A BRIEF STATEMENT ON BLOGGING: WHO WE (I) ARE
by Orson on Apr 30, 2008 9:22 AM EDT
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PrintBuzz Bissinger just ripped on bloggers, including Will Leitch, who had to sit there and take it because, once angered, no amount of reason would get through to the guy who wrote Friday Night Lights.
Bissinger has no idea what blogs are about, though he may claim to. So in short, for the record, we thought we might state for the record a.) who a blogger might be, and b.) what blogging does. Ready? We'll keep this short.(For an epic poem or Supreme Court ruling--ed.)
A. Who a Blogger Might Be, or in this case, me.
My desk: taste the glamour.
DURR-HURR! GUY WHO LIVES IN MOM'S BASEMENT DURR!!! Untrue. We know of only one one blogger who lives in Mom's basement, and that makes him just like Mike Lupica, doesn't it? (Mom! Meatloaf and the Mets game on in five! MOM!) The bloggers we know best do the following;
1. Will Leitch. Full-time writer. Lots of people read him. Not mom's basement on the address.
2. Matt Ufford. Ditto, and ditto. Has roommates, I think, but still. Oh, and COMMANDED A FUCKING TANK UNIT IN IRAQ. Buzz Bissinger went to Phillips Academy, a very dangerous place in its own right. They ride English saddles there! There's not even a horn on it for stability!
3. Big Daddy Drew. Likewise, successful before becoming a sports blogger, and would be even if the medium didn't come around.
4. The guys from Fire Joe Morgan. No idea what these men do, because they cover American Cricket, and I therefore don't obsess enough about them to follow up. Fortunately, neither do mainstream journos, none of whom have inquired into blogger's backgrounds before accusing them of living in Mom's basement. I assume, judging from the brawny machinations of their writing, that they could presumably do other jobs quite successfully without going on the maternal dole.
5. Lawyers. Most post under pseudonyms, but these people make up the rank and file of the blogging world. Why? Because they are bored to tears by their jobs despite being creative, articulate, argumentative, and passionate people. Give a dam an outlet, and it'll crack mountains into silt. That's what lawyers are to the blogosphere. None of them live with their mothers, and many make more than the sportswriters who accuse them of living--yes--with Mom.
6. Me. Yep, I'll go there.
I'm not in the august company listed above, but I get paid to sit at home write while occasionally going somewhere else to write. I've been a vagabond professionally, and for a stint in late 1999 to June of 2000 I lived with my in-laws, but other than that horrific crash after post-collegiate backpacking I haven't lived with my parents during that time. (Perhaps a sensible person would have given the often dire circumstances, but I didn't.)
How does a person get to do this? And think this sick, perverted way about sports? Easy. I know sports doesn't fucking matter. At. All. It's dada, a delightful distraction, something not to be underestimated in its importance, but in the end the gravitas wasted on the Masters or the World Series or the BCS Championship game is just that: wasted, and deliberately so. If most people were to pay attention to the really, really important things in life, they'd spear their eyeballs out with cocktail forks and go stand over there in the tryout line for Equus.
Distraction is a necessity in life. I'm not questioning that. What I question is devoting such seriousness to it, as the Alboms, Bissingers, and other Brahmins of sportswriting would have it. (Back off, Kornheiser and Wilbon. You have no part in this fight, being normal people seemingly unwarped by access and privilege.)
I get ahead of myself. First, me.
Look, dorky-lookin' 31 year old white guy. I took three pictures for this, and this is the worst one, which is exactly why I chose it: fat cheeks, slightly walleyed, hairline running for Canada, still in my prissy workout shirt especially made for working out and stuff.
But not behind a shroud, or hiding. In fact, my phone number is public record. Dial a common Atlanta area code, and then dial 668-5092. There's my phone number, live and on the internet. If a mainstream journalist has a problem with anything, they may call it. I work with Matt Hayes at the Sporting News now, and I once called him a dick in print. He has no problem with what I do, because he emailed me, we exchanged virtual winks, and now it's all kosher. Email Matt, too: he actually answers his, unlike some people.
I'm not good-looking, either: Rainn Wilson crossed with Jack Black is the best way to put it. I'm fifteen pounds overweight but not unfit. I ran a half-marathon in November of 07 before my right knee said "FUCK THIS SHIT" and went all runner's knee on me. I'll be married in ten years in June 2008. I make above the average American wage, which in and of itself is a bit of a crime. I have love handles even if I work out two hours a day, and I talk too quickly at all times. If drunk, I may have the slightest bit of an accent.
I grew up in Franklin, Tennessee and have one sister and one brother. Off and on, because Dad was in the restaurant business, we lived in Atlanta (four years total) Columbia, South Carolina (one yearish, too young to remember,) and Palm Harbor, Florida, remembered most fondly as "The Place Where Someone Let Us Have Sex With Them For the First Time. Thank you, Father Finnegan, for the favor!)
Religion/politics: I grew up Catholic and dropped it because religion, like some combinations of biochemistry and antibiotics, does not react with my system at all. It's a big house where I wear uncomfortable sweaters and get bored to the point of anger: that's church, and will always be church for me. No atheist evangelism, no rage: it just doesn't catch, and never has. I'm a conservative Democrat, meaning my political decisions are easy: I hate everyone, and pay society to leave me the hell alone.
Education: bachelor's at Florida, full ride because I scored well on the PSAT and turned in some paperwork. Magna cum laude in English with a focus in cultural studies because I loved to read beautifully written French literary theory in between drinking 12 packs of Miller High Life, lifting weights, and playing matches of Mario Kart lasting longer than some cricket matches. Master's degree from Georgia Tech in International Affairs because I was in my mid-twenties, bored, and tired of working with refugees and breaking down in tears in the detergent aisle at Publix for no reason.
Career, or something like it: I got out of college and taught a year of ESL in Taiwan. In 1998. At the heart of the internet boom. Yes, all the money's gone now, but at the time it was career suicide to miss out on the dot-com trough feed. I swallowed vocational cyanide in the name of adventure because a guy I worked in a warehouse with in college said it was good money, and because I left a stupid piece of paperwork out of my JET package to teach in Japan.
I thank Allah/Xenu/Matsu/Cthulu/Jesus for that, too, because I got to do things in Taiwan I'd never done: overdose on betel nut laced with methamphetamine, convince Taiwanese schoolchildren all foreigners were scary, huge-headed monsters with hangovers, and get into a motorcycle wreck and go through a 6.2 earthquake all in the same year. Have you ever been asked if your chest hair will interfere with an X-ray? Didn't think so, Jay Mariotti. Suck it.
