Really??? This guy was honored?? He was horrible. I guess there wasn't much to choose from this year... CHICAGO -- Soccer writer Grahame L. Jones has won the Colin Jose Media Award from the National Soccer Hall of Fame. The longtime Los Angeles Times reporter will be honored during the hall's induction ceremonies before the United States plays Brazil in an exhibition May 30 in Landover, Md. In his 38 years on the soccer beat at the Times, Jones covered 12 men's or women's World Cups, the North American Soccer League, Major League Soccer, two European Championships, one Copa America and four Olympic tournaments. The award has been given out since 2004 and is named for Colin Jose, Historian Emeritus of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/st...rs-los-angeles-times-reporter-grahame-l-jones
All sorts of other soccer journalists who don't suck have been on his jock since the moment he retired. Maybe he writes good stuff just for his friends and only sent crap to the Times for publication?
Probably is a chill guy to drink a beer with. Definitely was a mini scourge of my existence for 10 years. He even once responded to my email criticizing him for failing to give proper attention to USA clinching qualification against Honduras. I contrasted his coverage with that of the NY times and he got all defensive, claiming LA times didn't fly him to watch the game and it was impossible to catch on the game on TV...he never responded to my msg that I easily streamed it and watched the whole thing (and its not even my job to watch soccer).
We had the pleasure of Jones in his bitter years. (Maybe all the years were, I don't know.) He must have been stuck in his job - he seemed to hate American soccer at times. He jumped on the Beckham bandwagon with both feet. There were one or two articles I read over the years that were really, really good, but most were a waste of time. I certainly don't miss him.
For almost forty years he was it for English soccer coverage in LA. to degrade him is apalling. You may not of agreed with him but he always had facts to go with his opions. Grow up
You REALLY have to re-write history to provide this defense - "He always had facts"??? Bullpucky. Maybe about Barcelona or Man U, but that was the extent of his fact finding, and that was mostly a re-write of what real journalists did. And the fact that he was "the only" one doesn't mean he was any good. Nice try to rehabilitate the grouchy bastard's reputation though. From the day MLS kicked off the first ball, he did everything he could to point out how much more sophisticated he was than any of us bozos who supported our only D-1 league, and he did everything he could to discourage anybody else from supporting the league. Come clean. What's the familial relationship - or is DANNO49 his own screen name?
NOW I KNOW WHY YOUR USER NAME IS CADAVER. YOUR BRAIN DEAD. Every soccer journaist in the country thinks he desirves the honor. Think I won't name them this is just the short list. Scott French, Ridge Mahoney, Nick Greeen, Kevin Baxter, Paul Kenedy,Phil Colin just to name a few. Now just what f***king newspaper or magazine do you write for ass hole
Whoop-de-doo. Other JOURNALISTS cheering for a JOURNALIST. How Quaint. You are probably one of those people who is so stupid they actually can't see why that just might happen.
Let's be careful here and calm down with the personal attacks, consider it a warning to all involved.
Who better than journalist to honor one of their own. They know what good writing is not like some people.
Is this a joke? Have you picked up a newspaper lately? There is not a plethora of good writers out there and Jones certainly was not one who I would consider quality. As pointed out, he took every chance he had to bash the Galaxy, MLS and American soccer in general. He often came off as being put out that he had to stoop so low as to cover the sport.
Who are you going to believe? What other journalists say about somebody, OR YOUR OWN EYES??? Of course they are going to line up and cheer for one of their own who wins an award. It would seem churlish to do otherwise. How many soccer journalists have you seen giving a critique of other soccer journalists, ever? None. It just isn't done. (Or course, maybe they are all just perfect.) To think they are giving you an objective evaluation is, in my view, naive.
They must be honoring him for his long string of continued suckiness. That must be it, it's hard to suck for so long a time but he managed.
Kevin Baxter's articles in the today's Times, were far better than just about anything that I ever read by Jones.
Heck, a good number of random BigSoccer posts are far better than just about anything that I ever read by Jones.
I've only lived in the US since 2007 and in that short space of time I was slack-jawed at the inconsistencies, inaccuracies and downright falsehoods he wrote, on top of his opinion pieces which to my mind exhibited limited and outdated knowledge of the sport. Then there was his article on the 2009 playoffs where he confused the hell out of me by reporting that should LA make the Western Conference Final and play Houston, they'd be travelling. Which as you'll remember, was completely wrong. Maybe I should send Soccer Hall of fame some of my blog posts However, I guess it's a tenure thing. So as Grahame would have put it: Congratulation Gavin M. Johns on you induction to the Soccer Hall of Fam.
I just went to find this article, and there was a typo before I even read the body, in the caption of the picture. Sharlie Joseph, anyone? Sigh.
