11/21/24
February 25, 2008
Tony Kornheiser Hates Sportsfilter: If a huge dumpster landed on their mother's house, and got all the way into the basement and crushed them, nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that's any good at all.
I'm gonna go back to watching my radio now.
posted by BoKnows at 04:13 PM on February 25, 2008
If he hates it so much why does he read it???
posted by LadyGen at 04:18 PM on February 25, 2008
Meh. Frankly, Kornheiser's lone reason for existence in my consciousness is that he's a slightly larger burr in Joe Theismann's ass than he is in mine. This is just another over the top, unjustified, humorless, hypocritical rant, which is pretty much in line with Tony's MO.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:36 PM on February 25, 2008
Tony is just sad because all of his accounts got banned for spamming that 'Baltimore beat New England' stuff a few weeks back.
posted by Joey Michaels at 04:36 PM on February 25, 2008
Personally, I take great pride in the apparent fact that I annoy Tony K. almost as much as he annoys me. I've often caught a snippet of PTI and proceeded to wish for a large chunk of frozen feces to fall out of a plane, land on Tony's head, and render him no longer able to spew his vitriolic, hockey hating rhetoric.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:54 PM on February 25, 2008
This is some pretty tired shtick from Kornheiser. He'd be interesting if he was on TV, radio and print about one-tenth as much as he is now. But who at this point could see Kornheiser and think, "Hey, I wonder what he has to say today?" His rant isn't even coherent. What do bloggers have to do with the hosts on American Idol?
posted by rcade at 04:55 PM on February 25, 2008
He has a face for telegraph . . . and a mind for infants
posted by B-2 Spirit at 05:00 PM on February 25, 2008
Was the idea of this post to try to stir up Tony Kornheiser hate now that we haven't heard him on MNF in a while or to see how many people would respond to the FPP without reading the article? It was a crazy rant that was not sports-related, and honestly, the radio show (which can be streamed here) is only moderately sports-related itself. Like him or not, this just seems like baiting.
posted by bender at 05:01 PM on February 25, 2008
I have never seen American Idol in it's entirety. Maybe a total of 15 minutes. i've seen more Simon on my kids' Shrek II DVD. Who's Tony Kornheiser?
posted by THX-1138 at 05:10 PM on February 25, 2008
right, THX-1138. I have no idea. I would rather exchange ideas about sports than watch TV (unless good sports were on). If you don't like it, don't read it, it is very simple. In America we all have choices. Isn't that good??
posted by twoman at 05:14 PM on February 25, 2008
He's someone you'd have to have a TV, radio, book or newspaper to know about.
posted by yerfatma at 05:20 PM on February 25, 2008
Kornheiser is the classic "jack of all trades, master of none". His limited knowledge about (almost) every sport allows him to form a semi-educated opinion on (almost) every sport. His opinions stink most of the time and he's absolutely horrible on Sunday night football as well.
posted by ggermanctl at 05:47 PM on February 25, 2008
I was joking, yerfatma. And I was exaggerating about how much American Idol I've seen. It's closer to 12 minutes total.
posted by THX-1138 at 05:49 PM on February 25, 2008
I think bender has a point. Tony knows nothing about sports, doesn't contribute anything to sports, has never played any sport, can't comment intelligently on sports, doesn't sport much hair on his head, and is generally an all around poor sport, so this has little to do with sports. On the other hand, baiting is part of fishing, so this is a sports post after all.
posted by irunfromclones at 06:00 PM on February 25, 2008
Like him or not, this just seems like baiting. If you're saying I'm baiting you're wrong. I find sports personalities worried about bloggers pretty funny. This comes after Stephen A. Smith's comments: And when you look at the internet business, what’s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts. More important are the level of ethics and integrity that comes along with the quote-unqoute profession hasn’t been firmly established and entrenched in the minds of those who’ve been given that license. It was a crazy rant that was not sports-related Sure it's sports related (related being the key word), and no one's forcing you to read it.