Then I traveled. I went to a lot of places, and smoked weed in all of them while getting horrendously drunk. All of it was an immensely good time. I learned nothing about humanity from this, though, lest you think I'll get preachy backpackery on you. I do know this: foreigners think dorky-looking white guys want hookers, and on the fly like now, laowai. I'm married and was at the time, so I didn't have the chance to contribute to the local economy in this fashion. But otherwise, I'm their target audience.
Oh, and Asia rules. It's like having your head next to the engine casing of the world when you're there. At first, the roar makes you nauseous and mad from lack of sleep. After a year, you start to crave it. When you leave it, everything else seems forever quiet and too devoid of neon, exhaust fumes, and people asking embarrassingly personal questions.
When I did learn something about humanity is working with refugees. That's what I did in stints from 2001 to 2007 at two different agencies. I learned that people are mediocre, and that on the whole, the ones who survive ordeals like the Rwandan genocide, the Balkan conflict of the mid to late '90s, and Iraq, Burma, Afghanistan, Somalia, and whatever other God-smote shithole you care to plug in here are the most annoying, the most sociopathic, or simply the most noble, hard-ass people you have ever met--or combinations thereof, really.
I started writing the blog as a hobby in 2005. It got out of hand when I couldn't stop writing it.
So in short, that's who a blogger can be. Not mom's basement. Not a trustafarian peeling off posts from the house my inheritance bought for me, and not a lone hack who doesn't answer a critical email. I answer about 80 percent of my emails, including the one from the guy three years ago who suggested I never put a word down again, because I was unfunny, untalented, and horrible. All three may be true, but you can't stop a dog from licking its balls, and you can't stop someone from writing about something he loves, even if it's the kind of love a graffiti artist has for the train he tags.
(And remember: not living in Mom's basement, professional journalists.)
Part two is coming up, and it will be shorter, we promise: what bloggers do. Then I'll end the pedantry and get back to writing a mock-crime drama starring Tommy Tuberville.
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The guys at Fire Joe Morgan have already outed themselves. They are television screenwriters, mostly for The Office. One of them has been on screen as Dwight’s brother.
by Buster Bluth on Apr 30, 2008 9:26 AM EDT reply actions
“you can’t stop a dog from licking it’s balls”
so true…
I wonder if that would hold up in court. Any resident lawyers to help with that one?
by CincySooner on Apr 30, 2008 9:28 AM EDT reply actions
appears in a puff of brimstone and tears of sadness
You paged a resident lawyer?
by Snowflake the Dog on Apr 30, 2008 9:30 AM EDT reply actions
I always admired the entrepreneurship of pimps who would walk up to us, offer Orson a “pretty lady”, and when he said no, would then offer ME a pretty lady.
I was never sure how to react, but I just decided to be flattered that they thought I was such an imposing Amazon waiguo half-man that I might just fancy a lass, too.
by The Conscience of a Nation on Apr 30, 2008 9:35 AM EDT reply actions
i’m not quite sure i want to know how many of us are lawyers that post here and on similar sites… this beats the hell out of writing a summary judgment motion, i know that much. i’m surprised there hasn’t been some sort of state bar investigation into this phenomenon…
by rjsplow on Apr 30, 2008 9:38 AM EDT reply actions
Bissenger’s real problem is with the American Bar Association. I’m convinced that without bored lawyers the internet would disappear.
by DevilGrad on Apr 30, 2008 9:38 AM EDT reply actions
Best moment of my life in Asia?
I was in a Cambodian whorehouse and asked the mama-san how much for one of the girls. She looked me up and down from head to toe, and said, “Well, for the locals, $2. But for you? $3”.
America, fuck yeah.
by Snowflake the Dog on Apr 30, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions
Hell, you can’t even stop a dog from licking his no-longer-extant balls.
Well put, Orson. Just once, I’d love to see you, or someone like you, on Around The Horn, absolutely burying Mariotti or Page or some other mainstream blowhard. But then, you’d be like them. So, maybe not.
by Mr. Wrong on Apr 30, 2008 9:40 AM EDT reply actions
Wow, Orson. You’ve managed to eloquently state what so many of us wished we had the pen and the talent to print for months if not years. Just outstanding.
by Maize n Brew Dave on Apr 30, 2008 9:41 AM EDT reply actions
Atta boy!
The maddening part is the implicit notion, demonstrably untrue, that “journos” aren’t on the take.
Take a look at the WSJ a year from now and then support the position that even the most respectable elements of mainstream journalism have anything to do with objectivity.
by OhioDawg on Apr 30, 2008 9:44 AM EDT reply actions
Bravo, Swindle. Unfortunately, you’re far too intelligent and worldly to be a blogger. Please turn in your URL and report to work at a non-profit. PETA should be contacting you shortly.
by WhiteSpeedReceiver on Apr 30, 2008 9:53 AM EDT reply actions
I feel like I’ve just read through an episode of “Cribs: Blogging Edition”. Obviously, that desk is akin to the bedroom in the “this is where the magic happens” sense.
Though, I was looking for a shot of a fridge stocked with vodka and sizzurp, but didn’t see one.
by BDoc on Apr 30, 2008 9:55 AM EDT reply actions
I (occasionally) write for a blog that no one reads (don’t worry, you aren’t missing anything), but bravo. MSM sports coverage is pretty awful in general – if they were any good, sports blogs wouldn’t be nearly as big as they are.
by ehrenb on Apr 30, 2008 9:56 AM EDT reply actions
i prefer to think of it as my ‘nom de plume’
by lt.winslow on Apr 30, 2008 10:02 AM EDT reply actions
this HAS to be a kick ass post, b/c when i started to read it i thought there was no chance in hell i was actually going to finish it.
by gerry dorsey on Apr 30, 2008 10:05 AM EDT reply actions
Seriously journalists are just pissed that the thousands of law students that dont pay attention in class are reading sites like this rather than the same old stale stories at any one of a number of different yet identical sites.
by Jim-bo on Apr 30, 2008 10:06 AM EDT reply actions
Well put O. As a member of group 5, I could not agree more yet could not be more depressed that my entire existance is summed up in 4 sentences. Coctails to you sir.
by Bunkie Perkins on Apr 30, 2008 10:07 AM EDT reply actions
rjsplow at 6: I can think of at least 5 lawyers, including myself, that regularly comment here and elsewhere. Not to mention all of the blogs I know run by lawyers. All ur internets are belongz to us, lawya.
by RaginCajunRebel on Apr 30, 2008 10:07 AM EDT reply actions
@17. Coward. There’s a special place in journalism hell for you and Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
by WhiteSpeedReceiver on Apr 30, 2008 10:08 AM EDT reply actions
I can attest to the man answering all his emails/IMs, as I can attest to the description of people who survive terrible ordeals like living in Iraq (all of them seemed crazy and oh-so-grounded at the same time).
