<![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards" - Deadspin Comments]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards" - Deadspin Comments]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Len Shapiro really pisses the shit out of me.

MackZills

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: OK, that is the one thing you cannot call me. Will, where are you?

metalmaniac

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Nobody starts reading about sports using the purple prose of the old guard. I discovered the old guard when Sports Illustrated did that 40 year retrospective for their 40th anniversary when I was 12 and I read the old articles they put in every month or something. Up until that point my experience with sportswriting consisted of the writers for the local paper (one of whom was actually Bonnie Bernstein) and MIKE. LUPICA. By the time I was 10 I would read his Sunday column (he was in syndication in my local paper, so I was only tormented 1 a week) and turn to my father and ask why 1) he didn't write about sports and 2) he didn't know what he was talking about. I distinctly remember my father sighing and telling me, "He is suppose to be funny." Then yeah, I discovered Friday Night Lights, etc., at some point between 12 and 18, but you know, you can't pick up Friday Night Lights and get the scores every day and find out why Beltran looks like shit at the plate.

And then, magically, my family got a new computer that could handle a "fast" internet connection. And I discovered Page 2 and Sports Guy. And I found out other people hated Mike Lupica, too. And that I could see the scores as they happened. Then I burned all those meticulously researched sports books, because obviously Sports Guy did the same kind of socio-political commentary on the website as the Bissingers did.

Those old SI articles did nothing but remind me how much crap I was reading daily from people who were paid to do it. The Bissinger-type books told me there was hope out there, but it was not to be found in the likes of Mike Lupica. And the internet taught me that I didn't have to suffer the rest of my life having Mike Lupica shoved down my throat because I was desperate. The problem here is a distinct lack of quality in the PAPER, that then led to the internet. And it didn't start in the last 10 years.

This was long. Dick joke or something. 5 dick jokes.

GW06

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> (Out of personal insecurity, I'd like to note that, unlike the average Cowherd listener, I'll be sitting down with the FT Weekend in just a few moments.)

RectumDamnNearKilledEm

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> I had never heard of Buzz Bissinger (or W.C. Heinz, for that matter) until the Costas thing, and this marks the first time I've heard of Red Smith, Shirley Povich, Jim Murray, Dan Jenkins.

I'd wager that your average SportsCenter viewer or Colin Cowherd listener hasn't either. Where's the outcry against ESPN and sports radio? Christ, where's the outcry against Reilly for penning Leatherheads or whatever it's called.

To go after blogs without going after sports radio and ESPN proves these guys are full of shit.

And even if they're just under some rock of misapprehension, they're still grasping at straws, because people like me don't give a shit about baseball -- striking 70% of American sports books from my potential reading list -- and anyway don't find sports a serious enough topic to waste our time reading long-winded Homeric farces when we happen to be in the mood for something meaty.

Buzz and Bob and Len and all the rest are proving to the world that they're really just a big coven of James Liptons.

RectumDamnNearKilledEm

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: I think the big difference is anonymity.

NovakAintNoJokovic

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Well said, Ape: My opinion is that sports is entertainment first, no matter how much significance you wish to attach to it. If a reader shares that opinion, they're likely to digest it in ways that are different than traditional, more pious coverage.

Crookednose

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Okay, now I am on a roll.

When your customer has changed what it wants and you fail to react to the market, you become obsolete. A few examples: The typwriter. IBM owned the market with the selectric. They did not have the vision to move forward in the PC world. They let others take the lead in the market since they failed to have vision. They were the natural to put a computer on everyones desk since everyone had an IBM product already sitting there. Then they spent the last 25 years trying to get in the market. How many people own an IBM laptop? IBM has a great product, better than any of the Dells I have had, but they failed to grasp the market changes and were boxed out by Dell, HP, and others. No one likes it when this happens. And when it happens to you, you can get stuck with old business models and eventually become obsolete.

J-No

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> When you are in a business it is best not to call your best customers stupid to their faces. Basic business principal: 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. Someone who reads your columns or watches your shows and then takes the time to analyze the information, react to what you have written or said, write a response to it is your best customer. I would say that the level of knowledge displayed by the writers and commenters here is staggering to me. You are calling your best customers derogatory names. This is poor business. Stop yourself. Commenters on blogs are no different than letters to the editor except there is no one sifting through them to edit out the worst of them due to space/cost constraints. How is this principle so difficult to grasp?

