I had to pull a new signature from Ken’s post. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

Pretty amusing.

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/

Bloggers don’t spend all that money on English classes, and for the most part, probably know more about the subjects they talk about.

Hey Buzz, you might be a sports writer, but you went to school for Journalism.

If I’m a heart surgeon, and I blog about heart surgery, my content is better than yours. No matter how well-written your article is. I want info, not grammar.

Costas previously said he doesn’t like bloggers, and HBO presented his opinion. At the beginning, the Costas voiceover describes journalism v. blogging, and when they show the blogger, he was sitting at a computer in a darkened room. Almost as if he were in a basement.

Here’s what interesting – MSM often presents bloggers in a less than beneficial light (like they were in a basement). So HBO (MSM) decided to “tackle” the issue and represented blogger in exactly the manner they wanted to and ambushed the blogger (with Costas doing a pretty damn poor job of “mediating” the debate). However, when Deadspin invites people from MSM (i.e. interview with Kenny Mayne) they are mostly presented in a neutral, respectful manner.

b/c i thought it so odd to totally ignore blogs like NMLR and LSB was so unbelievable. sites like these do more to unify and market to a teams fans than the team itself could ever do.

First, great fanpost!

Second, I don’t think it’s an either/or dichotomy like a lot of the traditional media figures like to set it up. Blogs are communications tools and most bloggers and commenters on blogs don’t blog or comment professionally. Newspapers and sports news networks and websites like ESPN and FOX Sports are professional institutions that, in the past, have served as both professional institutions AND communications tools.

That paradigm’s being challenged and, from the looks of it, overturned.

From political news to sports news, the professionals feel threatened by the bloggers because the professionals have never experienced the kind of short feedback loop they get from bloggers. From my point-of-view, the ones like Bissinger and angry at blogs and bloggers because in 2008, unlike 1998, if they mail it in on an article or parrot the talking points of the team owner, they’re going to be ridiculed for it the same day, for all to read.

Hell, if my profession allowed me to get paid for doing whatever I wanted to regardless of quality, I’d be pissed about being called out for it, too!

Part of the reason I love Lone Star Ball, Deadspin, Blogging The Boys, FJM, Kissing Suzy Kolber and The Big Lead is precisely because before the sports blog phenomenon came along, sports writing and sports broadcasting had by and large begun to suck massive balls. If ESPN had better content, if Sports Illustrated had better writers (and writing), then the sports blog phenomenon probably wouldn’t be what it is today. When the traditional sports media throws a fit about having “competition,” they just look that much more like they’re fading into the distance.

Jackassery like Bissinger’s shaking his cane at Will Leitch to get off his damn lawn will only bring Deadspin more readers.

It’s almost sad that I get so many Sports Illustrated issues, and yet each time I breeze through one for the first time, all of the topics are old and played out to me.

Recently, one issue focused on Brett Favre’s retirement for it’s cover story. I believe Favre had been retired for at least 5 days at the point, and the internet/ESPN had already killed the subject for me.

In 1980, it would have been one thing to have a picture of Brett Favre crying on the cover. The image would probably become legendary. Now? It doesn’t invoke any emotion with me because I saw him crying 45-50 times that week.

looks like an ingnorant asshole in that video.

Also I love how the background screens say “The Internet”

of a lone blogger in a darkened room is silly. They should be using video of guys in cubicles posting while “working”. It’s sad that Costas has as much credibility as he has. This is the worst mediating since ABC hosted that Obama-Clinton debate a couple weeks ago.

I had a visual of Adam being grilled by Costas. Costas would be reading off negative/profane comments from LSB about Gerald Laird. Adam would try to point out that these are just comments and that he actually likes Laird. But, a raving middle-aged sports columnist sitting next to Adam would interrupt to tell Adam how disgusting he is.

That was nuts and I thought Costas embarassed himself more than Bissinger. Why “attempt” to have an honest debate if you’re not going to be an honest moderator?