Oh, one other thing bloggers do (or at least this one) is provide comic relief for football-starved soldiers wasting taxpayers’ money in foreign lands while hoping not to get blown the fuck up everyday. Thanks for the shout out in the summer of ’06, Orson; bloggers kick ass.
Justin.
by Justin Cliburn on Apr 30, 2008 10:12 AM EDT reply actions
I watched last night and saw the death of MSM in the face of Buzz Bissinger. As a reader of this site everyday, and occasionally Deadspin, there is no doubt that you and Will Leitch are two of the most prolific composers of electronic LITERATURE that columnists can only envy. I’m probably at the upper end of your demographic (51yo), but I enjoy every word of your prose and am happy for all of your well deserved success. Obviously TSN saw what your readers have known for awhile. Your talent is too evident to ignore.
by Crabapple Buck on Apr 30, 2008 10:17 AM EDT reply actions
as a shamefaced member of group 5, O hit that nail dead-the-fuck on the head. Nothing like being lied to for three years about the philosophical puzzles, and policy implications and the grand structure of our republic, to only turn around and draft (damned near) the same shit, every day, for the same pink-faced, petulant douchebags who need their hand or (if an insurance company) cock held. Fuck that.
by Der Schatten on Apr 30, 2008 10:19 AM EDT reply actions
1. I’ll vouch for you returning e mails, and returning them promptly.
2. Asia does rule.
3. True indeed regarding asians view on white people. First tuk-tuk I got in in Thailand, I was greeted with:" You go masagee ???". When I said no, He asked one of the other drivers how to say hooker.
Lastly, continue to lick away. Please, for the children’s sake, lick away.
by Scalz1 on Apr 30, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions
TCOAN, were you with him throughout this international journey? Kudos to you if you were.
[Of course, if you SENT him on this journey because he’s a crazed, lunatic writer, kudos for that too!]
by Sundawg on Apr 30, 2008 10:24 AM EDT reply actions
so can we now just refer to all lawyers as “Group 5”?
by AllWhoYonder on Apr 30, 2008 10:25 AM EDT reply actions
i think the point many of the msm miss is that bloggers are not empowered by their ability to write but by their ability to be published. it is this aspect of the medium that marks where the paradigm is shifting not in the words being written themselves.
by kleph on Apr 30, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions
One MILLION cocktails, a slow clap, and + 5 or 6, lawya.
by VandyJ on Apr 30, 2008 10:28 AM EDT reply actions
“I feel like Ive just read through an episode of Cribs: Blogging Edition. Obviously, that desk is akin to the bedroom in the this is where the magic happens sense.”
So Orson, what’s your version of the Scarface poster?
by DAve on Apr 30, 2008 10:29 AM EDT reply actions
Would a Buzz Bissinger appearence on EDSBS Live be asking too much of him at this point? Poetically put as always, Orson.
by WorstFan on Apr 30, 2008 10:30 AM EDT reply actions
The MSM misses the economic analysis of the blog experience- before, there were only a few producers, and now, it’s pretty much wide open. What determines who’s popular is simple- it’s based on who gets read. It’s much more meritorious now.
Also, I am a member of Group 5, and you nailed my life in 1 paragraph. I’ll be needing a second now for seppuku.
by Snowflake the Dog on Apr 30, 2008 10:30 AM EDT reply actions
RaginCajunRebel – make that one more. Financial services to boot, so I’ve got lots of time.
by Tricky Dick on Apr 30, 2008 10:32 AM EDT reply actions
Crap… I look like Orson plus an extra 30 pounds, I guess I’m a dork also… at least, for my ilk, the international love trade is a buyers market and the American dollar is still strong in some places.
In all honesty, Orson, your work is fantastic and whatever you’re making, isn’t enough. Keep up the great work.
by bigwindbag on Apr 30, 2008 10:35 AM EDT reply actions
Couple things:
1. Can someone please explain to MSM sportshacks that bloggers blog and commenters comment? They don’t seem to get this. There IS a difference, and it keeps me from getting dumped.
2. None of the MSM blathering I’ve heard about blogs makes a cogent argument that bloggers are any worse than sports talk radio. I’ve always thought of this community as a sort of nice alternative to that world, where most people are literate and have a sense of humor. (major exception: Auburn-Alabama flame wars).
by now_a_hoo on Apr 30, 2008 10:35 AM EDT reply actions
Group 5 – but I do actually like my day job.
by maskedavenger on Apr 30, 2008 10:37 AM EDT reply actions
Well said, Orson. Category 5 here, but did spend a little time after law school in the basement. I can think of worse places I could have been.
Hey Mom! Can we get some meatloaf?
by sonofsamford on Apr 30, 2008 10:44 AM EDT reply actions
- question most likely to be asked upon seeing a bookcase:
you read all them books???
by gerry dorsey on Apr 30, 2008 10:44 AM EDT reply actions
GREAT SELLER!!!!! A++++++++++++++++ WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE!!!!
this isn’t ebay?
by burt77 on Apr 30, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions
I don’t know where you get this whole “lawyers as bloggers” thing—wait…oh.
Well, damn.
/Group5
by Reasonable Doubt for a Reasonable Price on Apr 30, 2008 10:46 AM EDT reply actions
aspiring member of Group 5 here- UF alumnus as of this coming Sunday, soon to be Cock. South Carolina School of Group 5 c/o 2011
by swampchomp on Apr 30, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply actions
RCR and I have had a running discussion of what percentage of Orson’s readership were Group 5ers (as both of us are) — I said at least half, he thinks it’ll be a lot higher. Today seems to be the day of reckoning. Billable hours be damned.
by jpbiscuit on Apr 30, 2008 10:50 AM EDT reply actions
You made my balls tingle with envy with this post.
by Chandler on Apr 30, 2008 10:54 AM EDT reply actions
Nice writing O.
What the hell are these MSM types all worked up about anyway. Unless, they think the guys in the basement can cut into their turkey pot pies…..fear is a strange emotion.
by shovel pass on Apr 30, 2008 10:56 AM EDT reply actions
I think that part of the reason so many of us Group 5’ers are on here and elsewhere is that the billable hour is directly counterproductive to the skills required to be a lawyer. You do have to be smart, and creative, and articulate, and passionate. But, you can’t work any harder- it doesn’t pay off. There is only so much time in the day. If you finish a project more efficiently, it actually hurts your bottom line. So…. to the end of the internet and beyond!
by Snowflake the Dog on Apr 30, 2008 10:58 AM EDT reply actions
I feel like there’s another group here somewhere – bored college students trying to procrastinate by surfing and writing blogs all day. Probably a small group, but a group nonetheless.
