Giving Dater Props

by J. Scott Moore

It’s time I mention that I think Dater is improving.

Yes, I know that you and Darcy Tucker are stunned by this admission.

I think his Twitter personality took a good shift towards a more mature nature I expect from a pro journalist. He quit getting in stupid twitt-fights. He learned how to stand up for himself much better instead of just blocking people all the time.

As an Avs fan the last thing you want is to have the access you get from him blocked because you dared to disagree with him. Something I’d like to see him do is go through his Twitter account and unblock everyone. I think it would be a good reboot for his social media persona.

No, this isn’t a suck-up post. Many of you know I was blocked long ago for daring to criticize Denver’s favorite hockey son, Chris Drury. Was I trying to provoke a reaction? Probably.

That’s water under the bridge. I’m Twitter savvy enough to still figure out what he is tweeting about regardless. And yes, I still want to know what he has to say that info only he has access to. I enjoy the minute-by-minute updates of the practice skates, who’s in who is out, who’s injured, who’s healing. It keeps me primed during the off days and pregame. It’s an inside scoop. I miss the chatter when Frei is on the beat instead of Dater.

I’m not too sure about the dire game commentary…has that continued? I’ll admit I’m not sure about that. It certainly isn’t a very popular part of his feed but to be fair, lots of fans do the same thing.

All that said, one thing that did suck last season was that the Post clearly quit sending Dater on the road with the Avs as the season withered, wilted and died. But there were still games to play and the fans were just as interested in information. But the Post wasn’t playing and Dater either couldn’t or wouldn’t admit it publicly.

Also, I am glad to see Frei on board with the blogging, even if it is occasional.

One very odd thing that I have noticed is Dater’s karmic ability to be out of touch when the big stuff happens lately. I think when Forsberg signed he was on a plane, Liles was traded and he was stuck in traffic…I have the impression that some other ones are out there but don’t recall the specifics. Maybe you can remind me in the comments?

It makes me wonder if Sherman has an assistant that stalks Dater. Anytime Sherman is going to make a move he checks with the assistant to see where Dater is. Whenever Sherman can do it, he pulls the trigger when Dater is in the air, has the day off, anything to mess with the guy. Probably not, just funny to imagine it.

So I guess that actually turned into a small overview of the Post coverage of the Avs, not just Dater. As fans in a one newspaper town we tend to really be critical of our team’s coverage. We want the best, we want it all the time and we want them to get it right.