A New Low for Local Sports Coverage

Yesterday I read an article in my local paper - The Worcester Telegram and Gazette. It was a story about how more than a dozen players for the Nashua Pride (Can-Am League) got food poisoning from eating food at Holman Stadium. The story made me think of two things.

First, the food poisoning reminded me of a minor subplot from the Mario Puzo book The Last Don. In the book a gambler had a plan to fix the Super Bowl by poisoning the food brought into the locker room at half-time of the big game. Of course the idea was half-baked and the gambler who came up with it was made to sleep with the fishes on an unrelated matter.

Secondly, and more importantly, the article had this little tidbit:

The first person to get sick felt symptoms of food poisoning on June 28. On average, those affected were ill for four to five days with nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever. A week later, most had regained full health, including a Telegram and Gazette reporter covering the Worcester Tornadoes.

In case you missed it - one of the people who got sick was a reporter for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and yet the story I read yesterday in the Telegram and Gazette was from the Associated Press. The Telegram and Gazette had a first-hand source to the story but still they were too lazy or too cheap to write the story themselves.

Truly a new low in local coverage by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.