Other Sports SI: Sports fans are passionate, but many need a dose of perspective. - Page 2

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 12:42 PM

Why are you so angry?

Yes, you. The diehard sports fan who lives for his teams, reads every magazine/newspaper/website/blog and takes this stuff -- professional and college athletics -- waaaaaaay too seriously?

Did you have a bad day at the office? Is your muffler dragging? Did someone spill Sunny Delight on your Bart Kofoed-autographed Warriors jersey? Is your underwear too tight? Did your wife ask you to watch the kids for a few hours?
Oh, I understand passion. I understand bleeding a team's colors, crying so hard following a loss that your parents wonder whether you need another shot of ketamine. Why, as a 12-year-old I could barely sleep after Marvin Hagler knocked out Tommy Hearns. When the Red Sox had the Mets on the verge of extinction during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, I hid behind my fingers and refused to come out. I've screamed at the television, cursed out the radio, sworn off players who broke my heart and teams that let me down.
Of course, that all stopped when I , ahem, grew up.

How about you? How do you explain the vitriol?

The unmitigated cruelty aimed at sports journalists who have the audacity to write/say something you find either insulting or incorrect? When I started at Sports Illustrated in 1996, roughly 200 copies of a "reader comments" packet would be photocopied and distributed throughout the office. A large number of the letters were positive. A slightly smaller total were negative, but in a respectful way. "How dare you say Steve Garvey was the greatest National League first baseman when he played in the same era as Keith Hernandez" or "I really think you guys need to reconsider the Swimsuit Issue." Heck, in February 2000, a couple of weeks after I wrote the infamous profile of John Rocker for the magazine, I received a two-page letter from his mother, Judy. The woman was understandably angry, and she let me know about it. But her note made an unmistakable point ("You're a jerk") without using the actual words ("You're a jerk"). I've never forgotten that.

Now, however, everything has changed. With the wonderful world of e-mail and text messaging annihilating the wide gap between angry thought and pen/paper, irrational fans nationwide can immediately fire off a [FILL IN THE BLANK: Threatening. Insulting. Distasteful.] rant without a moment's pause.
Here, for example, are snippets of two e-mails I've received over the past 24 hours -- neither especially out of the ordinary.

• "You remind me of those guys in the current Miller Lite commercials. One has a lower back tattoo and the other is wearing a thong. My 4-year-old son is more of a man than you. Go drink your green tea."

• "Shut the ---- up you slimy ----! You are using your position to brainwash the ----- in the US to accept illegal aliens that are mostly a bunch of murderers, rapists, & child-molesters."

When I returned to writing for SI.com in 2009 following a six-year hiatus, I told my editor that I wanted to run an e-mail address beneath my columns, so that readers could have their chance to respond. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied. "It's the right thing to do."

I had no idea.

For some reason, we sportswriters bring out the absolute worst in people. I'd love to think it's just me -- that my work is so heinous readers feel compelled to thrash. But then I asked around. From Jesus Ortiz at the Houston Chronicle to Michael J. Lewis at the Daytona Beach Daily News to Dave Sheinin at the Washington Post, there is universal agreement that things somehow crossed a line. That journalists have gone from dispensers of information to receptacles for venom.

These days, whether a columnist opines on the Lakers dynasty or the Nets putridity, whether he/she tells the story of an athlete overcoming cancer or an athlete rotting in a jail cell, the aftermath is rarely good. When Ortiz wrote a piece on the Mexican national team coming to Texas before the World Cup, he found his mailbox littered with racist e-mails. "Everybody wants to let you know how they feel," Ortiz says. "It seems as if they don't mind expressing their anger." When Lewis penned a handful of local high school girls basketball stories, he received a three-page letter from a player's grandmother. "It was so nasty and no abusive," says Lewis, "that the woman's son sent me a letter apologizing for his mom's note."

With rare exception, the notes are anonymous. And grammatically inept. And some sort of cry for help/loneliness/meaning.