posted by justgary at 06:06 PM on February 25, 2008
Tony Kornheiser Hates Sportsfilter Did I miss the part where he says he hates Spofi? I would actually suggest that Kornheiser's comments are closer to what most of us believe than you would think. Many of us (certainly myself) post here because the level of discourse is at a much higher level than most sports blogs or "comments sections." If you need further proof of this just try and follow the comments section following any sports article in the NY Post, Daily News or Newsday. Or even Deadspin, for that matter. So when Kornheiser says he hates bloggers, I'm guessing he's referring to the moronic, ill informed blogger whose post consists of "Your team sucks. My team rules." or various references to mother jokes and dead donkey dicks that I often run across in these blogs. Do we really think that these bloggers would be missed? Spofi is quite vehement about self-policing and keeping the level of discourse at a certain level. And I applaud that. But that doesn't that mean on some basic level that spofi's approach vindicates what Kornheiser is saying?
posted by cjets at 06:34 PM on February 25, 2008
I find sports personalities worried about bloggers pretty funny. To be frank, it's a larger issue than that. It's career-newspaper guys worried about their careers. Both Tony K and Stephen A. (neither of whom I give half a glass of water about) were J-School kiddos that paid their dues long before the word "internet" or "weblog" existed. There's a huge crisis for dead-paper reporters at the moment. They've built their careers doing, they thought (and I can't blame them), the right thing to establish a solid life-plan. But the effing internet had to happen and all the sudden they're no longer a commodity. Internet advertising is all the sudden more lucrative than print. Henceforth, they're no longer so special, and now, they either have to assimilate to TV, radio or the web, and it kind of pisses 'em off. So it goes. To be frank, I see the web as separating the wheat from the chaff. Those that had cushy jobs writing columns for the local market that wouldn't be read by anyone outside of 100 miles are now forced to nut up and come up with something better. The rest? Well, I guess it sucks for them that they have to deal with it, but you know what? They have to.
posted by Ufez Jones at 06:34 PM on February 25, 2008
I'm not saying that talking about bloggers is not sports-related, I'm saying that this particular post is taking these words out of context to pull them into a sports blogging website. There is a difference between all bloggers or pop culture bloggers and sports bloggers, and there is no mention of sports here. The Stephen A. Smith comments would in my opinion be much more appropriate and clearly-applicable for this website, although I can imagine how those comments would be received by an audience of sports bloggers as well. Furthermore, dismissing my opinion with "no one's forcing you to read it" is just being obtuse. On preview: Spofi is quite vehement about self-policing and keeping the level of discourse at a certain level. And I applaud that. But that doesn't that mean on some basic level that spofi's approach vindicates what Kornheiser is saying? This gets at what I was trying to say as well. A post like this is sure to lead to mostly low-brow insults and attacks on Kornheiser's credentials rather than an actual discussion on the topic.
posted by bender at 06:53 PM on February 25, 2008
Did I miss the part where he says he hates Spofi? He hates bloggers. Sportsfilter is a blog. Honestly, I can't believe I'm defending this or that you're complaining about it. So when Kornheiser says he hates bloggers, I'm guessing he's referring to the moronic, ill informed blogger whose post consists of "Your team sucks. My team rules." or various references to mother jokes and dead donkey dicks that I often run across in these blogs. Do we really think that these bloggers would be missed? No, that's not what he's said in the past (this isn't his first rant on the topic) and not what he's saying here. Those that had cushy jobs writing columns for the local market that wouldn't be read by anyone outside of 100 miles are now forced to nut up and come up with something better. I would hope so, but it seems that the loudest columnists, much like the loudest bloggers, generally come out on top.
posted by justgary at 07:00 PM on February 25, 2008
it seems that the loudest columnists, much like the loudest bloggers, generally come out on top. Well sure. Controversy leads to hits, which leads to ad-impressions, which leads to job-security. Not exactly rocket-science. There's a reason that damn near every Christopher Hitchens rant gets posted all over the internet, even though he's universally hated by those of all sides, including myself. He's found a nice niche for himself. But I'll be damned if Kornheiser has ever put 1/20th of the thought into anything he's done than Hitchens ever has.
