Youth soccer referee dies after attack

Your initial performance on this thread was awful and it is just as bad now. You keep assuming the guy was a bad ref, but you don't know. And even if you did, who the fuck cares? You make it sound as if it justifies the violence against him. Seriously, step away and try to use your brain.

 

Well, there is something to be said for taking a contrarian point of view. Anybody can talk about how out of control the fans are and how wrong it is.
That said, some contrarian views should not be expressed.

 

I guess this is as good a time and place as any to say this, since in great part it is why I finally registered at SJ.

I've been lurking and reading this site for two weeks under two years now. I can date it because I had something here come up in a Google search and I posted it to another board where I'm a regular, and I just looked it up. I am neither a sportswriter nor an ex-journalist. I'm just a guy who reads a lot, devours news and media, and has a taste for people with quick minds who can turn a phrase. I admire wordsmiths, and I have found much to enjoy here. I've seen really good threads, debates, inside info, interpretation of bureaucratic doublespeak, and some really interesting links. Some of the insights I've found here and filed the serial numbers off of made me look smarter than I really am when posted elsewhere. So thanks, I owe you for that.

I really enjoy listening to insiders talking shop, off the clock and not for publication. Shows like "The Sports Reporters" - not so much now, but back when Dick Schaap hosted and the egos weren't quite as bloated, or the old David Brinkley Sunday show, where you had political insiders at a roundtable speaking informally, hit my sweet spot.

This site used to be that kind of place. It still is on occasion... but anymore it has gotten to the point that the poo flinging in the monkey house aspect of SJ splatters about one in three threads. Anything even remotely political, or that can somehow be dragged into something politically related, degenerates rapidly into name calling and ad hominem attacks. In general, the same ten or twelve people dickwagging and pissing on each other make enjoying the place very difficult. I don't, can't, know if the mods have made a policy decision to allow things to just run in the name of free speech until someone goes far enough over the line to get a thread locked, or if they've just gotten accustomed to it.

From time to time someone would mention "the other site", but I never went looking for it. I got my fix here, and I was good. It came up recently however, and was linked, and I popped over to take a look at it. It looks just the same, has the same format and headings. I cruised the board, and lo and behold, there were many names I recognized and had enjoyed, who are either simply gone from SJ altogether or who only post here once in a great while. I noticed something else, too... and when I did I started checking the forums and even went back 4-5 pages in them, and what I *didn't* find was any locked threads. They even have a Politics board, and lo and behold, there were no locked threads even there. In fairness their mods may simply delete them, but I saw no evidence of the sort of uncivil behavior that has become so prevalent here.

I know I'm the FNG. I have no standing here, no rep points, no friends to defend me for speaking up. I also have no axes to grind. I'm not calling anyone out by name, other than to say that if you start looking at the locked threads the common denominators are obvious. So yeah, "Leave if you don't like it. You will not be missed", but maybe it takes someone from outside the system to see things with a fresh eye. Not that I don't think that people already know it, the number of expats on the other board (and no longer posting here at all) says they do far more eloquently than I ever could, but maybe just saying out loud that the Emperor has no clothes might make a dent. You can tell me to fuck off and kick/ban me, and that would be ok, although I'd rather be able to enjoy the place, and maybe even contribute from time to time.

I've enjoyed this site for many hours. I've learned things, been reminded of things I'd forgotten, been exposed to much that was new and interesting. Hell, there's no telling how much time I've spent on "Random Images" alone. I've seen good message boards die before. Grow the fuck up, don't make SJ such a cesspit that it poisons itself to death.

 

You blew a whistle during baseball games?

 

Either you-know-who has another sock puppet or he put somebody else up to it. (That was a reference to the "newbie," not cjericho.)

 

I hope whomever was umping the games where he was blowing a whistle kicked him out of the stands.

 

I laughed out loud at that post. Too bad the old politics board doesn't exist for a glimpse of the "Renaissance" of SportsJournalists.com.

 

Does Feinian Bastard post on politics threads on that other board?

 

Neither is correct. I am just as I have asserted, and while my call for a bit of ordinary politeness in debate may be met with hardened cynicism there was no sock puppetry or trolling involved.

 

Unless I misread, your timeline does not add up. You've been reading and lurking here for 2 years? Pretty sure there haven't been politics threads in that time.

 

Yes, somebody will defend you for speaking up. Welcome.

 

Does Neutral Corner like colostomy bag threads? It really showcases the intellectual heft of the site.