They also happen to be deliciously ironic: While the crazy sports fanatic seems to believe everything that matters in life involves a ball and a watery cup of beer, most writers are just the opposite. We dig sports, embrace sports, devote our lives to covering sports. But come day's end, 99 percent of us are able to step away and, oh, watch a movie. The same goes for players. Yes, Derek Jeter loves the Yankees and wants the Yankees to win and plays his heart out. But does he ream out the reporter who dares ask him a tough question? Never. He moves on, grabs some dinner and heads home after the game for the latest episode of Entourage and a good night's sleep.
Maybe you should, too.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0w8TDJUf4

Ebolapox · 08-09-2010, 06:05 PM

glad you got a giggle out of it.

is there anything wrong with passion?

**RealSNR** · 08-09-2010, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiney bitch who wrote this article

They also happen to be deliciously ironic: While the crazy sports fanatic seems to believe everything that matters in life involves a ball and a watery cup of beer, most writers are just the opposite. We dig sports, embrace sports, devote our lives to covering sports. But come day's end, 99 percent of us are able to step away and, oh, watch a movie. The same goes for players. Yes, Derek Jeter loves the Yankees and wants the Yankees to win and plays his heart out. But does he ream out the reporter who dares ask him a tough question? Never. He moves on, grabs some dinner and heads home after the game for the latest episode of Entourage and a good night's sleep.
Maybe you should, too.

Umm, this guy is making the point that people that rely on sports for a living have a release from their jobs at the end of the day.

What about the people who do ACTUAL work for a living? The people that don't have the cushy job of writing about sports. Their work lives aren't centered around sports in the least bit. Assumedly people that get done with their non-sports-related work at the end of the day have enough energy to passionately follow sports, yes? They're not surrounded by it at all, so their break from work IS sports.

This guy seems to be shooting himself in the foot with that last paragraph

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 06:07 PM

Chiefsplanet is the sports equivalent of Democratic Underground and Free Republic in politics.

Don't get me wrong. I love a lot of the folks here and the free wheeling nature of the place. I have been as much a part of this as anyone. But I am not sure how someone could say straight faced that the message board sports fan\sports talk radio types don't have a serious lack of perspective.

**Reaper16** · 08-09-2010, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Chiefsplanet is the sports equivalent of Democratic Underground and Free Republic in politics.

Don't get me wrong. I love a lot of the folks here and the free wheeling nature of the place. I have been as much a part of this as anyone. But I am not sure how someone could say straight faced that the message board sports fan\sports talk radio types don't have a serious lack of perspective.

**the Talking Can** · 08-09-2010, 06:09 PM

hey look, Zach showed up to tell us all how awesome he is.........again........

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

hey look, Zach showed up to tell us all how awesome he is.........again........

How awesome I am?

I seriously don't get it at all. I am not above anything. I am a part of this community as well.

**Bugeater** · 08-09-2010, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Chiefsplanet is the sports equivalent of Democratic Underground and Free Republic in politics.

Don't get me wrong. I love a lot of the folks here and the free wheeling nature of the place. I have been as much a part of this as anyone. But I am not sure how someone could say straight faced that the message board sports fan\sports talk radio types don't have a serious lack of perspective.

I am one of those types and I've never even considered firing back at any media member. This is another case of an entire group of people being stereotyped because of what the fringe element does.

Deberg_1990 · 08-09-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

How awesome I am?

Maybe you dont mean to, but you come off quite condescending at times.

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Surely this is a representation of you having to put up with being a fan of your NCAA championship wielding football team.

**Bugeater** · 08-09-2010, 06:17 PM

I mean seriously, this guy writes for Sports Freaking Illustrated. How many people normally read his articles...a few million? Even if he gets 100 nasty emails in response to it, that's only a tiny fraction of the readers...he can **** off and go get a real job.

