Tiger misses cut in Sunday New York Times …

Let’s stipulate that I’m a big New York Times fan. The Sunday Times is a treat of the first order, so the disappointment I felt yesterday was all the more…
By Tom Bartsch
OCT 12, 2009

Let’s stipulate that I’m a big New York Times fan. The Sunday Times is a treat of the first order, so the disappointment I felt yesterday was all the more acute because it happened in the Times.

I’m tempted to suggest that the absence of any real Presidents Cup coverage in an 11-page Sunday Times Sports Section is a reflection of the arduous times faced by print publications, but, come on, we’re talking about a nifty international golf competition involving the top players in the world.

I can't get over the notion that countless newspapers, magazines and any number of businesses at large seem to be doing everything they can to send their print customers online rather than enhance the print product they just shelled out $6 for. See, I am so mad I purposely ended a sentence with a preposition.

Anyway, how could you figure that in the Sunday New York Times there would be 21/2 inches of agate type listing the results from Friday. Might as well have skipped the whole enterprise altogether. And this with Tiger Woods himself prominently leading the charge.

Don’t get me wrong; this is not some heightened jingoism where I am appalled because my hybrid golf/patriotic impulses have been stifled. Even leaving the flag waving aside, it was a major event with all the best players and most certainly worthy of more coverage than it got.

And while I am on the subject of my favorite newspaper, I might as well throw in how aggravated I am that the Times continues to cling to the pretentious nonsense of initial caps (or "title caps" if you prefer) in headlines. Grrrrrrrr.

For an institution that prides itself on conveying information, this particular foible is particularly galling precisely because it confuses and misinforms instead of what it is supposed to be doing. When you capitalize everything, there’s no ability for the reader to tell which words are proper nouns. That’s disinformation. And it ain’t fit to print.

I know it’s something that separates the New York Times from other newspapers, but there’s a reason the others don’t do it. It’s asinine, and thus unworthy of a great newspaper.