Maese and ESPN - is idea stolen?

Well, I sure don't give a carp.

 

Because every columnist bats 1.000.

Maese is a solid reporter and a talented writer, and most important, he's a good guy. He has already gone plenty far in this business; he will go farther. Get your knives out if it makes you feel better, but I gotta say, this thread reads like so much petty bullshit.

The no-name kissass who hacked on Poz, he deserves your scorn.

Maese -- really, for this? -- does not.

 

Speaking of ESPN, anyone else think the player identified as J.R. Smith in their main picture on their web site looks a lot like Marcus Fizer?

 

It is Fizer. Wonder how long it takes them to figure that out.

 

Disagree on point one; there is zero crossover readership. As long as it is in the writer's own work, tone, voice.

Totally agree on point two.

 

Good, good stuff there.

Also, I'm curious if anyone griping about the column actually read it. It's not useless. Nor is it a piece simply about his TV writing habits. He uses the angle to show how much ESPN has infiltrated our culture on multiple levels. We all know this, but don't really think about it as much as we would while actually trying to dodge coverage on TV, radio and the web. It does what a good column should -- entertains while using a small picture to make a bigger point.

 

If you thought that was entertaining you must not read a lot of good opinion writing.

 

Or, perhaps, my opinion of what constitutes it differs from yours.

 

ESPN's stranglehold on our culture is as trite and cliched a hook for a piece of sports journalism as there presently exists.

You'd better do something creative -- some might say original -- to make that either entertaining or edifying for readers. Because as it goes, it's a ready-made pre-packaged TV dinner, and they know it. They're not stupid.

 

I'm not much older than you or him, in the demographic you're talking about but not of it. The younger guys I know just want to read about sports.