J-No

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> From the lok of his picture Shapiro is tilting at martini glasses more than bloggers.

formerly Chief Wahoo

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Good work Ape. I agree wholeheartedly.

I think comparing blogs to MSM is like comparing baseball to softball -- they may look the same and have similar rules, but they are completely different entities.

BigTDog

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Will, I love classy smackdowns and that was certainly one of them. Shapiro and his generation of idealist writers cultivated in liberal hothouses such as Columbia and the like, were cool in the '60s "questioning authority" and taking down the establishment. Now the roles are reversed. But it's weird because Shapiro and his cohorts are questioning those with . . . NO authority?!? WoW, what a miserable group that generation is. :-) Regards, Dickie V. Lafayette, La. ps. God Save The Fan restored my sports viewing sanity. I can't thank you enough.

PrimaveraGiraffe

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> how are the comment pages any different then a dozen working stiffs sitting around and discussing a story in that morning's paper?

Easy. You aren't buying the paper anymore. The paper, and the work of the people complaining as they go the way of the dinosaur, isn't the centerpiece of discussion.

Further, with the internets, the communication isn't one way anymore. I can leave a comment, or my opinion, no matter how inane, about your opinion. And people can actually share a collective community opinion on your opinion.

Instead of a million little Chicago coffeeklatches thinking Jay Mariotti is a talentless douchebag, they can all unite as one big voice and call Mariotti a worthless douchebag. And that seriously erodes the profile of said douchebag.

cromartie

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: Them's fighting words

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Drederick Tatum: this is essentially why I ignore most of what Shapiro pens these days. After that BS column and the eventual truth made him look stupid, he ought to at least think twice.

As far as the pissing match over blogs and the MSM....meh.

Signal to Noise

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah...Ape got fired???

becky

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Rock You Like An Iracane: Only one word describes that kid: Legendary.

Scoops

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> C'mon Deadspin, it's well beyond time to move on from this. If I wanted to read 50 posts about the same topic, I'd check out Michael David Smith's flavor of the week at AOL.

insomniac

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @metalmaniac: Cub Fan.

You fine with that?

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Rock You Like An Iracane: You may call me old, ancient, over-the-hill, whatever you want. I'm fine with it.

metalmaniac

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> You got fired from the Post? I hadn't heard about it. Maybe you should post about it some more. And what's this Leitch-Bissinger showdown you're talking about? Please write about it in detail.

I liked this place better before it became Livejournal for navel-gazing blog martyrs.

Discombobulatingly Devastating

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Rock You Like An Iracane: Thank you. I have to give credit to IPWS, though. He designed it. It's one of the few he's got up at his Marlins blog already.[brightorangeseats.com]

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @TattooedMess(iah): The new avatar's on-page now. I like it.

Rock You Like An Iracane

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Just let it go. It will play itself out. Bloggers just look like big babies when they put MSM's bullshit on display. Don't give them the time of day, but take the criticism to heart and find what areas you can improve in. I.E.: if a journalist says "these guys are unconscientious internet trolls" about you, a good response would NOT be "the MSM are a bunch of geriatric stuck-up pricks." Show them up with some old-fashioned class, instead.

Joetimek

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Rock You Like An Iracane: Class of '06 checking in.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @metalmaniac: Is this the part where I, proud possessor of a diploma from Rockledge High School, Class of Two-Aught-Aught-Seven, call you old?

Rock You Like An Iracane

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> I repeat: Best. Story. Ever.

[www.money.co.uk]

Rock You Like An Iracane

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @JB*: I possess a B.S. in Psychology- Lynchburg(VA) College, '74; and an M..Ed. from the same college, Class of '85. Costas, Bissinger, and especially Shapiro, can kiss my well-educated and well-read ass.

