Thumbs and Middle Fingers Up
The AZR is the local newspaper of record and, therefore, a must-read.
They have their good days and bad days (in my opinion, more bad than good).
Compared to the dailies in the Greater NYC/Philly area, they don't cover the Cardinals in as much depth that the Giants, Jets and Eagles get from the Philly Inquirer and Daily News or, in NY, the Star Ledger, Daily News, Newsday, Bergen Record, NY (echh!) Post or even the Times (which sometimes goes on an SI kind of kick in its sports coverage).
But my biggest problem with the AZR is that they'll go on long streaks of negativity in an unbalanced fashion. (It's one thing not to be too pollyannish, but for weeks on end, they seem to stress the empty half of the Cardinal glass.
Today, they ratcheted up their Camp coverage, and that was good. But during the June-most of July doldrums, their Cardinal coverage was nonexistant or close to it.
Kent Somers is a well-regarded writer who, according to Skkorp and other onlookers, works hard at his profession and does his homework. For this reason, I suspect the problem at the AZR (when it occurs) is at the Editor level. They determine how big the news-hole each day will be and which stories (or parts of stories) get covered.