posted by Ufez Jones at 07:07 PM on February 25, 2008
Furthermore, dismissing my opinion with "no one's forcing you to read it" is just being obtuse. No it's not. It's how the site works. If your opinion is that this post shouldn't be here, which you've already stated, take it to the locker room.
posted by justgary at 07:07 PM on February 25, 2008
I was joking, yerfatma. Yeah, I got it-- my response was a variation on MetaFilter's oh-so-snobbish "Is this something I'd need a TV to know about?"
posted by yerfatma at 07:41 PM on February 25, 2008
Sportsfilter is NOT a blog. It's a website. Do not go attaching that bullshit name tag to a site that existed long before the fucking asinine "blog" nonsense. So some guy I've never heard of hates me. Man, I wonder how much sleep I'll lose over THAT?!
posted by Drood at 07:51 PM on February 25, 2008
I wrote something in the locker room because my opinions on this subject are, and probably will be, deleted.
posted by Nakeman at 07:55 PM on February 25, 2008
Did I miss the part where he says he hates Spofi? He hates bloggers. Sportsfilter is a blog. Honestly, I can't believe I'm defending this or that you're complaining about it. It was not a complaint. It was a semi-rhetorical tongue in cheek comment cleverly designed to cover my ass in case I missed the part where he said "I hate sportsfilter." Sportsfilter is one of fifty million blogs (and that's a conservative estimate from 2005). I just don't buy the fact that he hates blogs so he must hate Sportsfilter. I bet his kids blog. Do you think he hates them too? So when Kornheiser says he hates bloggers, I'm guessing he's referring to the moronic, ill informed blogger whose post consists of "Your team sucks. My team rules." No, that's not what he's said in the past (this isn't his first rant on the topic) and not what he's saying here. I don't know what he said in the past. Nor do I care. And I have no desire to defend him. What I think is the bigger and more interesting issue is the point that he is making in this particular post. Many blogs are bad. (Here's the American Idol site Kornheiser referenced in the post. Have fun with that for a while). Many bloggers are worse. Spofi clearly recognizes this and its members vigorously self police the site to keep the standards up. I would suggest that this means that we understand the dangers Kornheiser alludes to.
posted by cjets at 08:02 PM on February 25, 2008
It was not a complaint. It was a semi-rhetorical tongue in cheek comment cleverly designed to cover my ass in case I missed the part where he said "I hate sportsfilter." I doubt he's every heard of sportsfilter. One site that had the Smith comments titled it "Stephen A. Smith hates the first amendment". Of course, he never said that. I never took it literally. If I had known people would actually take my title seriously, which I thought was completely over the top, I would have never used it.
posted by justgary at 08:16 PM on February 25, 2008
Stephen A. Smith thinks he's an expert? On what? The NBA? Wow, my hero. I honestly wish he'd resort to blogging and quit speaking on the air, although what he does can't be considered "speaking." He shouts. The arrogance of these pathetic little dweebs like Smith and Kornheiser anyways, thinking they are the only ones authorized to have opinions on sports, of all things.
posted by dyams at 08:19 PM on February 25, 2008
Hate to break this to you, Drood, but we've been calling ourselves a community blog since day one. I love that Stephen A. Smith quote about how people like him are different than people like us (i.e. worthy of having an audience) because of their training. All the guy has is a bachelor's degree in mass communications and skills he developed on the job.
posted by rcade at 08:24 PM on February 25, 2008
To be frank, I see the web as separating the wheat from the chaff. Those that had cushy jobs writing columns for the local market that wouldn't be read by anyone outside of 100 miles are now forced to nut up and come up with something better. The rest? Well, I guess it sucks for them that they have to deal with it, but you know what? They have to. I disagree with this pretty strongly. I see the vast majority of sportswriting on the Web not as a way to tell the story of a game or relate the experiences of an athlete, but rather a big dick contest to see who can be the most obnoxious, overly wordy tool on the Web. Put the vast majority of these poseurs in an deadline environment, forced to write a Game Seven story or interview an unwilling subject, and they'd fold up like your grandmother's Murphy bed. Those guys with the "cushy jobs" writing columns generally slogged their way through the backwaters and the weeklies to get where they were, learning the business and getting better. In other words, they became professionals.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:33 PM on February 25, 2008
They both suck, anyone who ever bought into they're illeducated opinions sucks. That includes any of you.
