I don't usually get wound up when I read articles from people writing about professional wrestling. However, I did this past weekend.
You see, whenever there's a reporter who doesn't follow the entertainment genre covering a story, you have to accept that you're more than likely going to dislike how they approach the topic with the limited knowledge they have.
With that stated - there's being arrogant and just being an arsehole.
And I read an article by an obvious one on Saturday.
The story centred on Jermaine Defoe's appearance at a WWE house show in Newcastle. Defoe was there to act as a timekeeper and was booed by the audience.
Here's the opening few lines to the article. And for the record, I'm doing it word-for-word, missing words and incorrect usage and all (Why? Because I can be an arsehole, too):
In case you didn't know the WWE circus is town at the minute, travelling the country bringing priceless joy to children and fully grown men in masks.
Also, for reasons I honestly can't explain, WWE are introducing a special guest to each show to be the 'Time Keeper' - something else I can't explain. I could actually Google it to find out what a Time Keeper is but then I'd be searching for information about wrestling and I just don't want to.
Forgive my naivety, but I have been under the impression that research was part of a reporter/writer's job. Evidently not the cool writers that cover things that are so far below them.
It could be that he isn't a good one.
Maybe it's just the way things are with The Mirror. The past year alone, I have seen the paper's online team refer to Catherine Zeta Jones as a 'Sultry English actress' and mourn the loss of 'U.S. author Terry Pratchett'.
The paper DID do a decent job covering the fallout of WrestleMania 31 a fortnight ago. I suppose that's why the article from this past weekend got under my skin.
In future, the editors should hand the wrestling story duties to someone who cares about the subject matter and is not out to insult a good portion of the story's readers. (I don't think Cool Reporter is dumb not to work out that the majority of clicks to his story would have been from wrestling fans).
Just saying.
By the way, a timekeeper is a person who is meant to record the length of time of a match. In the case of Defoe, he was more than likely instructed to ring the bell at the start and end of the bout.
For the record - I didn't Google 'what is a timekeeper?' either. That must make me just as cool.
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