Also, well, well done sir, and 10,000 cocktails to you or the party of your choice.
by Ground0EastLansing on Apr 30, 2008 11:01 AM EDT reply actions
- - True, there’s a difference, but Deadspin likes to go on about how important their commenters are to the site. And they have an approval process and somebody monitoring the comments. I don’t give them a lot of slack for it.
Not that I think the Deadspin comments are terrible, but whenever I check them out, I don’t find anything that interests me there – so I don’t check them out much.
And Orson, great post. Although the guys who do live in their mom’s basement have as much right to be heard as anybody else.
by Devin McCullen on Apr 30, 2008 11:02 AM EDT reply actions
I usually take it easy on clients, but I’m definitely billing for reading the comments on this particular post. It’s about as legitimate as the “conference re: case” you can bill .3 hours for sitting in another attorney’s office and shooting the breeze, right?
by rjsplow on Apr 30, 2008 11:02 AM EDT reply actions
Even though I don’t write a blog, I read many of the standard sports blogs to both get away from the stress of grad school for a few and to read takes on sports that aren’t straight from the cookie cutter, MSM journalism classes. It just seems so pathetic that these writers and journalists can’t even fathom embracing a new style of writing that’s out here on the internet. Writing, like culture and anything else, evolves over time and in this world of instant internet and total connected-ness, it’s time for everyone to embrace the fact that there is some evolution here.
The best newspaper writers and journalists will always have their jobs, just as much for their good writing as their established “tenure” they get when they become journalists. Maybe they should get off their laurels and realize that the American public is, in many many cases, very well educated and do not need fancy journo degrees to write this stuff up. Imagine if the newspapers and the bloggers could work in complete concert with each other? Wouldn’t that just make sports writing better for everyone? Just an idea.
But what do I know? I’m only going for a doctorate in physical chemistry.
by Mike on Apr 30, 2008 11:09 AM EDT reply actions
@ 51-
You’re right that different blogs use their comments differently. Personally, I can’t stand deadspin comment threads, and enjoy the hell out of most cfb blog comment threads (though I rarely participate). My main point is that most sportswriters seem to be willfully ignorant of even the basics of blogging. If I ranted and raved about the opinion section, but didn’t understand the difference between the editorials and the letters to the editor, I’d lose most of my credibility immediately.
Back to billing hours. Group 5, what!
by now_a_hoo on Apr 30, 2008 11:16 AM EDT reply actions
Wow. Group 5 here as well.
0.1
And, fuck Auburn.
1.8
by Tater Salad on Apr 30, 2008 11:24 AM EDT reply actions
MSM types just fear/hate us because we are more interesting and plentiful than they are. A threat.
They are forced to play the institutional/political game of big business. We bloggers say whatever the fuck pops into our heads, and typically, that’s what people want to hear.
I don’t blame the MSM types anymore than I blame a boss who fears his underlings are more qualified for his job than he is.
by Erik on Apr 30, 2008 11:25 AM EDT reply actions
Let us not ignore the Steely Dan CD (from the box-set – Disc 1?) on Orson’s desk.
/Group 5, Gov’t Bureaucrat Battalion.
by Rich on Apr 30, 2008 11:25 AM EDT reply actions
#51: well put. While just about every blog has their in-jokes (and this one is no exception), it’s as if Deadspin’s comment threads have become little more than those in-jokes and a select group validating each other’s self-referential humor, which I am not part of and therefore should stay out of, because I’m not as Devoted To The True Cause as they are. Seriously, it’s as if some day, just before they enter ESPN’s offices and start putting heads on pikes, BDD or someone else will be like “Where were you on Feb. 1? Where were you when Ape got axed? Where were you…” when all this meaningless fighting happened.
I love Deadspin, but it seems it’s gotten to be a more hip, elite version of the Jim Rome Show sometimes.
by El Hombre on Apr 30, 2008 11:28 AM EDT reply actions
Being a sports columnist isn’t like being a doctor – the population isn’t limited because of the stringent qualifications, it’s limited by the economics of supporting them at newspapers etc.
Correspondingly, changing the economics of publishing to “free” – as Kleph pointed out – is what makes it possible to open up the universe of published opinions, many of which are on niches that don’t get covered much elsewhere.
I mean, I have nothing against Tony Kornheiser or Michael Wilbon, but I don’t give a shit about any of the sports that they cover… and their forays beyond that can be laughable, c.f. Wilbon’s refusal to acknowledge that there is no evidence to show that publicly funded stadia pay for themselves in economic growth.
Plus, I like to laugh at words like “taintslap” and “equimount,” and there’s none of that in the WaPo.
by DC Trojan on Apr 30, 2008 11:35 AM EDT reply actions
so, i get my BSME this weekend…
I should go back to school become a patent lawya?
i wanna join the club…
by Boozy McHound on Apr 30, 2008 11:39 AM EDT reply actions
All of that is only a small step above mom’s basement. The sports journalist aristocracy wins again! GOD DAMMIT!
by chum1 on Apr 30, 2008 11:40 AM EDT reply actions
Boozy, you get your JD and I will hunt you down. Don’t do it.
by Snowflake the Dog on Apr 30, 2008 11:41 AM EDT reply actions
Sundawg-
Hell yes I was with him, through a year of teaching and then 6 more months of backpacking. My only regret is that we can’t go again tomorrow. :)
by The Conscience of a Nation on Apr 30, 2008 11:46 AM EDT reply actions
Don’t tell me I’m the only ivory-tower academic elite on a college sports blog? And the MSM sees blogs the same way that record companies view MP3’s.
by jakldawg on Apr 30, 2008 11:52 AM EDT reply actions
The MSM are cowards. When Nick Saban was in Miami downgrading reporters, pointing his finger, and shaking his head indignantly, nobody from the MSM had the guts to stand up to him. Nobody on radio, TV, or fishwrap. The moment he left, they all got real tough. And thats because they, the writers, stations, and personalities couldn’t exist without pitiful access. To keep that access, “you bow your head when Nick Saban screams at you, and be a good company man”
Nevermind that the MSM actually hangs out with, smokes weed with, and tips strippers with the very same subjects they are objectively covering. Now I gotta go blog about Donovan McNabbs Chin-goiter.
by Oranse Taylor on Apr 30, 2008 11:53 AM EDT reply actions
/Group 5, UGA Class of ’09.