posted by ggermanctl at 10:12 PM on February 25, 2008
The new phone books are in, the new phone books are in. Now I'm somebody. By the way, isn't Kornhole on with what's his name????
posted by Mickster at 10:37 PM on February 25, 2008
All the guy has is a bachelor's degree in mass communications and skills he developed on the job Agreed. I spend a lot of time explaining complex, real-world situations to journalists, most of whom are out of their depth and merely looking for an 'angle' for a shoddy, deadline dependent dispatch*. I once had the 'pleasure' of taking a women's gossip magazine reporter from Australia on a tour of Aceh on the first anniversary of the tsunami. A surreal experience. Meanwhile, back to "Sportsfilter hates Tony Kornheiser". *I love alliteration.
posted by owlhouse at 10:46 PM on February 25, 2008
I disagree with this pretty strongly. Not surprising, given your (admittedly here on SpoFi) background. I see the vast majority of sportswriting on the Web not as a way to tell the story of a game or relate the experiences of an athlete, but rather a big dick contest to see who can be the most obnoxious, overly wordy tool on the Web. I don't disagree with that, either. But it's fair game now to substitute TV/magazine/radio/ or print. I can only speak for what I've seen here in Dallas, but the former dead-tree rats are jumping ship like its sinking, and either becoming ass-hat PR clones, selling out to airline 'magazines' (?) or trying to start up their own websites. The daily (and arguably weekly) newspaper industry is as screwed at the moment as the Cinema industry is. They're both outmoded by technology, and they both, desperately, need to adapt. It's not an indictment on you (or any former news-man *cough cough rcade*). It's just the way it is. Anyhow, this has nothing to do with Korny's asshattery, which is, at best, ignorable.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:58 PM on February 25, 2008
Devils advcate here. I have to be honest: I love Tony Kornheiser. I think he is the perfect compliment to Mike Wilbon on PTI, which is one of my favorite shows. More importantly: he isnt wrong. He isnt. We all come on here and spout our opinions, and "insider info", but in the end, its just opinions of sports fans, and stuff we've heard that may or may not be true, or relevant. The thing is that thats ok!! This is the water-cooler of the internet age! We speak as sports fans about sports, and we are good at it, and we are informed, because we see to it that we are. What we are not is experts, with a few possible exceptions. I have never coached, played, or done play-by-play in an NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, or any other sports-related acronym, event. It doesnt mean i dont know sports, but my "experties goes only so far, and as much as i do sometimes think he rode the short bus to school as a kid some times, TK knows a lot more than me about sports. And he knows more than the overwhelming majority of you too. Did he need to rant about dumpsters falling on our houses? No, but who cares, really? He is fun to watch, and if we are really gonna get up in arms, or even have our feelings hurt by a TV personality, we have much bigger problems to deal with.
posted by elijahin24 at 11:01 PM on February 25, 2008
Put the vast majority of these poseurs in an deadline environment, forced to write a Game Seven story or interview an unwilling subject, and they'd fold up like your grandmother's Murphy bed. Those guys with the "cushy jobs" writing columns generally slogged their way through the backwaters and the weeklies to get where they were, learning the business and getting better. In other words, they became professionals. Tony, is that you???
posted by Mickster at 11:03 PM on February 25, 2008
All I have to say is that I check SpoFi more than I watch PTI. Y'all rock, SpoFites (well, not all y'all, but a very significant portion of the active membership). I've been informed, even enlightened, by many of the FPPs and discussions by those who have thoughtfully posted here. And, I'm often entertained. Here's to you, SpoFites ... may we continue to shine a beacon of light for intelligent sports fans everywhere!!!
