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February 28, 2008
Nobody Puts Bloggers in a Korner
Dear Tony Kornheiser,
Your recent comments were clueless and hypocritical -- and some of the most ironic in all of sports media this year. That's quite an accomplishment considering the profession is full of overweight men criticizing the performance of professional athletes.
The comments I'm referring to, of course, are your proclamations about bloggers.
They have no sources. They make stuff up. They're toads. They're little toads. Actually, they're pimples on the behind of the greater body politic in this country and in this city.
Oh, c'mon. Tell us how you really feel. Never mind. You did.
If a huge dumpster landed on their mother's house, and got all the way into the basement and crushed them, nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that's any good at all. They, they are, they are, they are sucking mole rats, and that's the nicest I can be to them.
The highly regarded DC Sports Bog was the one that exposed their own paper's star columnist as a Luddite.
You tried to offer a semi-apology, but in clarifying who the comments were directed to, you pulled out a backhanded complement:
I was not attacking all the blogs--although God knows I could if I wanted to.
Classy.
I would feel pity, but somebody of your stature in the sports industry should know better. Much, much better.
Main stream media personalities take cheap shots at blogs all the time, but the most outrageous part of these attack is that your closest colleague -- Michael Wilbon -- was apparently caught stealing material from bloggers!
Not only do you guys write for the Washington Post, but you co-host Pardon The Interruption on ESPN. Barring some amazing revelations and even more amazing acting ability, you're obviously very close friends.
Of course, Wilbon isn't the only one ripping off the blogosphere. Some of your other colleagues -- struggling to keep up with witty ideas and breaking news -- are caught red-handed all the time. Just look at Colin Cowherd, Jay Mariotti, and even the venerable Sports Illustrated.
See, Tony? We do provide a service. Bloggers are doing your colleagues' jobs for them!
But wait, there's more.
All the savvy people are already on board the blog bandwagon. Bill Simmons -- a reigning rockstar of sports media -- is a prolific blogger. Like you, he's paid by the four letter network. Leagues, players, radio stations -- they're all blogging. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is blogging for the LA Times about everything from sports to race and society to making the world a better place.
Then you have people who have easily parlayed blogging into a full-time career. Will Leitch from Deadspin is one of the most respected names in the industry. SportsByBrooks tends to break news well before MSM outlets get around to it.
But I didn't need to tell you that. The semi-apology included a tip of the hat to some of America's top sports blogs. Then you added, "I don't read these things."
Like any sports media personality, some people love you and some people hate you. I've always found you amusing and enjoyed your work (even when Monday Night Football gets iffy). These comments won't cost you cushy gigs at the Washington Post or ESPN, but it sure sounds like the clock is ticking on your relevance. This attitude towards blogs is unproductive for everybody -- including yourself.
The arrogance of your statements is especially frustrating. Reminiscent of a certain LA columnist, it indicates a complete ignorance to the earnest, hard work performed by many bloggers. Welcome to 2008, where you'll find bloggers on the field, at practice, in the press box, and asking questions at press conferences and in the locker room.
As much as this is an open letter to say "let's call out Kornheiser" -- it's also a call to table. Much like farm systems and colleges develop talent for the big leagues, blogs have created a big opportunity for burgeoning sports journalism players (again, look to Leitch). Unlike farm systems, blogs also have a habit of providing immediate results that can instantly make headlines. While old ballplayers might have to worry about getting passed up, you've got the unique option of embracing this new trend and using it to enhance your career. You know about Deadspin, With Leather, The Big Lead, and Kissing Suzy Kolber. Read them. Embrace the blogosphere and, of course, give credit where it's due.
Or strikeout (not) looking.
Sincerely,
Adam
Photo by Kevin Donahue via Flickr.
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Tony is great, and most of his rants are done for comedy. I would guess he said this with a smile at the very least. As a fan of both the traditional media and blogs (including this one). I must say, many of you bloggers can be uber sensitive, lighten up. Even if the old school guys don't get you or like you keep on, keeping on. I think we all know where the future of information distribution is going.
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This reminds me of the sad but simultaneously hilarious saga of Lee Siegel, former blogger for the New Republic who was the brunt of frequent, and deservedly vehement criticism from the blogosphere and in his comments.
He was discovered to frequently employ sock puppetry to attack people who disagreed with him. In one case, his sock puppet enhanced attacks on blogger Ezra Klein approached the level of ad hominem slander. His sock puppets also, hilariously and pathetically, praised him to the stars. It was the literal apex of vanity and immaturity in a middle aged, six figure package.
So, when he was caught, publicly humiliated for his intellectual dishonesty and childlike behavior, and his bloging relationship with the New Republic was ended, he had two options:
1) Admit that he's been a World Class Tool, (Order of Merlin,) and endeavor to change
2) be a whiny little baby
He chose option 2 and now has a hilarious (and poorly selling book) called "Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob," all about how those meany blogger interneters are just so poopy and rude to establishment figures.
Also, he coined the term blogofasiscm.
The point is, people in his position, and I suspect Tony Kornheiser's (though I never pay attention to sports-related anything,) have never, until quite recently, had to deal with instant, real time reactions to their screed. Where once they could issue ill thought out and poorly fact checked proclamations from on high, safe in the knowledge that their people will probably throw out all the angry letters so they never have to sully their beautiful minds thinking about them, now they have to deal with people practically face to face.
It hurts their egos to discover that they aren't worshiped as the godlike figures of wisdom they imagine themselves to be, and their resentment to the ungrateful masses shows in ricidulous outbursts like this.
Too bad. As many LAist bloggers know, if you say something in public, people who disagree with you are going to let you know, often very sternly. And good for them too. The internet has started to balance the relationship between the writer and the reader (and it is a relationship, no matter what literary recluses want to think,) back so that the reader doesn't just have to be a passive recipient. I think it's awesome. People who say things in public ought to have the gonads to take what comes from having said it.
Besides, if you can't handle people saying vewy meen things abowt you, if you can't handle people not agreeing with everything you say, maybe you ought to quit trying to put yourself into the public sphere.
Which only brings me back to the main point: Tony Kornheiser, you're a chode.
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Kornholer's place in the Monday Night Football booth is but one of the reasons I gave up watching what until its move to ESPN had been a show I'd watched without fail for more years than I care to count or remember.