Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Buzz Bissinger Does Not Like Blogs

UPDATE: Will's apt post about the event.

Brian from Awful Announcing has a very poignant reaction, too.

That was clear during Buzz Bissinger's freak-out on Costas Now (just now), attacking Will Leitch. The irony is that Will came across as the thoughtful one, and Buzz Bissinger -- self-appointed savior of "old media" -- came across as the unhinged nut. Points to Big Daddy Drew (aka "Balls Deep") and AJ Daulerio for the name-checks. Any pub is good pub!

The other blog posts about it are rolling in: Here's one from MDS at Fanhouse.

The overarching emotion isn't outrage at Bissinger: It's pity for him.

4 comments:

Fwiffo said...

I loved Friday Night Lights, but wow, Bissinger really did come off as completely unhinged. Granted, I only caught the back half of the round table, but everything about him screamed "You guys are low life scum, and nothing you can say will change that." I thought it was instructive that, at the end of the discussion, he admitted that he and other MSM sports writers were worried that declining newspaper sales could damage their careers. He looked and sounded like a scared old man, afraid of change.

I get to check out a lot of historical documents on a daily basis because of my job. The other day I was looking at a book, written by a minister from the 1820s, that condemned reading novels and playing pool and chess as evil, morally debased activities that would bring ruin to American society. Bissinger had the same argument, rehashed for this century. Old men, scared of change.

The Editor said...

More power to Will for not attacking Buzz. Bissinger's antics angered me.

Unknown said...

Regarding the special access of sports writers as opposed to bloggers and the importance of inside knowledge, Costas made the analgogy to Woodward writing about politics. It is a false comparison. In politics very little is on the surface and much of what happens happens for reasons not known to the public. Having access to inside information is crucial for understanding and explaining politics. In sports, on the other hand, virtually everything is on the surface. Anyone sitting in front of a HD widescreen TV can see exactly what is happening and draw his own conclusions. Some may see more than others, but it has nothing to do with special "access." John Madden would be just as insightful in a bar as he is in an announcer's booth.

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