most newspapers and such require their articles to be written on around an 8th grade level so that the average person can understand them. So a lot of times, the article seems dumbed down.
And yes it's true, some writers don't know much about the sport they cover, but you don't see them working for huge papers and such. I could cover HS basketball, doesn't mean i'd be great at it, but then again, i'm not writing for the NY Times