And yes, fuck Jason Isringhausen. I'm fed up with his sorry ass.

metalmaniac

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> I must be missing something. Have the bloggers declared war on the "pious print journalists", threatening to wipe them out of existence. I am assuming all of us who read the sports blogs know what the deal is. The blogs are a cross between the National Enquirer, the paparazzi, and the letters to the editor of any sports rag. There's some great stuff, some not so great stuff and some downright awful stuff. Sure I wish that the editors would get rid of the awful stuff that separates the civil person from the Neanderthal. I think some of the posts are written by social misfits who never had a meaningful relationship in their short pathetic lives who spend all their time watching sports, washing cheese doodles down with Red Bull and whacking off. But just because there are some knuckleheads out there doesn't mean that our society is being "dumbed down"…there have always been knuckleheads saying stupid things, but we have managed to survive and produce classic journalists in spite of ourselves. I guess Shapiro doesn't get it. He is giving us 50 year old, overweight, bald white guys a bad name. It's entertainment stupid!

scoli

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> blogs are full of filth-flarn-filth

Tell Len that I said, "Have a Coke and a smile, and shut the fuck up."

Scoops

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> New avatar check...testing, testing.

New avatar check testes 1, 2, 3. Testes 1, 2, 3.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @MrRedDevil: Good lord. The original was the best game ever. Souping up the car and weapons, catching the same damn ghost 100 times.

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Only way this douche could look happier, is if Tiger's gravy-soaked cock was in that vase. But yeah, blogs can create legitimate forms of journalism.

OlsenTwinsValueMenu

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Off to bed. Perhaps I will read printouts of KSK. Or continue the F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories I was reading.

I am not expected to be able to do both, evidently.

G;night, DU!AN!

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Dan Jenkins was pretty crude

anonymouseducator

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> fuck nibblez

MrRedDevil

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> They're making a next gen Ghostbusters game, looks ok.

MrRedDevil

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @UkraineNotWeak: it's ok, I'm sure you'll still be 6'5" 250...

/said momma polloi when her lil polloi was born (ended up 6'3" 230) Good call mommma dukes

THE hoi polloi

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> *their (grammar man, grammar!!!)

DM

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Off topic:

Folks may or may not have seen this, but this beta test might be worth signing up for.

[www.fyretv.com]

DM

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Lupicas!XofullofBile: Thank you.

What Would Kornheiser Do?

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @JB*: What about MSM who take the typical run at bloggers because they know they'll get mentioned across four blogs?

He's probably reading this right now enjoying the attention. If not, and he is another member of the MSM who refuse to accept blogging, then why waste our time?

Leave the narrow-minded behind. Why waste time trying to convert the unconvertable?

What Would Kornheiser Do?

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> If we ignore gasbags on parade, will they go away? They're just raging against the dying of the light, as your medium is going the way of the Paleozoic age.

DM

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @What Would Kornheiser Do? Presented by Larsen's Biscuits: What about discussions of bloggers who side with MSM?

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @JB*: no idea, just stopped working

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @What Would Kornheiser Do? Presented by Larsen's Biscuits: Apes allowed to take this shit personally as the first Martyr in the war...

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> oh so this is where the party's at?

Sir Hotbod Handsomeface

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: Oh - and what did you do THIS time to get banned?

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> No offense, but all this MSM-vs-Blogs bullshit is not worth my time.

Both sides just need to get the fuck over it.

What Would Kornheiser Do?

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...:

During my two years in Syracuse, Mike Tirico was doing local sports and Ian Eagle was the sports voice of student radio.

UkraineNotWeak aka Praying for a Bullpen

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: I've read Yahoo comments and wow. I've also seen some comments on BugsandCranks lately...

What possesses a person to take the time to post a comment saying "Every week I read your article and confirm you have nothing smart to say." (rough paraphrase of 70% of the comments on Yahoo's Finance page. Nevermind what MJD gets). Hint - stop reading!

Anyway, I agree - blog comments are just the equivalent of conversing with your friends on a wider area. Comments made here would be said to college roommate or texted to my sibling.

In conclusion, fuck you, Jason Isringhausen. My brother got that text message at the end of tonight's game.

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...: To add to that, because of the permanence of the comment pages it forces accountability for our words that you wouldn't normally have. If you say something that makes you sound like a dick normally, it's only word of mouth.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @UkraineNotWeak: you mean Syracuse graduates people without broadcasting degrees?

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @Tracy Ham and Eggs is BACK (cause Steve Trachsel got banned...:

MBA Finance Syracuse '90

UkraineNotWeak aka Praying for a Bullpen

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @UkraineNotWeak: which one? lol

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Woo Hoo!!!

I'm in the 20% percentile.

UkraineNotWeak aka Praying for a Bullpen

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @TattooedMess(iah): as it was meant to...

