown out than lose one like that. I couldn’t eat for hours afterwards.
The SF 49ers: It's FAIL, done better
I know, as frustrating as the Seattle game was
The NO game was almost worse. Then the KC game, its like oh back to this, great. And ATL once again, definitely worse.
I love writing.
I love writing so much that, if I had to lose my fandom, I would do it.
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
So you love writing more than you love the 49ers?
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
"I'm just like you, but 10 times better"
by SportsChicken on Oct 7, 2010 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah ... I do.
Not just sports writing, any and all writing. Putting pen to paper is the greatest feeling in the world to me.
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
posting
I have no real interest in being a general sports writer, but in a perfect world I could keep writing NN (or some variation on it) with whatever subjectivity I want and be able to make a survivable wage on it.
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2010 5:39 PM PDT up reply actions
See, that's what I'm kind of growing to hate
Most front page writers here have become “unbaised” but in reality their pieces just lose enthusiasm and that sort of excitement. (keep in mind I italicized most so not all…and you don’t know specifically who I’m talking about)
Nobody is posting their own opinions anymore and there’s really no meaningful interactions with front page writers on their posts.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but…maybe these people could use a little BBS in them. Not too much, but just a bit.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
"I'm just like you, but 10 times better"
by SportsChicken on Oct 7, 2010 5:47 PM PDT up reply actions
I don't follow them closley
This is the first time they’ve been in the post season since _?
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
"I'm just like you, but 10 times better"
by SportsChicken on Oct 7, 2010 5:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I drew the duck blue because I've never seen a blue duck
…and that is how Maiocco writes
"I'm blessed..... Thanks, God bless" ...hey, it worked for Tim Tebow.
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