Of course, that has precluded any actual writing over the last year and a half, but it hasn’t put a dent in the reading at all.
by The Drizzle on Apr 30, 2008 11:58 AM EDT reply actions
The answer to the age old questions is:
Buzz Bissinger pissed in Orson’s corn flakes.
And, yes, I admit to membership in group 5.
by JeffAU on Apr 30, 2008 12:05 PM EDT reply actions
This must be how scribes felt after the invention of the printing press. Any poor peasant could have access to the masses about their opinions on the latest jousting tournament! And you know, that silly Reformation.
by dmbmeg on Apr 30, 2008 12:30 PM EDT reply actions
How about failed political science majors working as system administrators, reading blogs all day while waiting for the damn backup server to finish? Can I get a Group 5.0.1beta?
by VandyJ on Apr 30, 2008 12:32 PM EDT reply actions
Orson,
Thanks for once again showing me that though we are the same age, and though you are eleventybojilliion times funnier than I ever could try to be, now you had to go and outlive me too, w/ all your life experiences, intellect and achievements.
bra-fuking-vo, sir. more of these posts as well please!
by Big Lund on Apr 30, 2008 12:39 PM EDT reply actions
VandyJ @ 73 – ha! To extend that metaphor, Orson is enhancing the blogging kernel under continuous CAT, and Bissinger is rather like a COBOL programmer attempting to apply patches to address SCR 2008.And.You.Suck – but the old code is leaking out the side of the mainframe.
by DC Trojan on Apr 30, 2008 12:45 PM EDT reply actions
Hey #25! Damn skippy! Group 5 here, spent 5 years blowing the corporate teets and making ass-loads of money for everyone but myself. Finally said fuck it, took a huge cut in pay and became a city prosecutor. Most fun I’ve ever had, and have TONS of time to read up on all the good blogs since I no longer live my life “point 6” at a time. Just don’t tell my wife!!!
Oh yeah…great post too.
by Pascagoula Street on Apr 30, 2008 12:48 PM EDT reply actions
I visit for the funny, but I stay for the cozy wood paneling.
It’s good to see the Kige Ramsey line of interior decorating gaining popularity amongst the series of tubes.
Group 5.
by beerbaron on Apr 30, 2008 12:55 PM EDT reply actions
Of course you don’t believe in God. After driving through Gainesville, I doubted his existence as well. I’m sure the Notre Dame fans will continue lighting candles at the grotto for your eventual salvation. If anyone has a link to this gentleman’s video of ripping sports bloggers, post it please. I’m a big fan of enlightened men from New England, born and funneled through prep schools and the ivies, telling people from Fly Over country to leave their field of psuedo-expertise alone.
I’m sure Buzz(By the way, grown men who are called “Buzz” can pick the lint out of a performing monkey’s asscrack) was just speaking in tongues so far advanced beyond the comprehension of the common man that we did not get his true meaning and he will release something soon explaining as such. Then he will jump in his schooner “The Flying WASP” and have a nice sail.
by SecondCityHoya on Apr 30, 2008 1:04 PM EDT reply actions
Group 5 – Tax Division.
I do like my day job, but if I didn’t it would be blog on.
Stellar work Orson – as always.
by Cock D on Apr 30, 2008 1:05 PM EDT reply actions
I no blog, me no talk pretty, me quant/arb guy. Category 8?
Good info is good info. Most of the info that I use for work is not from the MSM. It’s from “GitMB” blogging about markets.
by Kerwin4two on Apr 30, 2008 1:13 PM EDT reply actions
Love the post DC; I love any post that can make this accountant think to himself now that guys a dork.
by BennyBeav on Apr 30, 2008 1:14 PM EDT reply actions
That time when you lived with the In-Laws produced some hellacious games of Risk & Goldeneye.
I think it’s important to note that bloggers are under attack by under-qualified hacks who have been doing this for years and are seeing their thunder being stolen by people by and large who are smarter and arguably more talented. If I were a scarred sportswriter of twenty years who saw an up and coming writer who was wittier and working without the benefit of having to praise athletes incessantly, I’d be afraid too.
Evolution is a bitch. It sucks to be the dinosaur.
/Not a member of Group 5
by That 5.0 Guy on Apr 30, 2008 1:18 PM EDT reply actions
- - you’re welcome. I had to learn basic geek so I can re-write their funding requests just enough to get the money, but not enough that management can understand what they’re actually doing.
But that’s got nothing to do with my profound life-long dorkiness – both inherent and learned from my father, who apprenticed as a chartered accountant in Scotland…
by DC Trojan on Apr 30, 2008 1:20 PM EDT reply actions
Re: VandyJ, DCTrojan, et al…
while (true) {
if (sports.currentNews > self.newsAwareness) {
self.postBlog();
}
elseif (EDSBS.posts > self.knownEDSBSPosts) {
self.postComment();
}
else {
self.playWiiGames();
}
}
by Dave on Apr 30, 2008 1:43 PM EDT reply actions
I just wanted to say that I’ve been reading a lot of the reaction to the Bissinger meltdown, and while I thought Will’s and other descriptions were eloquent, I really love this post for its fearlessness. I learned of EDSBS last fall, and now read it regularly, and always find it entertaining. You know what, Orson? Guys like Costas and Bissinger might behave like that because they’re threatened with accountability, but I think they’ve also got to be jealous. God knows I am. I’m sure they’re like lots of folks wish they could do what you do for a living and develop a loyal following based on their talent.
Anyway, I’ve never posted before, but just wanted to thank you (and Will and Storming the Floor and 35 Seconds) for entertaining me while I’m at my annoying job every day. Keep it up.
by DCP on Apr 30, 2008 1:44 PM EDT reply actions
Buzz Bissinger probably doesn’t “get” Yacht Rock either……………………..
by justanotherbuckeye on Apr 30, 2008 2:02 PM EDT reply actions
Orson,
As a reader since 2006, I have thoroughly enjoyed your writing and the subsequent comments it generates. I find that EDSBS has a following of intelligent, sometimes coherent, always entertaining, and sparsely misinformed group. If I were in Atlanta, I would treat you and TCOAN to a fine meal at Restaurant Eugene or Bacchanalia (off topic: if you haven’t been to Eugene yet, I strongly recommend it and its non-listed tasting menu)
Anyway, I’m a proud non-Group 5 member: Project Manager for a commercial construction company in Orlando. UF BCN ’02 what what, lawya!
by Verdigo on Apr 30, 2008 2:15 PM EDT reply actions
#5, enjoying work, but enjoying the diversion and (sometimes) quality analysis of blogrifa.