posted by Spitztengle at 12:06 AM on February 26, 2008
What we are not is experts, with a few possible exceptions. I have never coached, played, or done play-by-play in an NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, or any other sports-related acronym, event. It doesnt mean i dont know sports, but my "experties goes only so far, and as much as i do sometimes think he rode the short bus to school as a kid some times, TK knows a lot more than me about sports. And he knows more than the overwhelming majority of you too. Kornheiser has never played sports. "Mike Golic, an ESPN colleague of Kornheiser's, who had expressed skepticism regarding his prospects as an on-air analyst because he was never an athlete " So I'm not sure what you're getting at. As far as this idea that you have to be an athlete to understand sports, I couldn't disagree more. There are plenty of example of ex players being awful analysts with non-players being fantastic. On topic, the part of the article that stuck out to me was the 'bloggers have no sources' comment. That's his trump card. In reality he doesn't need sources for the majority of what he does because he does exactly what most bloggers do; just give opinions off the top of his head. But the sources comment is designed to draw a line between him and the bloggers.
posted by justgary at 12:58 AM on February 26, 2008
Which is ironic seeing as the best blogs usually have sources, even when spouting opinions. Heck, SpoFi's whole system of posting and commenting is based on finding a source.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:28 AM on February 26, 2008
I love SpoFi. Kornheiser is a douchebag.
posted by GoBirds at 05:47 AM on February 26, 2008
I used to love reading Kornheiser's column in the Style section of the Washington Post when I was younger. Once he moved on to a national stage he became insufferable.... but he is still better than Theismann on MNF.
posted by scully at 06:54 AM on February 26, 2008
After reading the article, I'm very disappointed in justgary for leading me on. Dammit, here I was thinking Kornheiser actually said he hated SportsFilter specifically. Then I'd know we were doing something right. Cackle. What makes a real sports journalist? The fact that he/she is getting paid, or has a byline? Hell, I did that -- can't say I was paid a lot, but I did it. As to whether that made me a real sports journalist, I think it has to be said that at the time, my writing had a lot less critical and knowledgeable eyes on it than when I write a column or something on SpoFi. That was operating at the lower end of "real sports journalism", very small potatoes, and I had that relative lack of criticism because I knew more about sports than, and could write rings around, anyone else in the shop. But in some ways I think the same applies to "real sports journalists" who get themselves comfortably ensconced as Kornheiser has: they're Authorities, so what they say is treated as revealed wisdom by a good chunk of those who read it. Clearly the guy is shocked and outraged that any unwashed blogger would presume to have a contrary opinion, or a negative opinion on his writing.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:25 AM on February 26, 2008
Clearly the guy is shocked and outraged that any unwashed blogger would presume to have a contrary opinion, or a negative opinion on his writing. That's it in a nutshell. All sports journalists wish they still worked back in the day when if you wanted information on sports you had to watch TV (though only around 12 stations existed), listen to the radio, or read the newspaper. Technology today, especially the internet, has made all kinds of information and opinions available to everyone, at any minute. Kornheiser realizes how his occupation has been transformed due to this, and he's clearly not happy about it. He's had to become more of an entertainer than a serious journalist. At the same time all journalists, though many won't admit it, probably read blogs all the time as a way to see which way people's opinions tend to be going on various topics.
posted by dyams at 07:51 AM on February 26, 2008
I guess I'm going to be safe here and take the middle ground, mainly because my wings have been clipped here on SF a couple of times. I also think there was complete justification for the clipping. I am a very passionate sports fan and also tend to be one sided, and a hot head. I think there is room for both types of distributing the sports of the day. I watch PTI everyday but I also am a daily reader of SF. I get a different type of information from both types of sports reporting. One from the fan(SF)and another from the print and TV media. I make an attempt to draw an opinion after I combine the two. Both sides are protecting their turf, and are naturally going to be prejudice. However my opinion tend to side with the media person who I has some sort of experience in regard to participating in the sport they are taking about. Example: When a person is buying a car do they value the opinion an automotive engineer who designs the car for a living or do they put more weight in the guy that is selling oranges at the supermarket. I think SF is a great source for overall attitudes and opinions in regard to current sporting events and stories. I also love the sophisticated sport view points expressed on SF. Keep up the good work.
