Okay, I've been ranting a bit about infotainment lately, insofar as that which is called "news" these days is really, uh, not news in any sense of the word that pertains to "journalism" or "reporting."

Anyway, back when I was in college -- back when I was the news director at commercial-albeit-student-run radio station WVBR-FM, in fact -- a friend of mine often made the case that the best writing in infotainment (we ironically referred to infotainment as "newspapers" back then) could be found in the sports pages. He would often cite that, while the alleged "news" sections of the paper were devoted to human misery, the sports pages were free to celebrate human achievements. As well as misery.

And even if he didn't make the point at the time, I think we both would have agreed that the sports pages also enjoyed the benefit of readers *knowing* that the text was *supposed* to be opinionated as well as informative; entertaining as well as, uh, interesting. At least the sports pages are up front about that, and suffer no pretensions to unbiased reportage.

Okay, maybe he wouldn't have agreed on that point, I don't know. However, he was pretty clear that the best *writing* was to be found in the sports pages, and given our local papers at the time (we're talking Ithaca, NY, here, folks), he had a point.

Having lived in Buffalo, Ithaca, London, Ithaca, Philadelphia, Boston, Philadelphia, Boston, Princeton, Boston, Seattle, Boston, and Seattle, the argument seems to hold true for every local paper I've sampled. The infotainment papers of each of these cities had (have) deplorable "news" sections, but pretty decent sports writing.

So why tell you this now? Well, I chanced to be reading an online account of a football game today -- in fact, it's a Seattle Seahawks "newspaper" account of the Buffalo Bills vs. Houston Texans game -- that I found to be a real hoot. Check it out. The author manages to work in a few facts, sure, but that doesn't detract from the writing the way it often does in the "news." Rather, they serve to highlight a wonderful point that is further drawn out with most delicious irony. The author manages to work in political commentary and, I believe, a credible indictment of the particular players, the particular teams, and even the particular sport that serves as the centerpiece, all with a most straight-faced, sledgehammer-like subtlety. It truly is inspired writing.

If you like comedy, that is.