Awesome post. Human and thoughtful and funny.
by D_Hume on Apr 30, 2008 2:19 PM EDT reply actions
Brilliantly written, O.
How were the Taiwanese hookers?
by GamecockTony on Apr 30, 2008 2:21 PM EDT reply actions
Group 5, in-house, long term care.
Nursing homes, to be precise, which of course means that Buzz Bissenger’s mom quite possibly lives at my place.
by Rocky Top Talk on Apr 30, 2008 2:35 PM EDT reply actions
I probably should mention that as a sports blogger on the periphery, I am glad to see high-profile defenses like this one. I have both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in information science from UF and I don’t even live in the same state as my mother does. I’m also engaged to an incredible woman, and couldn’t be happier about it.
For now I’m an entry-level SharePoint lackey for a large, national bank (you’ve heard of it, I promise) but I’ll be turned into a systems administrator later this year. I might become a community leader at Bleacher Report though, so that’s fun.
I write and do stat analysis because I’m a confused fellow, having had my math and verbal SAT scores be just 20 points apart and not know which direction I’m supposed to go in.
by Dave on Apr 30, 2008 2:44 PM EDT reply actions
Damn, son, that was some fine writin’t!
@53 – I got one of those journo degrees, but I’m throughly pissed they never told me about the “fancy” version.
by NRBQ on Apr 30, 2008 2:49 PM EDT reply actions
Nice post. I came to this site last fall when my rooting interest in college football was looking, desperately, for a new head coach. I kept coming back because it was outrageously, impossibly, righteously . . . funny.
Don’t worry about what Bissinger and Albom say. There’s plenty of room for good writers in both forms of media. It’s just that in the blogs, if you’re not good, no one has to read you.
I’m Group 5 and old. You young’uns stay away from this lawya stuff, ya hear?
by J. Hawg 3 on Apr 30, 2008 2:51 PM EDT reply actions
Dave @ 84 – I laughed out loud at that and I’m not afraid to admit it. Now if we can just work a couple of jokes about Keynes, Marx’s “borrowing” the Hegelian dialectic, and import substitution industrialization, all the threads of my otherwise useless education can be joined.
by DC Trojan on Apr 30, 2008 3:07 PM EDT reply actions
Soon-to-be Group #5, internet division (I understood comment 84). Thanks for putting it all together so well, Orson.
by tieguy on Apr 30, 2008 3:14 PM EDT reply actions
Hey – where the fuck is my Mustache Wednesday.
Please.
by Cock D on Apr 30, 2008 3:24 PM EDT reply actions
Every blog I read regularly except MGo has at least 1 member of Group 5 writing for it. Including this one and my own.
Hell, I’m doubling down on Group 5 at my site.
PWD
by paulwesterdawg on Apr 30, 2008 3:26 PM EDT reply actions
well said, sir. all of it. well, except for the part about foreigners thinking dorky white guys want hookers on the fly. coulda used this information earlier; i like contributing to societies.
by bankmeister on Apr 30, 2008 3:38 PM EDT reply actions
Clap. Clap. Clap.
More later. Right now, must confirm my Group 5 status by doing marginal studying for my final final.
by Eirishis on Apr 30, 2008 4:15 PM EDT reply actions
Orson,
I come here for fucklions, Thighsman Awards and That Dog. I’m here for Barner v. Bammer threadjacks, chainsaw dicks and The Fulmer Cup. It’s my connection to anything and everything that is interesting in the CFB’osphere. And, other than hating on ND, what’s more entertaining than a fucklion?
Play on playa, play on.
by NativeSon on Apr 30, 2008 4:15 PM EDT reply actions
Re: The writing area
So, a hundred years from now when this becomes a National Historic site, tourists will be able to see where the characters of Haley Lafontaine and Subcommandante Wayne were created.
And instead of six-toed Hemingway cats, the outer gardens will have ball-licking dogs.
by hunglikehussain on Apr 30, 2008 4:19 PM EDT reply actions
Deadspin now has the video of Mr.Buzz going off on Will Leitch and let me just say this: Mr.Buzz may be the most unhappy man in the world. Beats out anyone you can think of: IED maker who accidentally blows his nuts off, Obama after the last outburst by his Rev, Wesley Snipes’s accountant, Heath Ledger’s stunt double,etc..
And Mr.Buzz looks like the kind of guy who hangs around playgrounds with one hand in his pocket.
by SecondCityHoya on Apr 30, 2008 4:23 PM EDT reply actions
Are there hookers in Hyderabad? I have been here 7 weeks and still havent found a strip club….
by Cock D on Apr 30, 2008 4:30 PM EDT reply actions
Well point, Orson.
Damn, there are a lot of lawyas on here. Like holy shit damn! This thread is like seeing a roach and pulling the sheetrock off the wall to see the extent and seeing thousands more. Just damn.
by Out of Conference on Apr 30, 2008 4:37 PM EDT reply actions
OOC – Don’t make us angry. You wouldn’t like us when we are angry.
by maskedavenger on Apr 30, 2008 5:00 PM EDT reply actions
“Lawyers. Most post under pseudonyms, but these people make up the rank and file of the blogging world. Why? Because they are bored to tears by their jobs despite being creative, articulate, argumentative, and passionate people. Give a dam an outlet, and itll crack mountains into silt. Thats what lawyers are to the blogosphere. None of them live with their mothers, and many make more than the sportswriters who accuse them of livingyeswith Mom.”
Amen. Most suck, but a few are excellent. You have to read www.philalawyer.net. Supposedly, the author has a book coming out. It really is amazing.
by Jdtobe on Apr 30, 2008 5:13 PM EDT reply actions
I’ll have the JD in a week, but I’ve decided not to practice. So I’m 1/2 a Group 5, a Group 2.5, if you will.
by Rob G on Apr 30, 2008 5:30 PM EDT reply actions
Bravo. Orson, you do a great credit to the blogosphere, even when putting down my beloved Irish. Oh, hell, they deserve it most of the time. Truly, this is one of the most inspired blogs on the net, and I’ve been reading for a good two years now. Keep at it!
by Taylor on Apr 30, 2008 5:40 PM EDT reply actions
You’re an interesting guy, even for a Gator. And yes, being a lawyer can be maddening.
by Vol on Apr 30, 2008 5:41 PM EDT reply actions
Just watched the Costas interview with Will and Buzz and felt the need to comment. A point was made about the “gratuitous pot-shots and mean-spirited abuse”. I see his point. Quotes such as "fuck-face is a douchebag should be censored not due to its juvenile profanity, but because nothing entertaining or informative is being brought to the discussion. I applaud the “Swindle Industries” code of ethos/pathos/logos inclusion( c’mon Orson don’t tell me that you haven’t censored some comments.) “We” all have done that in an anonymous fashion, which we would not repeat face to face with said individual.
