Journalist me: There's the guy who took the bread out of Tommy's mouth!
Blogger me: Who me?
Journalist me: That's right! You damnit!
Blogger me: What did I do?
Journalist me: You know what you did. You and your little blogger cronies out there in your little "blogosphere" out there are taking readers away from people like me. People with credentials. People with training. People with access. You and your kind just sit on your Mom's couch, with your Macbook, and just write something and hit send and there's no first-hand knowledge, there's no class and there's no place for it in our society.
Blogger me: Since when is it illegal to have a view point? Since when is it bad to have multiple viewpoints on one topic?
Journalist me: Since you became a threat to my very existence.
Blogger me: All I'm doing is following my passion. I love sports, I love to write. What's wrong with that?
Journalist me: What's wrong with it is that you go out of your way to embarrass athletes. Your posts are filled with words like "f---ed" and "bulls---". Where's the taste in that?
Blogger me: You're telling me you don't say the word f---?
Journalist me: Go f--- yourself.
Blogger me: You're telling me you wouldn't put profanity in the paper if you could?
Journalist me: F--- you and everything you stand for.
[The End]
Now that would be the discussion I would have with myself if I were
A) Crazy
and B) An old, bitter man like one Mr. Buzz Bissinger, seen here making an ass out of himself on Costas Now earlier this week. Bissinger, clearly threatened by people like Will Leitch of Deadspin, went on a profanity laced tirade, at one point referring to Leitch as a "piece of shit."
Even Bob Costas got in on the act with his hilarious readings from some of the Deadspin faithful.
Now listen, I have a foot in both camps. I write for this blog (whose title I'm sure my friend Mr. Bissinger would just love) and I also work as a journalist. Do I worry that maybe one day there won't be a job for me (assuming I ever graduate)? Yes. Do I read blogs? Once again, yes. I read Deadspin, I read FanHouse and I read Kissing Suzy Kolber. I even read ESPN's Bill Simmons, who does have formal training yet rose to fame for his Boston Sports Guy Blog. Hell, I even have a list of blogs on the side of this site.
Now, there is a difference between blogs like Deadspin and sites like TheDirty.com, who became famous for the Matt Leinart party pictures. Deadspin didn't start the controversy, that site did. Also, it's not like Deadspin was the only site to run with this story. Those pictures were all over ESPN as their analysts discussed the issue.
But, I must say, there is a difference between a blog and a newspaper. When someone picks up that paper in the morning they expect facts and credibility. Once a writer hits that save button at the office and that story runs the next day, there's no taking it back. If he's got his facts wrong, if he libeled someone, he and his paper are in trouble. With blogs, everything is much faster. There is no gatekeeper, there is no editor. If they post a falsehood, they just take it down. There's an inherent danger to blogging based purely on the style of the medium.
This is not to say I think bloggers should be rounded up into camps where journalists lecture them on libel law and AP style until they bleed from the eyes. I enjoy their work. I think it's refreshing to see work born from the same love that inspired myself and every other sports writer to get into the business -- a love of writing and a love of sports -- without the bitterness that surrounds some in the business today like Bissinger.
Yes it's biased. But aren't we all. Does the day I join a newspaper mean I'm a fan of no one? Hell no. I'm still going to root for my teams and root for them proudly. I just can't let it affect my writing. Bloggers get to share their passion and fanhood for the sport and their team and I can't wait to read more of their work.
Journalist me: Oh you can go f--- yourself Kinslow. Way to ruin it for all of us.
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