Petition to Give Terry Blount the Boot

[Year of The Hawk]

Let him write about something he is more qualified to write about.

NASCAR?

Sure...ANYTHING other than the Seahawks

 

[Heyseed]

Losers assemble in little groups and complain

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Losers assemble in little groups and complain

What does that make a person of one complaining about others complaining???

 

[Tokadub]

This is just a hilarious topic, yes Blount is mediocre and I think I could easily do his job better... but I don't personally want to get involved with petitions. It's just not worth it to me.

I think part of the problem is the Seahawks most likely have one of the most intelligent fan bases in the entire league. So all his stupid articles just don't inform us because we are smart and informed without a sub standard writer like him.

If it was like the 49ers or something, he'd probably be top notch :stirthepot:

 

[Year of The Hawk]

This is just a hilarious topic, yes Blount is mediocre and I think I could easily do his job better... but I don't personally want to get involved with petitions. It's just not worth it to me.

I think part of the problem is the Seahawks most likely have one of the most intelligent fan bases in the entire league. So all his stupid articles just don't inform us because we are smart and informed without a sub standard writer like him.

If it was like the 49ers or something, he'd probably be top notch :stirthepot:

Nice

 

[hawkfan68]

The idea he is doing a mediocre or poor job is very subjective. First, no one knows what his metrics are and what performance goals he is held to. In ESPN's eyes he may be doing a stellar job. Articles and Seahawk reports may be a piece of his job. Something that Eric Williams, Mike Sando, and John Clayton have that makes them stand out is they live in the area. I believe Terry Blount doesn't live in the area. That is pretty significant in my opinion. In one area he seems to be doing a great job. He's got many talking about his work so obviously people are reading his articles and ultimately that is what ESPN is seeing. His articles being read. Instead of petitions, maybe the best solution would be to stop reading the articles...don't you think?

 

[Basis4day]

While I understand that many don't like Terry Blount as a writer but this is crossing the line, IMO. How would you like it if some public person started a petition to get you fired or removed from your job? It's not cool to mess with someone's livelihood. If you don't like what he reports then don't read it. He's not the only guy reporting on the Seahawks.

So getting paid for mediocrity is fine? He's doing a horrible job and should be held accountable.

Write a letter to his editor. Slacktivism helps nothing.

 

[Hawknballs]

While I understand that many don't like Terry Blount as a writer but this is crossing the line, IMO. How would you like it if some public person started a petition to get you fired or removed from your job? It's not cool to mess with someone's livelihood. If you don't like what he reports then don't read it. He's not the only guy reporting on the Seahawks.

If someone started a petition like this regarding my job I would assume it would be up to my superiors to decide how much merit it had. If you think they would fire someone based solely on a petition, you are wrong. There's nothing wrong with using said petition to draw attention to the fact that someone providing a wide open publicly accessible service is possibly not meeting the expectations of their user base. Make no mistake about it, most of us may not pay to access ESPN.com, but we are subject to commercials and most of us pay obscene cable bills to access the programming that ESPN provides. In that regard we ARE customers and as a customer you should never feel like it's 'not your place' to question the quality of the service you are being provided with. Your issues may not be addressed and resolved but you have every right to voice displeasure.

The real issue here is that the ESPN.com writer responsible for the team all of us root is therefore the most important person to us on the entire web site, and his effort level is sub-par both in direct relation to those who cover other teams, and glaringly so in relation to his predecessor.

Using the 'Just don't read it" angle is therefore not a solution to a customer issue for poor service.

 

[billio155]

We've been spoiled. Sando is a remarkable talent. He has a brilliant mind for the game, not to mention he is an excellent writer. I remember following the draft on 2013 on ESPN's drafcast, They had a running chat and Sando was calling every pick well before they were announced. They had to ask him to stop because he was so accurate with his "guesses" that it was ruining the anticipation. Blount is the norm. I'm not going to sign something that fires a guy who is just your average joe writer.

 

[DYLcurry59]

I don't care much for Blount's work, but wouldn't even think to try to help him lose his job.

ESPN has much bigger issues with personnel - like 99% of their on-air "talent".

 

[Fudwamper]

I think of it as a "comment card" that has a lot of signatures on it. It is a consumer critique of his ability. Yes, people do get seen by their managers all the time for them. Managers and staff that work in customer service sometimes need these things to take a closer look at people.

In the medical industry I have seen MD's, Nurses, Techs, and other ancillary care workers get reamed and put through different types of training because of these types of "cards". Some companies take them more seriously than others.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

According to the logic of some people in this topic, Yelp is a sin against mankind.

 

[Sac]

Still need 18 signatures

 

[Hawknballs]

If your job is creating content for public consumption and you suck at it and don't try very hard, you deserve to be called out on it.

That being said I would be happy if Terry took note of this himself and decided to try harder and improved to do an acceptable job. It really wouldn't be that hard.

 

[Smellyman]

at least do something worthwhile like a petition to remove Skip Bayless' vocal chords or something.

this is pathetic.

 

[Subzero717]

at least do something worthwhile like a petition to remove Skip Bayless' vocal chords or something.

this is pathetic.

The difference is Bayless takes the unpopular stance for reaction. Its shock value commentary similar to Herd. Example: declaring Tim Tebow a borderline elite NFL QB. It enrages people and they tune in, tweet, text email, FB etc. Including a big chunk of our fanbase. Blount is just lazy. His job is to be an insider so to speak and he does nothing more than google and makes no attempt at fact checking. If his articles were posted on BR or PFW, so be it. Not from ESPN. Not when we had Sando. Its unacceptable.

 

[AgentDib]

I agree that Blount's articles are often a waste of time. Calling him lazy is a bit harsh though, he is a 49er fan from the bay area and just doesn't have the background that the local guys do. It's hard to immerse yourself in something and get caught up to speed and I understand why he comes across sounding like an outsider more often than not.

Pick a random NFL team and any of us would sound the same over the first year or two. He is often technically right but just wrong in spirit; take Hutch as his choice for #5 Hawk of all time for example. The problem there isn't the numbers but the idea of ranking any player with a five year career here who left over money ahead of Easley, Hass, or Green. If you haven't been a Hawks fan over that time period then you won't get that.

In my mind the problem with this petition is that when ESPN did the switching they knew perfectly well that Blount would be a newcomer to the Seahawks. As a result the petition shouldn't really be addressed at Blount but rather at ESPN, even if technically they would appear to be the same thing.

 

[The Outfield]

It's really up to ESPN to determine if Blount deserves his job or not... As long as Blount hasn't done anything wrong (besides posting some mediocre articles), I don't see why there should be a petition to give him the boot. You can always find other news sources like I have.

 

[Sac]

I agree that Blount's articles are often a waste of time. Calling him lazy is a bit harsh though, he is a 49er fan from the bay area and just doesn't have the background that the local guys do. It's hard to immerse yourself in something and get caught up to speed and I understand why he comes across sounding like an outsider more often than not.

It's not that he's an outsider. He's had a year to familiarize himself with the Seahawks.

There's no analysis, there's nothing intriguing about what he writes. He COULD do some research and real analysis but all he does is repeat other talking points of other taking heads and whatever information he finds on first page results of google.

If that's not lazy, what is?

 

[Subzero717]

... As long as Blount hasn't done anything wrong (besides posting some mediocre articles).

That's what he has done wrong. He doesn't care. That's doing something wrong.