Costas Clears the Air, LeBatard Chimes In
Blogging, Media Gossip/Musings March 18th. 2008, 8:56am
Bob Costas is sorry. He wasn’t condemning anyone last week when he called bloggers “pathetic get-a-life losers.” He seemed sincere. Do “commenters use insults in the place of arguments” sometimes? Certainly. Happens everywhere though, including radio and TV.
Yesterday on his radio show, Dan LeBatard decided to offer his opinion on the subject (many thanks to a reader from here, who scored the audio for everyone to listen to right here). LeBatard asked this of his GM [not verbatim]: “what makes you more qualified to give your opinion than a passionate sports fan? Is it just because you have a platform? What if you’re not as entertaining?” LeBatard went on to say guys like Costas and the traditional media may be “defensive” and “insecure” about the increasing impact of blogs, and said the mainstream media can often be too predictable; he also tells a nice story of how Hammerin’ Hank Goldberg tried to keep him down when LeBatard entered the Miami radio market. There’s even a Bill Simmons mention!
Worth a listen.
38 Responses to “Costas Clears the Air, LeBatard Chimes In”
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March 18th, 2008 at 9:07 AM
to anyone who lumps all bloggers into a nice little “mom’s basement” package i offer you mike florio. what he did with the michael vick dogfighting investigation was nothing short of pulitzer material.
mane one MSM organization that did a better, more thorough job than florio. matter of fact, most of the MSM — including the WWL — turned their collective heads on the subject.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:10 AM
I still think Costas is a massive blowhard. He tries to justify his criticisms by sating “commenters use insults in the place of arguments.” However, it seemed like Bobby was doing an eerily similar thing when calling bloggers/commenters “get a life losers” to make his “argument” stick.
Its idiotic when internet nerds do it, but its entirely acceptable when the MSM does it. Too much hypocrisy.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:11 AM
*stating
wtf is sating?
March 18th, 2008 at 9:11 AM
Do “commenters use insults in the place of arguments†sometimes?
that never happens here,lol
March 18th, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Sating is a word, from sate (synonym of satiate). It means to satisfy.
/nerdery
March 18th, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Pittsburgh Sports, that was exactly my point yesterday. Costas did exactly what he was railing against.
Plus, I don’t like the guy so it doesn’t matter to me how he prefaces his arguments, he is an elitist who thinks he is better than everyone and he suffers from little man syndrome. That isn’t name calling, it is calling it like I see it.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:21 AM
There is no bigger blowhard than Dan LeBatard.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:23 AM
We’re at war here, people.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:24 AM
Is it just because you have a platform?
I always found it amazing that the media think Ben Affleck’s opinion of the Red Sox matters, for example, but ours doesn’t.
/another can of worms
March 18th, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Proving why LeBatard is a lot better than people give him credit for.
See: LeBatard’s knowledge on baseball. Seriously, there is no one who is ever on PTI who I would rather hear talk about baseball.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:28 AM
With the new ads on the right hand side looking like porn, I think I will be sating myself on my smoke break.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:28 AM
I can’t stand Lebatard, but I do like that he is standing up for bloggers. I think the reason that media types like Costas don’t like bloggers is because most of them did not put in their time. They didn’t get journalism degrees, they didn’t cut their teeth as writing for a newspaper, they didn’t start on local sports somewhere… all they did was start posting their thoughts and opinions on the internet and now are getting lots of pub.
One of the reasons I enjoy TBL is your cred as a former journalist and that you get it. There are ignorant bloggers out there who have nothing better to do than post pictures of busty cheerleaders and discuss the WWE.
I’m not defending Costas, but I think he is attempting to defend the reputation of sports journalism. Like during the 1994 baseball strike, scabs crossed the line to play. They could do the job and play just as well as some of the regulars, but they were never viewed the same because they were not promoted from the minors like so many other big leaguers. This is a very similar situation.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:28 AM
LeBatard continues to surprise. Who knew he would become the voice of the common man?