One of the reasons I am a fan of this site, is that
pot-shots and abuse are done with a humorous bent and could not in all seriousness be considered libel. I have also been pleased with the good-will and cyber-comrademanship of the other commentators. Black bile that was espoused today, is forgotten tomorrow (DC Trojan…the expectation that you can change the mind of someone over thirty is nil. Coop, I admire your tenacity and ability to defend what is essentially a second tier program.)
Orson, I was privileged to see the late Lewis Grizzard in person and suffered from dehydration (tears) and abdominal pain (laughter trauma.) You do the same…same genre (south, football, egotistical pride mired in athletic nonsense, rednecks, and every known psychological illness that has metasticized from undue adoration of college football.) To paraphrase…..It’s entertainment, nothing more…nothing less. Go on the speaking circuit, write a book consisting of your best “editorials.”
Damn, who knew that Opus 1 and Digiorno thin crust could be so enlightening.
by hunglikehussain on Apr 30, 2008 7:04 PM EDT reply actions
Great column—there are also those who are in law school, already regretting their career decisions and trying to make the most out of boring classes.
by A.J. on Apr 30, 2008 7:47 PM EDT reply actions
Does bleeding orange and blue count as a credential? What actual credentials on PLAYING sports does Wilbon, or even someone respected like Gammons have? Apologies for the American cricket reference. Leitch also had an extremely well written blog from the NEW YORK TIMES from last baseball season. Bissinger needs to STFU. Did Bissinger ever read Ball Four? Does he know more than Jim Bouton? Have they ever been to a sporting event – abusive fans? Who’d f’in imagine.
by winstongator on Apr 30, 2008 8:50 PM EDT reply actions
Costas might have wanted to point out that Buzz’s Pulitzer is not from sportswriting.
by winstongator on Apr 30, 2008 9:04 PM EDT reply actions
So can I call just to say hi? I’m home by myself all day and, oh God, I’m just so lonely.
by Harris on Apr 30, 2008 10:13 PM EDT reply actions
Awesome. Post.
Thanks for putting into words, what the rest of us could only stab at doing.
by eleventy on Apr 30, 2008 11:25 PM EDT reply actions
Just two observations:
1. You use your tongue purtier than a two dollar whore!
2. To those few of us non Group 5ers floating in this fine body of water……..“We’re gonna need a bigger boat”
by PSUGuru on Apr 30, 2008 11:29 PM EDT reply actions
This “missionary” of which you speak…does it have to do with bunda positioning?
Good on ya, Senor Swindle. You, too, TCOAN.
by Ed on May 1, 2008 12:37 AM EDT reply actions
haha, good read… witty and clever, i couldn’t help but laugh at some points!
by LA Lakers Blog on May 1, 2008 2:24 AM EDT reply actions
Two points I want to make regarding Buzz’s statements:
1) Buzz is a fuck-face and a douchebag who doesn’t get it.
2) Perhaps Buzz (and Wilbon) fail to realize the high level of disdain for the corporate media, both in sport and political coverage. I can speak for many when I say that over the last 10-20 years the fourth estate has become more of a PR mouthpiece than an objective observer and reporter of events. While there are still some real journalists out there who are digging up stories (Kudos to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s work on uncovering the unearned MBA awarded by WVU to the daughter of the WV Governor… maybe they can investigate the Rich Rod situation and shed some light there), increasingly it seems that the writers simply take a release from a business or government official, make some pithy alterations and publish a piece as “news” rarely, if ever, taking a position that may upset the corporate or governmental powers that be. The whole first four years of the current Bush administration operated like this with Time and Newsweek simply publishing ideas and photos distributed by the Pentagon in the rush to war without ever challenging the information or independently investigating. The same thing has been going on in the sports world: writers who have access do anything they can to keep that access and turn into mouthpieces for the organization. The writers covering the Pittsburgh Pirates are a perfect example of this. Despite 15 straight losing seasons, every pre-season write-up has a rosy hue and even when they are 20 games under 500 at mid-season, the talk is of the few tweaks needed to have a successful second half(!!!). The weenies that cover the team are too chicken-shit to call out any real problems for fear they lose their access to the team plane, the buffet and the right to sniff the jocks of the players. Mark Madden is a great example of what happens when one takes a (debatably) controversial position against the organization: after criticizing Hines Ward and the Steelers for an autograph session at which Ward charged fees starting at $175, the Steelers curtailed his access and successfully pressured a local TV station to take him off the air (or they would cut the stations access). Now how in the hell can one expect a fair, objective press that will raise issues in that kind of environment.
That kind of situation makes it perfectly clear why the new generation of “real journalists” who wear the badge of “muckraker” tend to work the internet. If reprisal is the reward for doing real journalistic heavy lifting, it only makes sense to do that writing in guerrilla fashion until such time as ones bona fides are established.
Moreover, the mainstream media’s general attitude towards their responsibility, which seems to be “hos gotta eat too”, has left many viewing them as something between feckless victims and willing collaborators. Either way, the respect for them has waned greatly in years – look at the general disdain for ESPN anymore. 15 years ago, ESPN was the greatest thing since sliced bread: edgy, funny, always on. I never missed a SportsCenter. But now I can hardly sit through one. Sometime after Disney came in, it all seemed to go to pot. The good talent left and was replaced by half-assed imitatiors; decision-making seemed to be done by executive committees rather than talented writers and producers; the talent that stayed even became arrogant (Berman, I’m looking at you). And so now there are sites dedicated to taking potshots at all of the above: heroes turned villains through the evolution of what we once held dear. A loss of innocence in a way.
This all comes back to one simple point though: as fans of sports we have become disenchanted with those who cover sports and how they do it. As nature abhors a vacuum, we have filled the space with bloggers like Brian Cook at MGoBlog who provide insightful analysis and have dropped reading Drew Sharp. We read EDSBS for general CFB news and some great humor instead of a half-assed half-page section of newspaper that only talks about ND and a local school or two.
What the sports media need to realize is that their product is too broad, too lazy and too slow for the modern sports consumer. 30 minutes online gets me everything I want to know about Michigan, Penn State and general college football and with more laughs than 90 minutes of SNL and an hour of Sports Center could ever hope to provide.
