Michael Wilbon – he of The Washington Post, PTI and ESPN’s NBA coverage – joins the show to talk about his career, life and what it’s like to balance the two.

After learning that this is the first Olympics Wilbon has missed since he’s been in the business, we get to hear about Lilbon (Matthew Raymond Wilbon to you) and how Wilbon is able to balance his daunting schedule with being a father to a newborn baby.

We chat about the experience last weekend at Wrigley field, and what it meant to him to be able to throw out the first pitch at the Cubs game.  That leads to a discussion about his celebrity and if he ever thought he’d reach this level of fame.

I ask Wilbon about his nearly 30 years at the Post and how the industry has changed in his time there.  That leads to an interesting debate about how the best young sportswriters get scooped up by other media like TV and radio and what’s to come of the print industry, or all media, in the coming years.

We take that to an in-depth conversation about sports blogs and why people like Murray Chass say they hate blogs, when in essence, they are doing a blog.  Wilbon brings up the validity of working for an accredited media outlet which I counterpoint by talking about the quality of work at some ‘accredited’ outlets and how it compares to that of some of the biggest blogs like Awful Announcing and Deadspin.  And yes, the name Jay Mariotti comes up.  He also talks about reporters (like he and Chass) having built their reputation by being there and talking to the athletes, not just looking at the game from afar.  In the end, he seems to be warming up to the blogdome.

This part is clipped in its entirety, and it’s really a fascinating discussion and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to both our points, as there is merit to both.

Here’s a sample of what Wilbon has to say.

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“Those of us who made a career in newspapers, there is some sort of credentialling mechanism in place. You borrowed, first, your identity from the entity you worked for. I was Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post, part and parcel. 

“What we don’t get is, for somebody who just sits in their basement – obviously I’m going to paint this picture badly here, purposefully – for a person who just sits there and starts writing about this game, or this team or this owner or this person, what credentials does that person have?  By that, I mean has that person even talked to this owner, player, been around the team, been in the locker room, been able to have first-hand experience as sort-of, talking to other people.  Does this person know how to gather information about this subject before disseminating it? We don’t know those things. 

“So we are very suspicious. Let me say I am very suspicious of certain blogs – a whole lot of them, most of them. What is it about this blogger’s past that will allow them to have any insight on Michael Jordan?  Just because they were a fan? Because they’re smart? Just because they like to write?

“I know there are some great bloggers.  But how do we know what that blogger knows.  Of course, I’m giving you the cynicism of peoplelwho have cut their teeth in this business and had to, sort of pass an exam every day for years and years and years when readers would ask, ‘how do you know this.’

“Reading habits are very difficult to form and even more difficult to break.  We’d like to think we’ve built up some trust, so before I believe this blogger, this person’s got to build up some trust.  Again, you’re getting this point of view from someone 49 years old.”

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We dovetail that into his recent activity on said blogs, including his photos with porn stars and his ‘scandal’ about wearing no pants at PTI.  Wilbon has some VERY strong thoughts on the matter and responds to his recent quotes that people who care about this stuff need to ‘get a life’  This sums it up nicely:

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“When it’s in good fun, I’m not that serious a guy.  When it isn’t, I’m real serious.  When it becomes admonishing and sanctimonious, then I come back with Fire and Brimstone.  That’s the way I combat stuff.  When these things are treated as they should be, in my opinion, which is with some sense that it is hilarious and some context, then it is what it is.  But when people get sanctimonious, I come out swinging.”

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We talk about Kornheiser, their relationship and why PTI only works when it’s the two of them.  By my count, there are five Kornheisers (Radio Tony, TV Tony, Print Tony, Personal Conversation Tony and the always lovable Mister Tony).  I ask how many Wilbons there are, and wonder if he can be the same guy on TV and in real life.

We actually talk a little sports, namely getting his thoughts on ESPN’s coverage of Brett Favre.  He takes it in a different way, blaming the media for generally falling in love with all things NFL.

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