Buzz Bissinger: One angry man

Just finished this piece in Philadelphia magazine about Buzz Bissinger. The story's mostly about his Philly column, though it also gives a good look at the whole Buzz public persona, which never quite seems to go with his nonfiction pieces.

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/a_savior_for_the_city/

Found it while looking for other stuff on his Twitter account, which I enjoy but is always...interesting. Loves the phrase douche juice. Some recent tweets:

http://twitter.com/buzzbissinger

 

I think it dawned on me how angry Bissinger after I saw that roundtable discussion show on sports media that Bob Costas did on HBO about two years ago. Remember that? Costas had Bissinger on a panel with Will Leitch, and Old Man Buzz was there to tell everyone how old-school journos think blogging is destroying the industry:

http://deadspin.com/385770/bissinger-vs-leitch

The funny thing is that while Bissinger hammered Leitch for dumbing down and dirtying up the realm of sports discourse, it was Leitch who managed not to use any profanity. Meanwhile, Bissinger, uh, took full advantage of the fact that he was on HBO. His hostility made him the loser in the exchange, though he did deliver the best line of the segment when he called Leitch "Jimmy Olsen on Percoset." I laughed at that for days.

 

Anyone past college age should get over the need to say things like 'douche juice.'

Use your big boy words, Buzz.

 

I heard Buzz referred to as "a miserable bastard" more than a decade ago.

 

Well, what do you expect from a guy who goes by "Buzz"?

 

Buddy turned me onto his Twitter feed late last month. As long as you look at it as entertainment, it's funny as hell.
Every time I think of him, I wonder who he's going to refer to as a "douche juice" that day.

 

buzz killer...

 

Then why act the way he does in public? I've always been a great admirer of his work, but his consistent use of the term "douche juice" has pretty much spoiled my view of him. Grow up, Buzz.

 

I don't think anybody is doubting his brilliance.

I just don't think the social media is doing any favors to the older sportswriters. Stuff that was only apparent to people who worked with or alongside them is now known to anyone who is friends with them on Facebook or who follows them on Twitter.

 

The guy is dropping curse words left and right while complaining that Deadspin is going to force his child to grow up in a world with "crude" journalism.

 

I'm with Mizzou on Bissinger's brilliance. With that said, he's putting some tarnish on his reputation by being a petulant gnat. Ripping Leitch over Deadspin and the internet, and now he's on Twitter trying to be Gregg Doyel?

He couldn't wear Doyel's jockstrap if he tried. Doyel would clown him on Twitter. ;D