If you haven’t noticed, the AJC has ended its foolish pay-for-content-nobody-particularly-wants experiment. Moore, Bisher, and the rest of that gang of idiots are now free for one and all. So the next time Moore says something stupid (“The Braves should bench Jeff Francoeur and sign Marquis Grissom”) there’s every chance I might read it and blow my top.
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I really wish you hadn’t told me this. Ignorance is bliss, you know. Hopefully I’ll forget this before it’s too late.
Damn it! Somehow I can’t resist reading what that guy writes no matter how asinine it is. I was actually relieved when they put that stuff out there as pay to read. Mac, I’ll take the pledge. I’m just gonna say no.
But…. You have to admit that it does make for good fodder on your blog.
Try your best to avoid commenting on that crap, Mac. One of the things that I appreciate about many baseball blogs (yours included) is that they are full of original content and research instead of merely links to news stories or media criticism. I guess the occasional Moore fisking won’t be too much, though 🙂
Shorter AJC columnists…
Terence Moore: “Black good, white bad.”
Furman Bisher: “Old good, young bad. Me sleepy.”
Mark Bradley: “Georgia good, Alabama bad.”
Generally, I could care less what a sports columnist writes. As a journalist (and former sports writer-turned-entertainment writer), I know that sports columnists are trying to push your buttons. I kinda get a kick out of seeing and hearing people get bent out of shape, actually.
Wanna know why Stephen A. Smith has a TV show? Hint: It’s not because people like him. He’s a lightning rod. That’s what ESPN is gambling on.
Wanna know why sports columnists come up with seemingly “asinine” takes? Because they have to have a take, period. It’s their job. That’s Terence Moore’s job, to rile people up and create a conversation.
If columnists were merely the voice of reason all the time, nobody would read them. (Sports radio uses a similar model. That’s why most entertaining, ratings-hoggin’ sports radio has the loony-everyman-sports nut matched with a voice-of-reason type as co-hosts.)
That said, I think Mark Bradley is a terrific AJC columnist. He mixes a considered “take” without coming off like a provocateur. Plus, he’s one of the very best basketball writers in the country.
The fact that other people use them properly doesn’t mean their not idiots.
Seriously, I generally agree with what you are saying, but I do think the Moore is a genuine moron and the only reason he’s employed is that the AJC has zero interest in either intelligent or critical (in the academic sense) baseball content. Terrence isn’t about staring up controversy, he’s just an idiot that nobody cares enough to replace.
Can you tell that I don’t think much of the Atlanta paper? 😉
Speaking of imprison, Sidney Ponson got another DUI. That’s on top of the pending one he has in Florida from spring training. I’ve been doing a little research and it looks like he could be deported for this. I can only hope…
Isn’t Ponson from Aruba? Hope he doesn’t trip over a pile of Fox News commentators.
Mac – Thats SIR Sidney Ponson to you (he’s been knighted in Aruba, seriously). Having said that, is Fox really still hammering that story?
Yes. Yes, they are.
Crazy woman Greta Van Susteren:
Blah blah blah, etc…
Jebus, talk about Greta missing the point… I must not have noticed the “missing person epidemic”, I’ll need to start reading the paper more closely I guess.
How many people has Greta found? I remember when I caught the “missing person epidemic”, a little pinasilin cleared it right up. I was found the very next day.
They won’t find the girl in Aruba, she is dead and probably became shark food. I know it’s sad, but probably true. I don’t know what Greta is going to do. Aruba is not that big of a place and I am sure they have looked every where on the island for her. SHE ISN’T THERE! GO LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE!
I think she is down there so she can spend her summer on an island, rather than Studio B!
Anything to avoid talking about Iraq. This is Fox News after all. If their ratings start to sag they may have to send out an intern to kidnap another photogenic young girl.
I’ve gotten my hair cut next to Furman Bisher at Tommy’s Barber Shop in Buckhead. He seems like a nice old fellow.
Hey the Mets have won 7 of 9 and they have Pedro on the mound tonight
To me, the problem with the sports page of the AJC isn’t their columnists so much (don’t like ’em–then don’t read ’em. If they upset you, it’s your fault.); my problem is the AJC’s hands-off approach to reporting on local teams, especially the Braves. There’s very little controversy or very little curiosity behind the curtain.
For the Braves organization that makes for a very nice environment in which to play. For the reader, they get little more than “good news.” Some prefer that; I don’t. Of course, I live in New York where the media pendulum swings dramatically the other way. Following the Yanks or the Mets is like a season-long soap opera. I prefer too much scrutiny than too little.
But, borrowing a movie line, a friend of mine who works for the Braves puts it well when discussing the relationship between the Braves & the AJC: “They’re cozy as lice.”
nyb,
Thank you for that comment–right on.