THE hoi polloi

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @JB*: I'd guess among the "regulars" round these parts 80%+ have at least a BA/BS and 20% have JD/Masters.

I'm not saying all blogs are the same, (every seen the comments on barstool or with leather) but damnit, how are the comment pages any different then a dozen working stiffs sitting around and discussing a story in that morning's paper? Yeah, there is a permanence to the comment pages, but all they are are the new version of the corner sports bar or the water cooler.

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> What's a library?

/glib

1980 David Bowie From The Music Video Ashes To Ashes

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @JB*: I know we have an extremely high concentration of lawyers as well, and not just ambulance chasers.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> well written, insightful retorts to MSM douchebaggery was not what i was planning to see at 12:30 after a number of drinks. Nonetheless, good work Ape, as always.

BigRicks

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @THE hoi polloi: That made me laugh more than it should.

@UkraineNotWeak: Even worse than his movie roles were his part in minstrel shows. That music history lesson made my teacher say he was gonna go home and drink because the racism was soooo wrong in that time.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Clearly he's never read Bob Loblaw's Law Blog

Pharmacoug

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @TattooedMess(iah):

Damn right. "Mammy" singing Ass Clown.

UkraineNotWeak aka Praying for a Bullpen

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @FEAST: The family goes weekly for a kid's story hour, wife and son both check out some books. But for research... been quite a long time. I cannot fathom how Yost or the other teachers evaluate papers nowadays.

@TattooedMess(iah): It seems a very high number of Deadspin commenters have or are working on, at a minimum, Bachelors Degrees, and a good percentage with advanced degrees. Maybe the Underground Commentariat are just different. I just plum cannot remember everyone's name.

JB*

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @TattooedMess(iah): Al Jolson was my grandmother's first interracial affair...

THE hoi polloi

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Enjoy managing a Denny's fuckface.

Cousins of Ron Mexico

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Steinberg fires back (sorta) at Shapiro.

[blog.washingtonpost.com]

Also, he sums up my thoughts on blogs pretty well in another piece.

Back to Leitch vs. Bissinger. When Will talked about humanizing athletes, through pictures of beer bongs and whatever else, and Buzz replied "I may be 50, but I'm not that stupid," I took mild offense. I'm certainly not winning any Pulitzers through tales of Kudu-hunting Lithuanians, cheap NBA or NHL haircuts or hockey coaches eating lunch at the food court with their kids, but yeah, part of the idea actually IS to make these people a little more human, in some trivial, humorous, non-Pulitzer way. And so the fact that Cooley is registered for a bunch of towels and sheets and candles and punch bowls and other crap he doesn't really want or care about at Crate & Barrel and Macy's--exactly like I was four years ago--has to humanize the dude in a way that "one game at a time" quotes never could.

Tracy Ham and Eggs

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> @UkraineNotWeak: You're just saying that because Al Jolson once stole a girlfriend of yours.

TattooedMess(iah)

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> This from Shapiro... who penned one of the dopiest articles ever written following Sean Taylor's death.

If blowing off a meeting is a precursor to getting murdered, imagine the tragic fate that must befall bloggers.

Drederick Tatum

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> Movies haven't been the same since they went to talkies.

UkraineNotWeak aka Praying for a Bullpen

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> The internet > newspapers. Swearing > not swearing.

When was the last time anybody was honestly at their local library. hahhahahhahahhahahahahahaha

FEAST

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> I read everything, thanks, Len. I love "Friday Night Lights" as sports journalism and, more importantly, storytelling, read almost the whole sports shelf at my local library, and know my canon.

At the same time, I don't read a lot of the "filthier" blogs; I don't go to KSK very often at all.

Rock You Like An Iracane

]]> <![CDATA[Len Shapiro Tilts At "Uninformed" "Cowards"]]> As always, well said.

It's starting to upset me when people preaching against blogs use the "anonymity" card, especially since tons of blog writers have shed their anonymous status in the recent weeks and months. Also, while most blogs' commenters are truly anonymous, Deadspin commenters are changing this trend with the Facebook group and Pants Parties.

Regarding the library comment, though, someone should tell Mr. Shapiro if he were up on his blog knowledge he'd know plenty of horrible things happen in libraries. Things like viewing porn, offering a coed some "lotion" and (God forbid) learning!

TattooedMess(iah)

]]>