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I mean seriously, this guy writes for Sports Freaking Illustrated. How many people normally read his articles...a few million? Even if he gets 100 nasty emails in response to it, that's only a tiny fraction of the readers...he can **** off and go get a real job. JFC

What isn't real about his job? He probably did a lot to earn it. There are all kinds of assholes that want to do something like write for SI.

"We have just as perspective as anyone! **** off and get a real job!"

**Reaper16** · 08-09-2010, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Surely this is a representation of you having to put up with being a fan of your NCAA championship wielding football team.

You don't want to return to that conversation.

You mischaracterized me the first time and you never posted to that conversation again after I pointed out how you were misunderstanding things. More than a year later you brought up the same conversation again as if you weren't pwned, and then when I pointed out what I had pointed out before you never posted to that second conversation ever again. You should probably stop forgetting that you erred re: that conversation.

P.S. the perception that you only posted this thread to show off how better or more "awesome" you are than the rest of us is based in the rhetoric used. Maybe you didn't actually intend it that way but that's just how it comes off.

Brock · 08-09-2010, 06:22 PM

"Stop caring so much".

**Bugeater** · 08-09-2010, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

What isn't real about his job? He probably did a lot to earn it. There are all kinds of assholes that want to do something like write for SI.

"We have just as perspective as anyone! **** off and get a real job!"

Apparently you do indeed want this to get personal, so how about you **** off and go get a real job as well?

|Zach| · 08-09-2010, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

You don't want to return to that conversation.

You mischaracterized me the first time and you never posted to that conversation again after I pointed out how you were misunderstanding things. More than a year later you brought up the same conversation again as if you weren't pwned, and then when I pointed out what I had pointed out before you never posted to that second conversation ever again.

P.S. the perception that you only posted this thread to show off how better or more "awesome" you are than the rest of us is based in the rhetoric used. Maybe you didn't actually intend it that way but that's just how it comes off.

You were crying about having to be a fan of that team, because thats all you guys know how to do. Cry and second guess people.