March 18th, 2008 at 9:29 AM
@Gonzo: Yeah what’s the deal with the new ads. Suddenly I don’t feel as comfortable looking at the site in public.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:32 AM
TBL’s arch nemisis has those types of ads all over the place. Works for me.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:33 AM
Where are my porn ads? I get Jonas Bros vs. Miley Cyrus and win car payments for a year.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:35 AM
Porn ads > Jonas Bros ads.
As obvious as that comment was, I felt it needed to be put into print.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:38 AM
Are there porn ads? really? I dont see any
If they are from google ads, i will remove them. please keep me posted on that.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:40 AM
EF, but what if someone wants to post pictures of busty woman and talk about WWE? Why should you be able to judge them, anymore than Costas should be able to judge bloggers?
Last I checked there wasn’t a rule about what can be blogged about, that’s what makes blogging great. A person can like busty woman, like WWE, and still be very knowledgable about sports.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:50 AM
What I don’t understand about the journalism vs. blogging debate are the people who insist on having one or the other. It’s MSM or it’s basement blogging. Aren’t there enough opinions, views, and tastes out there for everybody? I personally don’t think it’s outrageous to switch from TBL to ESPN.
Why can’t we all just get along?
March 18th, 2008 at 9:51 AM
BTW, is anyone else’s view of the comments not updated for Daylight Savings? All the times are an hour behind.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:53 AM
TBL’s IT department, TIT, is looking into the matter furiously.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:56 AM
I desperately want to hear one of the officials use this exact sentence at the national spelling bee this year. Hell I’d settle for Greenberg saying it
March 18th, 2008 at 9:59 AM
Yo, CBH and Jibble, +1 to each of you Sirs.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:03 AM
If LeBatard could be the least bit objective about “The U,” he might become a solid journalist.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:09 AM
TBL, the porn-ish ads are showing up for me in between the Most Viewed Posts and the Recent Comments sections. There are half naked chicks in most of them. They don’t show up every time, but they’re definitely on there at least a few times a day when I get on this site. Removal would be great, I think I will lose it if Big Brother blocks TBL!!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:10 AM
on the case …
March 18th, 2008 at 10:11 AM
cowturd springs to mind. there may be few worse jocksniffers than lebatard but i have to give credit where credit is due: lebatard is right on this.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:12 AM
i’m not getting any porn ads.
maybe someone hasn’t used their spyware filter??? :^)
March 18th, 2008 at 10:18 AM
I would click on the aforementioned ads — purely for the sake of research, of course — but I don’t want to be fired. I don’t mind taking one for the team, but not at the expense of my income.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Right now, my advertismement is showing up as Bandzoogle, but every so often there are half-naked women. I don’t mind, but I am less inclined to click on an advertisement to help out the TBL cause if it’s a half-naked woman (at least at work).
March 18th, 2008 at 10:54 AM
I still think we’re making much ado about nothing (regarding the Costas controversy). My sense with Costas is that he probably has never even seen the better blogs (e.g., TBL) and is speaking of the amateurish masses. I don’t know…I could be wrong.
I’m not seeing any ads here in my office.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Slight thread hijack- Van Pelt just gave you a shoutout, TBL. Gave you props for your “reasons to call in sick” post.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
why do you guys hate le batard so much? he’s the biggest blowhard you can think of? seriously? he’s worse than mariotti and page and steven a? come on man.. you might not agree with him but he makes you think no? and the dude knows his baseball.. he voted pujols for nl mvp last year and used bleeping baseball prospectus stats to back him up.. thats pimp
March 18th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
I am a LeBatard fan, agree with TBL, he is the only guest host on PTI I can stomach.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
i have never seen a porn ad on here in over a year. But im still hooked
March 18th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
What does Skip Bayliss (sp?) think of all this?
I kid, I kid. That guy is nails on the chalkboard to me.
As usual, I have nothing to add to the conversation. Someone needs to click on one of those “interesting” adds from home.
Dave
March 18th, 2008 at 1:59 PM
LeBatard has the best chat I’ve seen (Mondays 1-2PM). He is also one of the few sports talk guys who doesn’t take himself too seriously. I disagree with him on plenty of occasions – but I still like him.