Mark Whicker-Sports Writer of the Year Candidate

I really, really, don't know what happened here. Maybe someone hijacked Whicker's e-mail and wrote a column under his name. Maybe his editor just didn't, you know, edit. Maybe I'm hallucinating. Here's the thing, though. This is a columnist for a large market newspaper. People worry about bloggers but they should be worrying about things like this. Why are newspapers dying? Let's take a look.

Highlights-

"It doesn't sound as if Jaycee Dugard got to see a sports page. Box scores were not available to her from June 10, 1991 until Aug. 31 of this year. She never saw a highlight. Never got to the ballpark for Beach Towel Night. Probably hasn't high-fived in a while.She was not allowed to spike a volleyball. Or pitch a softball. Or smack a forehand down the line. Or run in a 5-footer for double bogey. Now that's deprivation."

OK, so being sexually abused and living in a backyard pales in comparison to missing sports? Really?

This one was a gem-
"Joe Torre now manages the Dodgers, after a fruitful detour through New York. Tommy Lasorda? Sure, he's around. He hasn't called?"
WHAT? Tommy Lasorda calling Jaycee Dugard? Am I missing an inside joke here? Does he have a foundation for people who have been kidnapped and abused for 18 years?

The Finisher-
"Congratulations, Jaycee. You left the yard."

How did that one make it? Did "You really took one for the team" just sound tacky?

I am just appalled by this. I mean, wow. If you would like to send your comments to Whicker please send them to mwhicker@ocregister.com

Tell them a sports blog sent you, because, as you know, sports blogs are evil.

UPDATE:Whicker has apologized for this column.