08-09-2010, 12:42 PM
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $3126768	SI: Sports fans are passionate, but many need a dose of perspective. Why are you so angry? Yes, you. The diehard sports fan who lives for his teams, reads every magazine/newspaper/website/blog and takes this stuff -- professional and college athletics -- waaaaaaay too seriously? Did you have a bad day at the office? Is your muffler dragging? Did someone spill Sunny Delight on your Bart Kofoed-autographed Warriors jersey? Is your underwear too tight? Did your wife ask you to watch the kids for a few hours? Oh, I understand passion. I understand bleeding a team's colors, crying so hard following a loss that your parents wonder whether you need another shot of ketamine. Why, as a 12-year-old I could barely sleep after Marvin Hagler knocked out Tommy Hearns. When the Red Sox had the Mets on the verge of extinction during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, I hid behind my fingers and refused to come out. I've screamed at the television, cursed out the radio, sworn off players who broke my heart and teams that let me down. Of course, that all stopped when I , ahem, grew up. How about you? How do you explain the vitriol? The unmitigated cruelty aimed at sports journalists who have the audacity to write/say something you find either insulting or incorrect? When I started at Sports Illustrated in 1996, roughly 200 copies of a "reader comments" packet would be photocopied and distributed throughout the office. A large number of the letters were positive. A slightly smaller total were negative, but in a respectful way. "How dare you say Steve Garvey was the greatest National League first baseman when he played in the same era as Keith Hernandez" or "I really think you guys need to reconsider the Swimsuit Issue." Heck, in February 2000, a couple of weeks after I wrote the infamous profile of John Rocker for the magazine, I received a two-page letter from his mother, Judy. The woman was understandably angry, and she let me know about it. But her note made an unmistakable point ("You're a jerk") without using the actual words ("You're a jerk"). I've never forgotten that. Now, however, everything has changed. With the wonderful world of e-mail and text messaging annihilating the wide gap between angry thought and pen/paper, irrational fans nationwide can immediately fire off a [FILL IN THE BLANK: Threatening. Insulting. Distasteful.] rant without a moment's pause. Here, for example, are snippets of two e-mails I've received over the past 24 hours -- neither especially out of the ordinary. • "You remind me of those guys in the current Miller Lite commercials. One has a lower back tattoo and the other is wearing a thong. My 4-year-old son is more of a man than you. Go drink your green tea." • "Shut the ---- up you slimy ----! You are using your position to brainwash the ----- in the US to accept illegal aliens that are mostly a bunch of murderers, rapists, & child-molesters." When I returned to writing for SI.com in 2009 following a six-year hiatus, I told my editor that I wanted to run an e-mail address beneath my columns, so that readers could have their chance to respond. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "It's the right thing to do." I had no idea. For some reason, we sportswriters bring out the absolute worst in people. I'd love to think it's just me -- that my work is so heinous readers feel compelled to thrash. But then I asked around. From Jesus Ortiz at the Houston Chronicle to Michael J. Lewis at the Daytona Beach Daily News to Dave Sheinin at the Washington Post, there is universal agreement that things somehow crossed a line. That journalists have gone from dispensers of information to receptacles for venom. These days, whether a columnist opines on the Lakers dynasty or the Nets putridity, whether he/she tells the story of an athlete overcoming cancer or an athlete rotting in a jail cell, the aftermath is rarely good. When Ortiz wrote a piece on the Mexican national team coming to Texas before the World Cup, he found his mailbox littered with racist e-mails. "Everybody wants to let you know how they feel," Ortiz says. "It seems as if they don't mind expressing their anger." When Lewis penned a handful of local high school girls basketball stories, he received a three-page letter from a player's grandmother. "It was so nasty and no abusive," says Lewis, "that the woman's son sent me a letter apologizing for his mom's note." With rare exception, the notes are anonymous. And grammatically inept. And some sort of cry for help/loneliness/meaning. They also happen to be deliciously ironic: While the crazy sports fanatic seems to believe everything that matters in life involves a ball and a watery cup of beer, most writers are just the opposite. We dig sports, embrace sports, devote our lives to covering sports. But come day's end, 99 percent of us are able to step away and, oh, watch a movie. The same goes for players. Yes, Derek Jeter loves the Yankees and wants the Yankees to win and plays his heart out. But does he ream out the reporter who dares ask him a tough question? Never. He moves on, grabs some dinner and heads home after the game for the latest episode of Entourage and a good night's sleep. Maybe you should, too. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0w8TDJUf4
Posts: 54,699

08-09-2010, 06:05 PM	#16
Ebolapox remember, remember Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: como Casino cash: $-1650097	glad you got a giggle out of it. is there anything wrong with passion?
Posts: 26,518

08-09-2010, 06:07 PM	#18
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $3126768	Chiefsplanet is the sports equivalent of Democratic Underground and Free Republic in politics. Don't get me wrong. I love a lot of the folks here and the free wheeling nature of the place. I have been as much a part of this as anyone. But I am not sure how someone could say straight faced that the message board sports fan\sports talk radio types don't have a serious lack of perspective.
Posts: 54,699

08-09-2010, 06:09 PM	#20
the Talking Can Supporter Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: street Casino cash: $9282208	hey look, Zach showed up to tell us all how awesome he is.........again........ __________________ Clark Hunt: "Thank god for the Dominican pool boy"
Posts: 51,585

08-09-2010, 06:17 PM	#25
Bugeater The Maintenance Guy Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Renovated Bugeater Estate Casino cash: $3992680	I mean seriously, this guy writes for Sports Freaking Illustrated. How many people normally read his articles...a few million? Even if he gets 100 nasty emails in response to it, that's only a tiny fraction of the readers...he can **** off and go get a real job.
Posts: 70,546

08-09-2010, 06:22 PM	#28
Brock Say hello to my little friend Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Larryville Casino cash: $9598422	"Stop caring so much".
Posts: 47,314