It’s a lot like reading Chop Talk in daily doses. I don’t pay much attention to other sports, but the baseball thing is pathetic. I guess they never could get much real insight from the organization since they always play everything so close to the vest. But it’d be nice to think they were trying. Oh well.
Thanks a lot Mac. Now I headed over there and foolishly opened Bisher’s latest piece. That thing is so full of crap it’s not even funny. That guy actually thinks the fans were booing Devine. It’s weird – you despise these guys, but you can’t resist reading their stuff.
I always thought every Furman Bisher column could be summarized as “Harrumph!”. It’s like he died 50 years ago and nobody bothered to tell him.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/2005afl/roster_pdd.html
Arizona Fall League Braves – Salty’s going.
There’s no doubt that some of the more “popular” sportswriters and sportscasters have a focus on riling people up. Terrence Moore I stopped reading long ago because he’s as close to beiong a racist as one can be. But there’s something else that really bothers me. This Administration is going around saying we can’t leave Iraq because “what will the world think of us?” Hell, it didn’t bother these jerks when they went in so now they use the excuse to serve their own purposes? What hypocrisy! How sad!
Michael,
As someone who’s cousin was sent to Iraq last week, I second that emotion.
Is this a political forum? I, for one, don’t care what your views on the Bush Administration are, Michael. Your views on the Schuerholz Administration, on the other hand, are relevant here.
Guys, please don’t let’s do this. I could go on about this stuff all day, all night, and well into next week. Believe me, if you think I can go on and on about baseball, just get me started on politics 😉
But not here, please. I know it’s hard to let things die, but please try.
Thank you for listening 🙂
I’m with Stu on this one.
No politics. That’s the rule. Again, if people want to discuss politics I will open a thread on War Liberal for it. Not here.
If the Braves win their division again, will Bobby Cox win the Manager of the Year award again?
How could he not? I think he should win it even if they ended up with just the wild card. He can’t win it every year, but this one can’t be denied.
See what a day off brings out in us? I have to vote I think Terrence Moore does the job, as ububba says, Go to journalism classes (at Memphis State Univ) and see what the prof tells you. You gotta have an opinion (and then you should back up your opinion with examples), ESPN, and other TV commentators are wastelands of opinions without much to support them.
Mac, one last thank you for the warliberal info to get me into the AJC. I have used it often (although less and less frequently) and I appreciate never having to sign up to read their blather.
No problem. I use BugMeNot for most things, now, but I use the AJC enough that it’s worth having a “dedicated” login.
Looks like I’m using the Bud Selig one over there, which I believe predates BugMeNot. Bud Selig, what a pioneer.
Is Frenchy’s SI issue buyable yet? I can’t find it. When does it come out?
EdoRiver: Does Memphis State still exist? I thought they were officially just Memphis now…not since the Penny Hardaway days have I heard Memphis State. Also, I probably wouldn’t trust what I learned in a state school journalism class, anyway. (That was a joke. Well, sort of.)
it will always be Memphis State
Marlins won, Natspos lost, Mets winning. I really don’t get the Mets. They’re playing without Cameron, without Piazza, and essentially without Beltran (who’s hitting about .215 with no extra base hits since the collision) and they can’t lose.
Well, they ARE playing the Diamondbacks- the general sentiment from the fan base out here as well as the talk radio idiots is that they have basically punted on this season. It’s hard to know about something like that watching the games on TV, but they do seem a desultory bunch.
Well, if you check out the stats of Cameron, Piazza and Beltran this year, having them in the lineup at the same time are like having three Adam LaRoches in a lineup without the speed of Cameron and Beltran. So, it’s actually better for the Mets NOT to have those three guys playing.
They haven’t been that bad, especially not Cameron, who’s the third best hitter on the team at .273 .342 .477. (Though Victor Diaz is getting his at-bats and hitting better than that.) And while Piazza’s a ghost of his former self, he’s still one of the better-hitting catchers in the league.
I just got to work this morning and was reading through the posts last night, am I on the right site? For a little while, I thought I was on Michael Moore’s Bush sucks website!!! 🙂
I got a little scared!!! Let’s talk about how nice it would be to make the Brew Crew look silly this weekend.
You had to open that up again, didn’t you. No politics.
Maybe no politics now, but after Kolb implodes in the 7th to give a game to his old team, we might be discussing the politics of the dugout.
Let’s talk old times, Kolb sucks!!!
I got a question? Who do you think Bobby will go with in left field come the playoffs? He seems to randomly pick between johnson/langerhans right now, but I’d think he’d go with one over the other to start in the playoffs.