Yep – it sucks to be the dinosaur, I guess.
by Cock D on May 1, 2008 2:56 AM EDT reply actions
Oh – please remember that since I am merely a commenter on a blog, any ideas, thoughts or feelings that I may have expressed are utterly devoid of any value or use and that I should just stick to masturbating and playing Grand Theft Auto in my mother’s basement.
by Cock D on May 1, 2008 2:57 AM EDT reply actions
“By the way, grown men who are called Buzz can pick the lint out of a performing monkeys asscrack”
Even astronauts?
by MiseanAUFan on May 1, 2008 7:07 AM EDT reply actions
Group 5 here, too. My clients require an attorney that has found a way to remain well-adjusted and relaxed in the face of all the world throws at us…and this blog enables just that level of calm…so I bill for it and they pay for it. Everyone is happy.
And I like O.’s ability to pen such wonderfully colorful terms as “pudendal confidence”, “bullshit geysers” and my favorite…“pulling a phantom peanut of sublimity from a steaming turd of reality…”. These and inumerable others illustrate a descriptive ability that keeps my keyboard lubricated with spewed coffee.
And, it provides another reason to be proud of the Gator nation…and its sickness which infects all who attend with an intensity and version of football crazy non-Gators just don’t get.
And, after O.’s lengthy missive, we see the wizard behind the curtain…and he is us.
by sb on May 1, 2008 9:27 AM EDT reply actions
Oakhurst? Maybe, slightly possibly Avondale or actual Decatur.
by Bobby Decatur on May 1, 2008 12:41 PM EDT reply actions
I admire Coach Bryant. There you have it Bammers.
That being said, Bryant was smart enough to know when he went to Texas A&M and then later to Alabama that you have to buy the media. If you get the media on your side then everything else is easy.
Bloggers can’t be bought. I personally tried to buy off Orson to stop writing anti-Auburn posts but it didn’t work.
BTW Orson, I thought that EDSBS Auburn Tag was supposed to be hanging in your office. You lying sonofa……
:-)
by kt on May 1, 2008 1:02 PM EDT reply actions
Group 5? Check
Thinks Buzz doth protesteth too much? Check
Filled with unchecked rage, occasionally punctured with Guffaws at the hands of Orson or BDD? Check, bitches.
“I’d give four million just to be able to take a piss without it hurting.”
by HymanMotherFuckingRoth on May 1, 2008 1:26 PM EDT reply actions
The tag is prominently displayed on another shelf outside the picture, KT. :)
by The Conscience of a Nation on May 1, 2008 2:16 PM EDT reply actions
Managing Partner @ #127…my ass is at work…and I, too, am a managing partner…but just prior to checking your comment I was contemplating the conquest of my hott lesbian bhuddist psychic…still wondering about the best way to approach her…through the bhuddist angle or the psychic angle…the lesbian aspect is intriguing although the most difficult because my plumbing isn’t her first choice. Nice that I can create billable hours out of just about anything. And as my hott LBS would say “Isn’t being human simply amazing?” Yes, darling, it is!
by sb on May 1, 2008 3:26 PM EDT reply actions
Bravo.
This is a hot subject – some very well written blogs with some very reasonable responses.
Write On
by YeeMum on May 1, 2008 5:39 PM EDT reply actions
…intensity and version of football crazy non-Gators just dont get.
This is slander! I’ll see you in court counselor!
WDE!
:-)
by kt on May 1, 2008 7:15 PM EDT reply actions
kt @ #135… that would be libel, as it is written defamation and published, while slander is spoken and disseminated or broadcast… however, if you are not in the class of those who are somehow harmed by said malicious misrepresentation you have no standing…that said, that was my favorite line of the day, and for noting it I thank you.
I apologize, kt, for that didactic foray back into law school…after a couple glasses of a Lyeth Meritage (the evening’s libation from yesterday’s birthday) and the discussion of a nasty property matter with a new client my (thankfully) hidden talent as a law prof slides past my usually normal demeanor and raises its pedantic head.
by sb on May 1, 2008 8:09 PM EDT reply actions
kt @ #135 that would be libel, as it is written defamation and published, while slander is spoken and disseminated or broadcast however, if you are not in the class of those who are somehow harmed by said malicious misrepresentation you have no standing that said, that was my favorite line of the day, and for noting it I thank you.
I apologize, kt, for that didactic foray back into law school
after a couple glasses of a Lyeth Meritage (the evenings libation from yesterdays birthday) and the discussion of a nasty property matter with a new client my (thankfully) hidden talent as a law prof slides past my usually normal demeanor and raises its pedantic head.
I’ll be danged…:-)…..give me your mailing address. I’m gonna send you a retainer…..for something…..
Can I sue Bama? Do you handle divorces?
LOL!
Enjoy your evening, sir. :-)
by KT on May 1, 2008 10:25 PM EDT reply actions
Well, an excellent and meaningful post again, Orson.
Yes, I am a Group 5 type too. What 48 and 76 said (kind of). I actually liked most of my work as a trusts and estates lawyer in a Very Big Firm. However, my conscience didn’t let me bill for other-than-arguably-matter-related work, and so it was often a struggle to enter 8+ honest-to-goodness billable hours a day even if I was in the office an average of 10-12 hours a day, particularly juggling (usually) more than half-a-dozen files each day with individual clients who, even when wealthy, tend to be a lot more fee-sensitive than corporate clients.
The breaking point for me was, along with the birth of our second child, sitting in a war room going through documents on yet another beautiful Saturday afternoon, trying to listen to what was to me an important college football game on a radio with staticky (sp?) AM reception, working on a huge T&E litigation case, while the people whose mess I was cleaning up almost assuredly were not sitting in a fluorescent-lighted, drab-walled room worrying about whether a particular memo is protected by the work product doctrine. More likely they were either at the game I wanted to watch or on a boat somewhere. That was 3-1/2 years ago.
Now I work in the nonprofit world and am much happier, if financially less well-off. When I work a 10-hour day here, it’s considered impressive as opposed to meeting minimum expectations. And now I have time to do things like go to college football games, spend more time with the family, volunteer with more organizations, and not worry too much about having to stay at work another [0.75, 1.0, 2.5, whatever] because of Internet pleasures like EDSBS.
Just wait ’til I start my blog.
by Big Ten Joe on May 2, 2008 12:54 PM EDT reply actions
Group 5 here, as well – all three of us at Curveballs. Kind of amazing that there are so many lawyers out here, and I had never really thought much about it either way.
by Patrick on May 5, 2008 10:41 AM EDT reply actions
You gotta love a guy who talks about “perfecting the written word” and then uses the phrase “pisses the shit outta me.”
by Bill Shannon on May 5, 2008 8:03 PM EDT reply actions
I HATE JAY MARIOTTI. i heard he got fired, which is great. he is a blemish on the chicago community.
by cyclonestate on Sep 19, 2008 10:46 AM EDT reply actions
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