I hope I’m not the only one here who resents that.

With the MSM/WWL, all I hear is gossip, arguing, speculation, recruiting, a grown man’s version of Tiger Beat, at best sounding like the Enquirer.

And that they want $30/mo on ESPN.com for their “inSider” BS? (oooh, so cool how they lowercase “in”) Why would I want to pay $30 for someone else’s opinion? A $10 haircut gets me all that at my barber’s.

Only the NFL Network’s “Playbook” has some real substance and a true discussion of the game. If only they had a show like that for college.

With the blogs, esp SMQ, I FINALLY get to see some X’s and O’s, discussion of strategies, formations, on field decision making. Before that, I resorted to American Football Coaching Monthly (yep, you got it, a PEER reviewed publication) and EA Sports.

You can see it in the way the RIAA and MPAA fight having convenient and legal digital downloads and the way that Microsoft hates Google more than any other competitor.

The Internet has weathered many storms, starting from Usenet versus AOLers and leading up until now. Provided that net neutrality gets upheld, it will continue to truck on just fine no matter what guys like Bissinger say.

It’s obvious trash. It’s funny that they think the cruder and more profane they (Buzz and Costas) are, the more serious and legitimate they must be. Did Buzz’s mother see that?

Anyway, back when rock-n-roll was gaining popularity in the fifties, the establishment was lashing back. I saw a clip of some old guy w/slicked back hair and horn rimmed glasses reading the lyrics to Bee-Bop-A-Lula with no inflection or cadence. The old timers thought it was great: “see, rock-n-roll lyrics really are stupid, you’re a bunch of morons for listening.” Everyone else thought “wow what a dickbag. he doesn’t get it.”

Can’t resist one more comment. Doesn’t Buzz have to stop pursuing his initial line of inquiry when the other guy answered “yes”? He may be legit, but [and?] he sure is dum.

And seriously, what’s not to like about Rich Garces’s tits?

And a follow up question if I may. You totally already changed you number didnt you? TCOAN probably threw hot grits on your ass for pulling that shit after the fourth time someone called at 3:52 am yelling “Fucking ORSON! Holy shit man. Yo….fuck florida…..but you write some funny shit dude. I can’t believe it’s fucking Orson. Dude……..I’m drunk”

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.

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.

Truer words have never been spoken. Thank you Orson.
BTW, I look forward to another expletive tirade concerning Knowshon on 11/2. Just for entertainment purposes, mind you.