Reason #48 To Love Philadelphia: Our Commitment To Journalistic Standards

You may remember the uproar a few years ago over a Mitch Albom column allegedly written from the Final Four. His column described two ex-Michigan State players courtside cheering on their alma mater at the Final Four. Of course, they were never there.

Albom based the column on what they said they were going to do; he had to turn in his column for the Sunday paper before the game was played. And when they didn’t attend the game, he looked foolish, etc., etc.

One could imagine our own local scribe, Dan Gross, feeling the same temptation in this article about Wing Bowl winner Joey Chestnut in today’s paper. He most likely interviewed Chestnut after the Wing Bowl Friday morning, and got some information on what Chestnut was going to do over the weekend.

But instead of pulling an Albom, our boy Dan Gross used this instead:

While in town over the weekend, Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., was hoping to catch the Franklin Institute’s King Tut exhibit - and to get his first glimpse of snow.

Excellent! Strong journalistic standards, especially in stories relating to something as important as chicken wings.

As to why the citizens of Philadelphia would be interested in what the Wing Bowl champion would be doing in town over the weekend, well, that’s a question to be left to the philosophers.

Dan Gross | Wing King talking trash [Daily News]
Mitch Albom - Controversy [Wikipedia]