Adding Buzz to Buzzkill
In an attempt to not discuss last night's clusterfuck (talk about a buzzkill) let's instead talk about something that has continued to buzz. Reading Damien Cox's Twitter feed last night, I realized how arrogant, pigheaded and smug he is. Apparently if we don't agree with him, or ask questions about Bautista's supposedly bizarre season, we are sheep who can't think for ourselves. And while it might be ok to "at least ask the question", it is ridiculous to assume that people in the baseball community haven't already and come to their own conclusions.
The Blue Jays' fortunes seem, for the first time in a long while, to be on their way up. This is coming off a time where we lost maybe the best player we ever developed who had a fierce loyalty to the city. There is a buzz in the city and it isn't about hockey. Maybe Cox, a hockey guy, is pissed off about that and wants to trash the party. Consider all the controversies in hockey, be it fighting or I dunno, RACISM in hockey. I heard Georges Laraque on CBC radio yesterday talk about how his struggle to make it to the NHL was fueled by a desire to fight all the racial slurs he had heard and make it to spite those who said them. Or maybe talk about how hockey has become such a huge obsession in this country that parents are willing to give over their sons to coaches that psychologically, emotionally and sexually abuse them.
Or maybe just simple things like how the Leafs are in serious suck mode and did next to nothing this off season. The Leafs standard is to be just good enough to keep people filling the arena but not so bad that they get any sort of draft picks or go into rebuilding mode.
Now imagine if Richard Griffin, in the midst of a trying time in baseball, wrote about any one of those things. Would puckheads not get their backs up?
DJF, who have been covering this whole story quite excellently, bring up the mainstream media's reaction last year to blogger Jed Morris' questioning of Raul Ibanez's monster offensive 2009 season. To me, when Ken Rosenthal freaked out, it wasn't so much about using speculation or a general concern for journalistic integrity, but rather Rosenthal taking the opportunity to reclaim his territory. Mainstream media's negotiations with the burgeoning online competition have been very trying. Guys like Rosenthal are probably looking for any way to restake their claim as an authority and merely latched on to Morris when the opportunity presented itself.
When any of these sorts of opinions are expressed, it is probably even more informative to look at the sort of baggage the writer is carrying with them. Because, fellas? You aren't fooling anyone.
The Blue Jays' fortunes seem, for the first time in a long while, to be on their way up. This is coming off a time where we lost maybe the best player we ever developed who had a fierce loyalty to the city. There is a buzz in the city and it isn't about hockey. Maybe Cox, a hockey guy, is pissed off about that and wants to trash the party. Consider all the controversies in hockey, be it fighting or I dunno, RACISM in hockey. I heard Georges Laraque on CBC radio yesterday talk about how his struggle to make it to the NHL was fueled by a desire to fight all the racial slurs he had heard and make it to spite those who said them. Or maybe talk about how hockey has become such a huge obsession in this country that parents are willing to give over their sons to coaches that psychologically, emotionally and sexually abuse them.
Or maybe just simple things like how the Leafs are in serious suck mode and did next to nothing this off season. The Leafs standard is to be just good enough to keep people filling the arena but not so bad that they get any sort of draft picks or go into rebuilding mode.
Now imagine if Richard Griffin, in the midst of a trying time in baseball, wrote about any one of those things. Would puckheads not get their backs up?
DJF, who have been covering this whole story quite excellently, bring up the mainstream media's reaction last year to blogger Jed Morris' questioning of Raul Ibanez's monster offensive 2009 season. To me, when Ken Rosenthal freaked out, it wasn't so much about using speculation or a general concern for journalistic integrity, but rather Rosenthal taking the opportunity to reclaim his territory. Mainstream media's negotiations with the burgeoning online competition have been very trying. Guys like Rosenthal are probably looking for any way to restake their claim as an authority and merely latched on to Morris when the opportunity presented itself.
When any of these sorts of opinions are expressed, it is probably even more informative to look at the sort of baggage the writer is carrying with them. Because, fellas? You aren't fooling anyone.