After last night's ranting and raving from Buzz Bissinger, you might think members of the mainstream media would re-evaluate their feelings toward blogs. After all, respectable journalists don't want to be associated with the idiotic ramblings of Bissinger, do they?Well, maybe and maybe not. On Mike Tirico's ESPN Radio show today, he and Michelle Tafoya discussed what Bissinger had to say.
Tirico was fair in his assessment. "The marketplace spits out what doesn't work," Tirico said. "There's a reason that Deadspin and The Big Lead and those blogs have traction: People read them, people go to them, and they have some quality there."
But then when Tirico was finished giving his view, Tafoya said, "While you were talking I went to Deadspin, just to take a glance, because I don't frequent that site by any stretch of the imagination. I see very quickly why it is popular with a certain audience, and it disgusts me. And that's all I'm going to say."
And then, after Tafoya trashed that filthy, disgusting web site Deadspin, she proceeded to talk about men picking up other men at urinals. I kid you not. Literally two minutes after she pronounced that Deadspin disgusts her, she and a guy who works on the show named Phil had the conversation about urinals that you can read after the jump.
Tafoya first said she doesn't like it when other people at her gym use the exercise machine immediately next to the one she's using. Then they had this exchange:
Phil: It's the same thing with urinals in the men's room.
Tafoya: It is?
Phil: The same thing.
Tafoya: So it should be every other one. But has that happened to you, Phil?
Phil: Absolutely. There's a row of urinals, about 10 of them, you go to one on the end, you go to number two, the guy goes right next to you, to number three, while four through 10 are open.
Tafoya: Is he trying to pick up on you maybe?
Phil: No.
Tafoya: What's the stance of his feet?
Tafoya: It is?
Phil: The same thing.
Tafoya: So it should be every other one. But has that happened to you, Phil?
Phil: Absolutely. There's a row of urinals, about 10 of them, you go to one on the end, you go to number two, the guy goes right next to you, to number three, while four through 10 are open.
Tafoya: Is he trying to pick up on you maybe?
Phil: No.
Tafoya: What's the stance of his feet?
And there you have it, folks. Michelle Tafoya (who, by the way, once purposely dropped beer on fans at a football game) is disgusted by Deadspin, but not by talking about men trying to pick up other men at urinals. It's important to have standards.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
This is why MSM folk hate blogs. Because we will call them on their shit, just like you called Tafoya on hers.
We supposed to believe that this wo(man) has never been past the threashold of a men's room before? She looks old enough to have had it happen by accident several times by now. Maybe she mistook Amigo for Amiga, ya know, nothing malicious, but this convo is rediculous. She knows all about the urinal rules unless she has been sealed in a space capsule orbiting Jupiter for the last 2 decades. She's just as threatened as Buzz.
You guys need to get a grip, MDS included. You don't think there's a huge distinction between the sometimes misogynistic and almost always mean-spirited content on Deadspin, and a teasing discussion about the informal etiquette of urinals?
You know what's the most telling part of the blogsphere's reaction to this whole Costas NOW issue? The fact that I've read at least ten reaction posts and not one has acknowledged that there were some decent points made about the problems with blogs.
It really seems like bloggers don't like it when they get the same treatment from the MSM that they have been giving. It's hard to take these holier than thou posts seriously when you guys are basically just like the people you criticize.
I enjoy Fan House. I think you guys do a nice job aggregating breaking sports news, and in a much classier way than Deadspin. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't come here and find an error, or an opinion so baseless its laughable. The day of blogs that critique other sports is on its way (if not already here) and it will be interesting when you start getting criticism from people in their 20s and 30s (like me).
The "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "But You're Worse" dismissals of every criticism that comes the blogosphere's way is getting old.
Nick,
The thing you and many of the fucking idiots in the mainstream media fail to understand is that it makes no more sense to refer to "blogs" as a single entity than it does to refer to "TV" as a single entity.
There's a lot of stupid shit on TV, too.
You know what's the most telling part of the blogsphere's reaction to this whole Costas NOW issue? The fact that I've read at least ten reaction posts and not one has acknowledged that there were some decent points made about the problems with blogs.
If he made decent points, they were probably clouded by his incessant rant and swearing. If you want to make a legitimate point on a national Tv show, doing it that way won't garner you any respect from anybody....
Let's face it- these guys are largely on the gravy train getting access to events, free food and booze, and if you're Rick Reilly, hookers. They don't want someone taking that away.
The mistake that guys like Bayless and Paige made was looking at TV and saying, "that's the way to make myself indispensable. I'll create a brand for myself." They bet on TV and bet poorly. Worse than that, they mostly bet on ESPN and mistook the WWLS monopoly power for popularity. As soon as thinking people saw that they were buffoons whose opinions were no more informed or valid than yours or mine it was easy for the blogs to gain traction.
Now the columnists and their flunkies are running scared because they're late to the game and they pissed away their credibility. What other option do they have but to attack blogs as lowbrow, an attitude I find deliciously ironic coming from people who whored themselves out to that most lowbrow of media, TV.
I was listening on the day in question,and I thought exactly what you wrote in your story,glad someone put her out there as the hipocrite she is....
Yeah, I wish I could've been in NYC for that taping, sounds really interesting.
World of Isaac is definitely correct about some of the "...decent points," that were made.
And, Tirico always seems to be "fair in his assessments," of just about everything. A main draw for me to check out his show. Him and Tafoya definitely make an interesting duo...