posted by sportnut at 08:12 AM on February 26, 2008
Dammit, here I was thinking Kornheiser actually said he hated SportsFilter specifically. I thought of emailing him the site url in hopes of impending hatred but his wikipedia entry says that he rarely uses the internet or computers. Of course, that raises other questions.
posted by justgary at 08:36 AM on February 26, 2008
Not surprising, given your (admittedly here on SpoFi) background. I'm confused here. I used to be a sportswriter and sports editor. What does "admittedly" mean? And because I used to be an ink-stained wretch, the only way I could view this is the way I do? I admit, there are tons and tons of mediocre sportswriters out there, flailing away at keyboards, creating clunky sentences and ham-handed columns. But those guys also attend events, interview players, etc. In other words, they are actually "working" journalists, whether good or bad -- conveying a game story to a group of readers who may not be the most literate in the world. In contrast, most of the blogging I read is masturbatory one-upsmanship -- "Hey, look at the big words and the disses I'm throwing around!" There's little or no actual "reporting" involved -- it's more leeching off beat reporters and then trashing those same guys for not being cool enough to have a blog. Well, to most bloggers -- fuck you right in the ear. The day you're filing on a deadline, going to the ballpark and actually doing the work is the day I'll respect you. Until them, you're not much different than guys sitting in bars talking, except the guys in the bar as self-important. I can only speak for what I've seen here in Dallas, but the former dead-tree rats are jumping ship like its sinking, and either becoming ass-hat PR clones, selling out to airline 'magazines' (?) or trying to start up their own websites. The daily (and arguably weekly) newspaper industry is as screwed at the moment as the Cinema industry is. They're both outmoded by technology, and they both, desperately, need to adapt. The technologies are outdated, I agree, but it's not the fault of the newspaper reporters, so why hate on them? And it's not like they couldn't go and write those same stories on the Web, except that the accepted standard on the Web is not good, concise writing and game coverage -- it's bloated asshattery. It's not like I hate the Web. I'm reading Jay Onrait's NHL live trade deadline blog right now, and this is what's good about the web. The vast majority of the rest of it? Not so much. *pick up paper*
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:57 AM on February 26, 2008
Well, to most bloggers -- fuck you right in the ear HAHAHA ... ouch! I don't personally like Kornheiser, but I'd agree that he, and any other "sports" personality able to land a job on the biggest sports channel in the states, knows more about sports than I do. I go to work and bang on a keyboard all day, but those guys go and deal with sports and sports issues all day. How can they not have the knowledge? Stephen A is the same. Although maybe a one-trick pony (basketball), he obviously knows many of the ins and outs. These two are as annoying as a little sister, but that doesn't lessen their knowledge. Listen to Dan Reeves on the radio sometime. He gives so much insight when he's talking, but listening to him is akin to having sulphuric acid poured over my junk and wiped off with steel wool. In reality, most of us couldn't do a better job ... maybe some of us could be more likeable, but that's it.
posted by Ricardo at 12:39 PM on February 26, 2008
If he hates it so much why does he read it??? You are assuming that Mr. Kornheiser knows how to read. Mr. Kornheiser is a print journalist who has had some success with the written word. That is, he is not all bad when writing, getting the interns to do his research, and organizing his thoughts when typing them. The problem with this type of reporter, when he gets a TV job, is that he does not have the time to do more than a superficial amount of research, has only a few seconds to get his point across, and above all must be either interesting or controversial enough to drive ratings upward. What I'm trying to say is that when Mr. Kornheiser says that he hates blogs, he is really trying out the words for their shock effect. If you were able to sit down with the man and do a long, in-depth interview with him, I would bet that he would admit that blogs and sites like Sports Filter have a place. Of course, we ourselves are not immune from descent into homerism, poor grammar and spelling, and most of the evils that our English Comp teacher railed against. There are a number of really good single-author blogs out there (most associated with newspapers or other media outlets) that are worth at least a more than occasional read. Thus, I take Mr. Kornheiser's rant with a grain of salt, knowing that it is empty rhetoric designed, like a 2-year-old's scream, only to get my attention.
