Some might suggest that, when facing a bit of criticism in one’s first season as a broadcaster, the best response is probably not to go ballistic. Those people would probably be right. But because of who - or, really, what - he's up against, we're fully behind Peewee Smith.

Peewee's new nemesis, the Globe's Bill Houston, belongs to a small and rather privileged group - consisting, at least in this market, of him and the Star's Chris Zelkovich. While employed by sports sections, these gentlemen don't generally go to live events, speak to athletes or dissect the games themselves. Instead, their entire jobs are to sit at home, watch sports and critique the coverage. (Hence Peewee's rather succinct point that "Bill never leaves his house.")

Now, we'll admit that's a pretty good gig - pretty much what millions of other sports fans do, except they get paid for it. And having spent a few nights watching games and taking notes ourselves, we can attest these things are rife with fun material. But here's the weird part: Both Houston and Zelkovich appear to think that what they're doing is actually serious work.

Actually, serious might be too mild a word. With near religious fervour, our couch-potatoes-in-chief jealously defend the honour of televised sports - a medium, we'll remind you, that includes Chris Berman. In  Zelkovich's case, this mostly manifests itself in a bizarre obsession with commentators' grammar, as though Chris Walby's syntax threatens not only the entire sport of football, but civilization itself. Houston, meanwhile, is obsessed with ethical dilemmas such as Peewee's, which rank somewhere just below the demise of the Toronto Phantoms on most sports fans' list of concerns.

We don't mean to burst anyone's bubble here. But these guys are quite possibly the least important people at their respective newspapers. None of the stuff they're covering actually matters, beyond the degree to which it entertains us. And frankly, Houston's feud with Peewee is the first time we can remember him entertaining us at all.