First of all, the above video (H/T Awful Announcing) is not safe for kids or an open workplace. Lots of naughty, naughty language, most of it ironically coming from the guy who has jumped on his high horse about decency.
That guy is Buzz Bissinger. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the book “Friday Night Lights,” yet I had never heard of him until this week. That might make me a bad sports fan, a bad aspiring author, a bad father, I don’t know. But he seems suitably impressed by himself so I guess all of us are supposed to follow suit.
Buzz appeared as part of a panel (i.e. lynching) about sports blogs. Will Leitch from Deadspin (hear a fantastic interview with Will on Wings for Wheels here) had the difficult job of sitting next to Bissinger and getting lectured by a man who still seems pissed off because women are allowed in the locker room or something of that sort.
Lots of other sites have said more eloquent things than I can on this topic. OK, the last one wasn’t eloquent, but funny (and rude and crude). I only have two points I think people need to think about as aging writers rail about bloggers without knowing anything about bloggers.
First of all, I wouldn’t have nearly as much interest in sports as I do today without blogs like Deadspin, Awful Announcing, The Big Lead, KSK, With Leather, Fire Joe Morgan and many of the other fine sites that scare the living crap out of columnists and talking heads. I’m college-educated and have dedicated much of my free time to sports, but they just became less important as I got real jobs with real responsibility and started a family. ESPN and newspapers just didn’t always fit my need, but blogs do. They are timely, yet timeless. They update all day, but I can read them whenever I want. Sure, they use pictures of hot chicks, rely on dick jokes for a lot of humor, and focus on everything except the games at times. It’s that warped perspective and sense of humor which bring me to the table. Buzz has a serious sense of humor deficit, which is a terrible, terrible thing to suffer through life with. Laugh once in a while, Buzz. It’s OK.
My second point is that Bissinger and Bob Costas rail on and on about blog commenters, not the blog posts themselves. Well, those commenters are the sports fans who people like Costas and Bissinger look down upon from their lofty perch. People have been saying bad things about athletes and commentators for ever, but now they finally have a voice. Is it intelligent or politically correct or decent? Hell, no. But blog comments strike a chord for every fan cut off on sports radio, every fan who doesn’t get to tell columnists like Jay Mariotti he’s full of shit, and every fan who sits in a bar or lounge and talks about their favorite (or least favorite) team.
I think some of those fans are idiots, but they have a right to be idiots and that’s one reason why I love blogs. It’s not one-way communication. It’s 100-way communication, letting the fans and writers actually exchange ideas. And that’s a hell of a lot more relevant than Mike Lupica being a dick to his peers on The Sports Reporters.
You think? It’s like Wilson without the military references.
I finally listened to a bit of the “discussion” on youtube. Wow. Buzz has some anger issues, doesn’t he?
I’ve seen plenty of comments about this, and I still haven’t watched the clip. Just not interested. It’d be like watching Yngwie Malmsteen and Nuno Bettencourt have a shred-off … yeah, both guys may have some skill, and they both have fan bases, but listening to them is just another chore on top of work, changing the baby’s diaper, getting the toddler to go to sleep, finding where I’m supposed to be in Old Town, etc. Two wrongs don’t make a right — they just give me a headache.
I definitely don’t think all bloggers are the same, which I why I choose to skip the mainstream “beer, babes and baseball” blogs in favor of better options. Life’s too short.
The irony is that Deadspin may be the only site I’ve ever seen in which the comments are better than the posts.
Come on, Brian. Couldn’t you have at least plugged my considerably nicer interview with Leitch?
http://www.wingsforwheels.net/wordpress/?p=537