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Old Media Kills Self

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 30 2008 03:13 PM

Jeebus. Didya see Buzz Bissinger & Bob Costas fail to make the points they wished they did on Costas' show? There's obviously an argument to be made for the limitations of Deadspin and the like (low accountability, spirit-crushing overwrought irony, relying on old media for support -- and straight lines) but Buzz Bissinger sure as hell doesn't make them here. And Bob Costas says "fuckface." Put your headphones on. Yeow!

seawolf17 Apr 30 2008 05:18 PM

Bob Costas saying "Good luck managing a Denny's, douchebag" might be the funniest thing I've ever heard. I'm laughing my ass off. Bissinger's an old, crotchety dickhead.

DocTee Apr 30 2008 05:30 PM

Bissinger's a fetus-faced windbag. Sit up straight, man.

AG/DC Apr 30 2008 07:07 PM

Ms. Edgy on Bissinger: "Frankly, he sounds like he's had a hard day of drinking." How exactly is his tone any better (or even different) from the respondents on Deadspin?

OlerudOwned Apr 30 2008 07:57 PM

I just wish they used the Mose v. Dwight ping-pong clip from The Office to introduce Schur in the intro segment.

AG/DC Apr 30 2008 08:56 PM

Old media cracks the whip on new, and the video is down.

G-Fafif Apr 30 2008 09:24 PM

Wow, that was painful. I don't know him well, but I've met Will a couple of times, and Jason of FAFIF is good friends with him, and there's nothing overtly diabolical about him. I agree with JCL that you could slip, fall and dislocate a shoulder from all the detached snark and irony wrought by Deadspin and its imitators, but the whole enterprise strikes me as pretty harmless and mostly entertaining. Buzz Bissinger wrote a great book about high school football once upon a time. Bob Costas was an erudite breath of fresh air in the stale world of sports once upon a time. Those were very long times ago.

AG/DC Apr 30 2008 09:38 PM

I only saw the first half. Costas seemed balanced enough in that portion. Bissinger a foolish hypocrite.

Fman99 Apr 30 2008 09:54 PM

Ugh. What a blathering old ass he is. I want that 190 seconds of my life back please. The whole thing smacks of aged elitist idiots, resentful that someone without a journalism degree might, gasp, express an opinion for other people to read! Call the fucking Thought Police! Reason 53225 why I ignore just about every mainstream media these days. I'd like to punch that guy in the neck and call his sister a cunt.

Number 6 Apr 30 2008 10:20 PM

Wow, I could barely even watch this. I don't even think it's worth picking apart Bissinger's over-the-top ignorance and asshole-itude, but here's Schur's (the wonderful Ken Tremendous) two-post response to it. (Best to start with the second post mid-way down the page, entitled "A Few Words on 'The Internet'") http://www.firejoemorgan.com/search/label/buzz%20bissinger

Triple Dee Apr 30 2008 10:52 PM

Meanwhile, Cerrone writes the longest blog post in the history of Metsblog, giving his play-by-play on the segment, and not surprisingly, stating the blatant obvious without adding anything of substance to the debate.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 01 2008 06:12 AM

Take boils down to: New Media is good because it allows me to become Old Media.

AG/DC May 01 2008 07:05 AM

Which is probably of why Bissinger has a gripe, if only subconsciously. Deadspin Guy has a book to plug also. They describe Deadspin as the most visited sports site on the internet. I say no huh-way, that the most hits go to the online version of old media outlets like ESPN.com and sportsillustrated.com. I'm pretty certain that I'll never put another dime toward Bissinger. The only money he might score from me, ironically, is any column he might get paid to write that I read for free online. I don't pay a penny, but his editors and their advertisers like the hits. He may feel differerntly about Nu Media then.

metirish May 01 2008 07:05 AM

WOW , seems like a fuck job to me on the Deadspin guy , is Bissinger trying to play himself as an old classic sports journo from a bygone era? , sure seems that way to me, bollox to that.

AG/DC May 01 2008 07:07 AM

Am I the only one who, when I'm typing a response, a vido posted earlier in the thread keeps playing?

seawolf17 May 01 2008 07:09 AM

Old media hacks like Buzz are upset because people are doing for free what he's getting paid to do, and he's afraid he's going to be more worthless than he already is.

