Check it out, in the middle of the page... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/4490534.html
Why do so many appear surprised that Fran frequents the board? It makes lot of sense for what he does.
What always surprises me is the Chron's acknowledgement of the BBS. They usually seem to do what they can to not advertise for the site. I suppose sometimes they can't help it. I wonder how long they looked for an alternate translation before having to give up and give us a link. Whoever's doing the wikipedia entry, is this useful?
Good catch, Rockets Red Glare! ClutchFans continues to shine in the public eye. The influence of Clutch and Crew, and the collective influence of the literally tens of thousands of members of ClutchFans on Houston Rockets basketball is apparent to all. What I want to know is... WHICH ONE OF YOU IS FRAN??? AND FRAN, YOU OWE THE FANS AN APOLOGY FOR GOING AGAINST THE ROCKETS IN YOUR PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS IN THE SPRING OF 1986!!! (I don't make a habit of typing in capitol letters, but inquiring fans want to know! )
I'm sure they would rather link to a more reputable source. I'm not saying the BBS is full of lies or baseless rumors (though there certainly is some of that), but newspapers like to reference verified fact whenever possible.
Heh, obviously they've been frequenting the board for awhile - it's referred to as clutchcity.net. Nothing But .Net (Brilliant slogan, Clutch!)
It's a longstanding thing, a lot of the print media likes to pretend that so-called new media doesn't exist to justify their own egos and existence, because to acknowledge may cause some (columnists/opinion people in particular in an age where anybody can speak out and reach a huge audience via blog or BBS) to feel a bit irrelevant. Then they try to latch on to the trend and look silly doing it (witness Time's silly person of the year stunt). I mean it's got to be somewhat unsettling if you make your living writing news, opinions, etc on the Rockets, when Clutch is probably doing as good or better a job than anybody else out there essentially on his own dime. Imagine how ridiculous John Lopez must feel every time he logs onto CF.net and sees "Alston all Rockets Need at Point Guard" bumped...If I were him I too would pretend it doesn't exist.
I disagree. The mainstream news media is and should be very relevant. Newspapers are reliable. Independantly run websites and message boards, generally, are not. Also, newspaper writers are held accountable (usually) for the veracity of their work. If Clutch wrote something completely false and tried to pass it off as fact, he may lose credibility but he won't lose his website. That's why blogs and whatnot will never replace mainstream news sources.
Trust me, I'm not one of those persons who will say that the print media will disappear, is irrelevant, blah blah blah. I still subscribe to the Sunday Times and would get the Chronicle if I lived in Houston, and still read it every morning when I'm in town. However as far as columnists, guys who are just giving their opinion, a lot of them (rightfully, I believe) tend to feel threatened by blogging, etc, insofar as it steals a lot of their thunder, and I don't blame them for it. What they have to offer is primarily opinion - and you know what they say about the similarity of opinions & something else - everybody's got one. Their monopoly on access to the public has disappeared, so theirs is simply not as important as it used to be. I mean if I were a traditional, old school, journalist and i see a jerk like Bill Simmons become a national figure overnight with his sophomoric set-piece bits I'd be bummed out too.
I work in mainstream online media, and I assure you that any newspaper would be on its hands and knees begging for the quantity and quality of reader participation you find every day on this board, even on its worst day.