Nick Wright

In my 25-plus years in journalism or writing about the news media I must admit I found Nick Wright, former talker on KCSP 610 AM, the most obnoxious media person I ever dealt with.

Trust me, I have dealt with some pretty obnoxious individuals.

Wright is one of those Syracuse University graduates who feels he should be respected because Bob Costas was also a ‘Cuse graduate. The Costa effect has worked for numerous sports talkers across the country, and is still alive and well today in KC.

How self-righteous are many Syracuse folks? A local Syracuse reporter at KCTV sent me a note this year saying I was not permitted to used the word “‘Cuse” because ONLY Syracuse grads can use it. He was serious!

As they say, Wright was born on third base and somehow felt that he had hit a triple. He came from serious family money, went to one of the most expensive private schools (Barstow) in Kansas City, but desperately tried to give the persona of some kid raised in the hood. He was like the white kid at the all-white school who wore his pants hanging off his butt with a hoodie and tried to act like a gang-banging rapper.

Former KC Star columnist Jason Whitlock blasted Wright about the way he tried to portray himself as a ghetto kid on Wright’s own radio show. To say Wright was “bitch-slapped” on the air would be putting a nice spin on the show.

The thing that was most irritating was Wright would do anything for publicity. He would routinely make predictions and make them seem like legitimate scoops: “Inside sources have told me that Todd Haley will be fired as head coach of the Chiefs.” In other news, water is wet.

Mercifully, Wright moved to Houston in June, and most Kansas Citians felt his schtick left with him. No such luck.

On Dec. 20th Wright “broke” the news in a Tweet that “General manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel have “officially been told” that they won’t return for the 2013 season.” His scoop went national.

When a team finishes the season at 2-14 that might be a pretty safe scoop. In October, former Chiefs lineman Bill Maas made the prediction that Pioli would be axed that week after another loss.

However, both Maas and Wright were dead wrong with their prognostications. Chiefs’ Head Coach Romeo Crennel was fired today to the surprise of no one, but Pioli is still running the show at Arrowhead Stadium. Ooops!!

Knowing Wright, if Pioli is EVER fired, he will say how he had predicted it.

The problem today is that the media is dominated by individuals like Wright and Maas who have no real journalistic skills, but spout off things they “think” will happen. Or they make a prediction based on simple common sense or “what likely will happen” without any basis in fact. As they say, a broken watch is tells the correct time twice a day.

If these “experts” are correct they proclaim their expertise. If they are wrong, they generally have an excuse.

It was like the situation in April 2011 with all the wrong predictions about the future head basketball coach at Missouri. The KC Star reporter who had covered the team for years (since retired), Mike DeArmond, refused to simply go with all the rumors, and was severely criticized for seemingly being scooped on the story. (A St. Louis reporter had “broken” the definitive story that Purdue’s coach Matt Painter was coming to Mizzou.)

When DeArmond penned his story he did it the right way and confirmed that Missouri was naming Frank Haith as the coach. He was correct. He verified it.

It is a lesson Wright and other new media “journalists” should take to heart.