Spencer Hall tackles Dan Wetzel and Sports Is Serious logic

Like I said, I love Hall and Wetzel. But I think they both missed their marks here. I'm sick of hand-wringing sports journalism. I know it gets hits, but it's shallow and useless. I don't have any problem with Steve Spurrier making fun of Clemson. That's what college coaches do, and Spurrier does it better than anyone. So I agree with Hall, but his point was hypocritical, as typefitter noted, and poorly stated.

 

His point isn't that great of one, really -- sports is a microcosm of the meaning of life, and this is about as small as great art or literature, which is to say it isn't remotely -- and I'm not entirely sure it's his real point.

I've read enough of Hall's work to think I know he loves the game, the quirks and the characters in it tremendously -- like any writer loves those things in the field he or she is in -- and Spurrier's little shot across the bow is part of what makes it unique. Dabo's obsequious nature does, too. It's the unfailingly polite neighbor down the street telling the whole neighborhood, boy, how great of a kid you have. Dabo could have just called Spurrier and said all those things, and it would have been more thoughtful than making a speech about it.

Dan Wetzel is a lucid, bold writer and thinker, but he has a habit of being reductive -- at least in writing -- when it comes to the ambiguity and eccentricity of life, and the South trades in ambiguity, eccentricity and distinctive culture. Wetzel has too much good/bad, right/wrong in his work for my taste, however sharp I think he is.

 

Columnists are quick to point out thin skin, unless it's their own.

 

I just don't get it. Why would the Governor of South Carolina declare Monday Marcus Lattimore Day just because a college football player was injured?

 

I'm guessing the Governor saw an opportunity to build upon (or pander to) the emotions of people in the state who felt bad for the kid.

 

It should be noted Lattimore is a South Carolina native and ranks among (and may top the list of) the greatest high school football players in state history.

 

Ditto.

I laughed at Spurrier's comments, as I usually do. It's what he does. End of story.

 

A columnist talking shit about another columnist's column is

/sunglasses off

calumny.

 

1. Hall's column was a complete waste of time and a disservice to his readers and anyone else who at least tried to get through it. One writer taking a shot at another writer is making us (sports writers) part of the story. Contrary to what some want to believe in this day and age, we ain't the story, despite how much some of us want to be. While Lattimore's injury was/is huge news in college football (and here's wishing the young a full recovery so he can play again), as were/are Spurrier's thoughtless comments, no one gives a shit (or should) about what Hall thinks of Wetzel.

2. I can't stand the fact that Yahoo! puts an "expert" label with its columnists. The surgeon who took apart and reassembled my shoulder is an expert. Sports writers ain't experts.

 

brilliant.

this guy needs to move beyond sports.

 

TWSS

 

Dabo was asked about Lattimore on his weekly Sunday teleconference. He didn't go out of his way to make a speech. He was asked the question and gave genuine thought.