posted by Howard_T at 01:43 PM on February 26, 2008
He freely admits his laziness, which has only grown in the years since PTI got on the air. I used to really like him and value his opinion. Funny how the less curious he's been about the rest of the world, the less interesting he's become. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
posted by chicobangs at 01:48 PM on February 26, 2008
I don't personally like Kornheiser, but I'd agree that he, and any other "sports" personality able to land a job on the biggest sports channel in the states, knows more about sports than I do. I go to work and bang on a keyboard all day, but those guys go and deal with sports and sports issues all day. How can they not have the knowledge? Oh, it's certainly possible. The problem, if you go down that road, is that if you compare the very best of bloggers with the worst of working sports journalists, of course the latter don't look so good. Is it a valid comparison? Of two "writers", sure; of two media, absolutely not. There's also the distinction between what (we say) we could do, and what we are doing. My big dream is to write a book about the best sporting events in the world, and if I ever do it, I think it'll be pretty goddamn good -- but until then, my dream is worth somewhat less than the actual ink that someone else puts on actual paper.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 02:07 PM on February 26, 2008
Sorry, Mr. yerfatma, I took your comment to say that I was the type that moved his lips while he read. Having come to SpoFi from a place other than Metafilter (which I have never gone to other than when it is linked here), that one went over my head. Sorry to act like I got my tail feathers in a ruffle. Kornheiser I occasionally find to be funny. Stephen A Smith I find to be a somewhat self serving egomaniac. Maybe it's because he seems to lack any sense of humility while Kornheiser is at least a little self-depracating, which is a trait I like in people.
posted by THX-1138 at 02:43 PM on February 26, 2008
Apparently he just hates one blog, really.
posted by yerfatma at 03:54 PM on February 26, 2008
Hey, yerfatma, no fair with the recursive linking! My interbrains iz exploding!
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:56 PM on February 26, 2008
I'm confused here. I used to be a sportswriter and sports editor. What does "admittedly" mean? And because I used to be an ink-stained wretch, the only way I could view this is the way I do? Not at all. It's just, like I said, not surprising. I know you're out of the industry (at least, last I heard), but I can understand your take on it. And, honestly, I value it. I admit, there are tons and tons of mediocre sportswriters out there, flailing away at keyboards, creating clunky sentences and ham-handed columns. But those guys also attend events, interview players, etc. In other words, they are actually "working" journalists, whether good or bad -- conveying a game story to a group of readers who may not be the most literate in the world. In contrast, most of the blogging I read is masturbatory one-upsmanship -- "Hey, look at the big words and the disses I'm throwing around!" There's little or no actual "reporting" involved -- it's more leeching off beat reporters and then trashing those same guys for not being cool enough to have a blog. Well, to be fair, having press-passes and locker room access helps a bit. so why hate on them? Have I as a whole? I don't think so. I just loathe the luddite-seeming old-guard (or secure-guard) columnists that think the internet, and yes, some bloggers, have fuck-all value to the reader. I love good writing, and great sports-writers. I still read Marc Stein religiously, and relish most anything Tim Cowlishaw or Kevin Blackistone write for the DMN, albeit online. But it's attitudes that say If a huge dumpster landed on their mother's house, and got all the way into the basement and crushed them, nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that's any good at all. or fuck you right in the ear that remind be of a certain scene from Blazing Saddles. I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, fraze. I consider you one of the (admittedly fewer and fewer still) contributors to SpoFi that I respect. You're obviously more passionate about this than I am, but I felt a bit compelled to respond. *pick up paper* *rechecks his .rss feeds*
posted by Ufez Jones at 08:11 PM on February 26, 2008
Just saw this and was frankly a bit surprised by it. It never seemed to be his attitude on PTI, so I wonder how much of his blogger stance on radio/ TV is driven by what he thinks his audience wants to hear. As a number of folks have pointed out: it's a fine line to walk, for an opinion writer to be demeaning bloggers.