AG/DC May 01 2008 07:20 AM

OK, I watched it all the way through. I don't have much problem with Costas there, except that he should have tossed Bissinger like Boog Sciambi did. Bissinger left me wanting to punch him in the neck. (Buzz, if you're reading, I'm not actually going to do this.) There's no scruple he complained about bloggers violating that print and broadcast journalism hasn't violated for a long long time. The closest thing to an exception is profanity, and Buzz seems delighted that cable has allowed him to bypass that quaint little concern.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 01 2008 07:35 AM

Obviously some of the concerns coming from OM are well-founded. * In a pure matter of taste, it's distressing to see guys who cannot write make a living writing. * Many of these people not only cannot write, but write badly on the backs of the guys who take the time and effort, and have the experience and ability, to write well. * Many of the guys write badly, on the backs of others, only to turn around and slam and disparage those better writers. * Many of them write badly, on the backs of others, disparage them and pretend also to be journalists.

sharpie May 01 2008 07:39 AM

Column in the NY Times weighs in: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/sports/football/01sandomir.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

batmagadanleadoff May 01 2008 07:49 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 01 2008 08:11 AM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Obviously some of the concerns coming from OM are well-founded. * In a pure matter of taste, it's distressing to see guys who cannot write make a living writing. Absolutely. But OM won't get my sympathy if that's what they're concerned about. Because you could say the same thing about any discipline. Steven Seagal can't act. A few plumbers are incompetent even though most plumbers get the job done, some better than others. That's the way it goes for plumbers, accountants, bus drivers and everybody else. The free market will decide what to do with the truly crappy writers.

AG/DC May 01 2008 07:52 AM

All true enough, but I certainly see enough poor writers making a living writng for the tabloids. Part of what they have going for them is an editorial and proofreaidng staff --- assets that high-end blogsites should invest more in, but they aren't cheap. As Leitch argues , we have a meritocracy evolving, in which the G-FaFiFs are allowed to rise above the Joelmon's on the basis of hard work and artistic execution. Some frauds (just like in old media) will still flourish, but the new media allows for thousands of screaming voices to attack and bring down the frauds. And if the trash sells, well, that's nothing new. As firejoemorgan.com argues, an ugly truth can be preferable to a beautfil lie. Ideally, we'd like good writing and good arguments. But accountability is needed on more than one measure, and Bissinger (and Thomas Boswell and David Halberstam and other excellent stylists) were rarely accountable on meausres of reason until the blogosphere started arguing. In a way, Bill James, building his own publishing house and distribution networks out of his garage and questioning where there previously had been no mechanism for questioning, was an old media guy who helped establish the new media ethos.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 01 2008 09:02 AM

batmagadanleadoff wrote: ="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]Obviously some of the concerns coming from OM are well-founded. * In a pure matter of taste, it's distressing to see guys who cannot write make a living writing. Absolutely. But OM won't get my sympathy if that's what they're concerned about. Because you could say the same thing about any discipline. Steven Seagal can't act. A few plumbers are incompetent even though most plumbers get the job done, some better than others. That's the way it goes for plumbers, accountants, bus drivers and everybody else. The free market will decide what to do with the truly crappy writers. Yeah, that's why I said it was a matter of taste. You're right about the free market and all.

AG/DC May 01 2008 09:27 AM

The New York Times wrote: In a telephone interview Wednesday, Bissinger repeated much of his criticism of bloggers, uncaring of their disdainful flaying of him. “I meant every word of it,” he said. “I don’t care what they say. Quite honestly, when I care about something passionately, this is the way I am. You can ask my wife. Was it the most diplomatic thing in the world? No. But I really find them offensive.” He talks to his wife that way?

AG/DC May 01 2008 01:49 PM

Another Bissinger observation is that he's a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, a magazine that has carried some his more high-profile work, and a magazine whose recent track record doesn't suggest a high standard of scruples.

Number 6 May 01 2008 10:28 PM

AG/DC wrote: Another Bissinger observation is that he's a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, a magazine that has carried some his more high-profile work, and a magazine whose recent track record doesn't suggest a high standard of scruples. I'm tempted to say that you shouldn't conflate the two, but yeah, it's certainly there to be conflated.

AG/DC May 05 2008 08:31 AM

I'm tempted to agree with you, but if he's going to curse out people on the air over his scrupulous standards...