Bill Simmons smites Scoop about the head...

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

WHAT'S WITH THE CENSORSHIP!!!!!!!

I said it before and I'll say it AGAIN!!!!

This is MERELY a desperate attempt for Jason Whitlock to get attention to revive a suffocating career. Nobody is talking about this anylonger.

This subject is BUSTED!!!!!

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

And yet, you chose to post even tho no one else is talking about it...

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

FB, you're just playing jokes now. You're not this stupid.

The story already came out. It's linked in this thread.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Sorry, JayF, and everyone, including Mr. W, that I missed the posting of the link back a few pages. From the original post, I was led to believe that the actual CJR dead-tree edition was working on that. (Unclear writing can be a real problem.) Luckily, Boom, the master of the Google, pointed out that it was CJR's online edition in which the piece appeared.
That said, I haven't seen a single substantive reply from the person in question to very much in the CJR piece.
The two columns?
The two obviously divergent takes?
And proof that Vegas faked the numbers?
The truth indeed is fluid.


Oh, and the, ah, interesting paraphrase of the writer's, and CJR's intentions in the original post are not within a mile of accurate.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Here's a question: How many of you were in Vegas?

I was, so I can tell you what is was really like.

A preface: I'm a 23-yr old kid who wrote a feature for a major metro. Obviously, I was wide-eyed for the whole weekend, and I didn't go out of my way to be near trouble. I wasn't in the dirty stuff, but I know what I heard, saw and felt.

I've been to Vegas many times in the past few years. Vegas from the 90s is different than Vegas today. A Tyson/Botha fight in 98 is vastly separate from the NBA All-Star game in 2007. Casinos are ritzier, clubs are crazier, money is flaunted much more freely and people have this arrogance about them that I don't know was present several years ago. Mind you, I've only been to Vegas during the past three years, so I can't really say much to that, but I'm fairly confident my thoughts are on point.

ASW in Vegas was complete insanity. Cab lines for hours, club lines for what felt like years, casinos packed to the brim. But the streets were another story.

I am white, so part of my fear can be explained by an irrational perception of the black men and women who were there. It's hard for me, even though I have many black friends, to not be scared at the thugs who wandered aimlessly on the Strip. And that was the biggest difference. Thugs wandering aimlessly on the Strip.

But, honestly, there was just a lot of hostility in the air. Whites were afraid of Blacks, who were then pissed off because Whites were afraid of Blacks for no reason except preconceived notions (which, as I said, I had myself). For every "Hello" I heard, I heard 10 "Yo ma, you ain't gotta look so fine. But you do." Several of which were directed toward women walking to a club or in no general direction. I didn't know what to do. I was genuinely on edge all weekend.

So what Whitlock said is 100 percent right. Whites were scared shitless. Some Blacks were scared shitless. It was as if you were walking through a minefield where only one in 10 mines were actually threatening, but you didn't know which ones.

Was he right in writing two strikingly different columns? No. Was he right in his arrogance about "not quoting because he's a columnist?" HELL no.

But he was right about what Vegas was like...and it will be a while before I go back.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....


After so much promise, I predict this will not end well at all.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Wait till chuck taylor gets home from school. he is going to be livid about Jimmy Snuka's post.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Why is that, if you don't mind me asking, Boom?

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

If you can attack Whitlock - then the terrorists have won.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Boom and Chuck have an ongoing argument about racial issues. Chuck thinks Boom's a racist, etc.

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

Chuck also thinks that Tommy Amaker is a good basketball coach.... just sayin is all...

 

Re: Columbia Journalism Review plans Whitlock attack....

if you ever wonder why there's pack journalism, the whole reaction to writing about the reality of what transpired in vegas is a clear example of the repercussions of not following the pack.

superfly, you do realize that some people believe that a true column contains no quotes? go pick up a len pitts column and see how many quotes you read in his columns. or get some of mike royko's old books.

a columnist needs to be informed. i talked to plenty of people in vegas. and i didn't talk to a lot of paid liars (politicians, casino heads, police chiefs).

i quote when necessary. i don't quote for the sake of quoting.