Comments on: Banny Log 050608

By: interstate batteries

interstate batteries — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:37:15 +0000

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By: moe better

moe better — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:34:25 +0000

don’t post comments , they usually are negative and mean.

By: Bob R.

Bob R. — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:05:25 +0000

I read the Bissinger book on LaRussa and while it had some worthwhile stuff in it found it laughably melodramatic. I also thought that an ulterior motive throughout was to attack advanced statistical analysis by indirection and with no real understanding of what it was. The implied arguments were always against straw men.

Joe, I think you are channeling Buck O’Neill in your willingness to grant benefit of the doubt to everyone. Bissinger and Costas may be good and talented people, and they may have done excellent work in their careers. But they have both been talking nonsense for quite a few years now and should be called on it.

By: Owen

Owen — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:08:41 +0000

I know little about Buzz B., but I’ll offer this opinion anyway: He is always confident that he is right. He was right when he was screaming at Will, and he was right when he was apologizing. I read the La Russa book, and it’s written with a greasy confidence that’s not quite a swagger, but does say “I am writing, and it is good.” It’s generally okay, because he is in fact a very good writer. I’ve recommended Three Nights in August to a few people, but I always feel the need to add in that it’s overwritten, so they know that I didn’t get too swept up in the romance of it (even though sometimes I did).

By: JeffSol

JeffSol — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:38:48 +0000

#58, I generally agree with your point — a blog is exactly that, a medium. Just like when the Internet was new and hot and people were talking about “e-commerce” as if it was a different animal — for retail, the Internet is a channel, albeit a very powerful one.

On the other hand, your statement about the relative quantity of poor blogs vs. sportswriters is almost certainly false. By the nature of the zero cost, the number of blogs is so enormous as to be almost beyond comprehension. Let me be clear that I love many blogs, but while that may be true if we’re talking about blogs with significant readership, there is more crap on the Internet than anywhere else simply because there’s more stuff and the marginal cost to produce it is nil. None of which, in the end, matters. If you lie it, and there’s lots to like, read it, if not, don’t. The self-righteous attitude of some bloggers as to an inherent superiority of their medium is, to me, as repulsive as the ignorance of Plashcke, Lupica or whoever your least favorite newspaper gasbag is.

By: Creston

Creston — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:38:50 +0000

“Heinz would most likely be writing long narrative stories about the Iraq war, ala George Packer to Steven Coll”

And you can’t do that on a blog? A blog is a medium, nothing more. Just as a newspaper or a magazine or a movie is.

For every bad blog out there, there are two Bill Plaschkes and Hatguys. Buzz Bissinger obviously does not understand this simple truth.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:15:42 +0000

KVV,

I think you miss the point, Joe didn’t say that Heinz would *ONLY* write a blog. As you said, he would have looked for numerous outlets for his work, and it is not a stretch at all that a blog would be one of them.

By: KVV

KVV — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:49:38 +0000

Joe,

I respect your work very, very much, but your previous comment that if W.C. Heinz were 25 years old today he’d be writing a blog is wrong on about 13 different levels. Heinz would most likely be writing long narrative stories about the Iraq war, ala George Packer to Steven Coll. He was a reporter’s reporter, one who loved dialog, and felt there was a lot more truth to be unearthed in observing and recording history than there was commenting about it. He would have had a lot of outlets for his work beyond just the Internet. All due respect, but those who knew Heinz found your statement to be quite the reach.

By: CharlesH

CharlesH — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:24:23 +0000

By: CharlesH

CharlesH — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:23:55 +0000

Sidd;
Vlad was only 20 when the Expos did bring him up for Sept. 96 “call up.” I’m guessing they were thinking even that may have been pushing it, but he was just too damn good to keep down anymore. (Plus it allowed them to keep him a while longer before they had to get rid of him, while MLB screwed Montreal over.)