March 17, 2008
Costas on his Quotes
Bob Costas called Deadspin to clarify his quotes I commented on here. From the Deadspin interview (Deadspin questions in bold):
So you don't think anyone who writes a blog or comments online is a "get-a-life loser?"
Some have inferred that I have this elitist view, and that I think only people who have been somehow "certified" have the right to comment on sports. It shouldn't be confused with somehow being superior. If you opened up anything to large numbers of participants, you'd find some real gems in there. But you'd have a lot of muck to sift through. I do think newspapers' comment boards need to have the same sort of standard they'd have for a letter to an editor. It's possible they just don't have the manpower for that, though. I do think I made a good point [in the Herald story], but it's only part of what I think.
Do you read blogs?
I look at some baseball blogs, Baseball Prospectus and what-not. Sometimes I'll see something funny in The Onion, and I've recently been looking more at your site since your book came out. It's a generational thing, though. I would do well to download music, but that's just not something I do. It's not my natural first impulse. I still love to pick up a newspaper in the morning.
We think the tipoff for people being angry was the "basement" line. Everyone's a little tired of that line.
Yes, well, that might have lapsed a bit into cliche.
Good for Costas. He didn't apologize or deny anything, he just made it clear he's talking about a segment of the audience. What I think Bob doesn't realize is that blogs are a conversation, not the one way flow of information of his youth. Sure, some people don't speak as nicely as others, but I'd rather have their opinions than shut them out. You never know who is going to produce something interesting.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:03 PM
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While I'm glad that Costas clarified his comments on blogs/bloggers, he still seems reluctant to embrace the new form of media. Just wish he'd be more open-minded here and take it for what it is and is not.
Wasn't Bob present on a daily basis at the great midwest steroid era in St. Louis along with fellow enablers LaRussa, Duncan, etc? A blogger with access would have benn bold enough to mention the issue earlier.
Does Costas shop in the boy's section or just get his clothing as hand me down from Mike Lupica?
"I do think newspapers' comment boards need to have the same sort of standard they'd have for a letter to an editor."
There's still something that Costas doesn't get. A letter to the editor that gets published takes valuable resources: an educated person to sift through all the LttEs, decide which ones should be highlighted to the public, and the ink and paper to print them. One more comment on a board goes through no editorial process (I doubt that there's someone who's job entails going through every comment) and the extra electrons used is very limited. A comment is not a Letter to the Editor.
Costas doesn't like getting talked back to. That's not surprising. Few in the old media do. Dolts like us are supposed to shut up and listen to mediots like Costas.
His day and age is coming to a close and he isn't happy. He can't find 8 track tapes anymore and now he's heard he needs a converter box for his old tv.
We shouldn't pay much attention to complaints of old media folks. Buggy manufacturers weren't real fond of Henry Ford, but Ford didn't get upset about their complaints.
rbj - you quote costas and then rip him for not "getting it." but the very next sentence in his quote is "i realize they may not have the manpower for that." so how is he not getting it?
people are misreading his comments so that they can get all indignant about the MSM. his point was, and is in this new story, that comment sections on newspaper sites allow people to make absurd offensive comments that appear under the masthead of a newspaper. no matter your opinion of bloggers, that's an interesting problem. because it raises issues of liability and it drags newspapers down to the level of talk radio.
the amusing thing is that this is then followed by a comment section on a blog where people don't read the full original article, quote him out of context, and smear him with childish insults.
you stay classy, blogs!
Sit on it...Costas! You Nerd!