Which is how I ended up in the Starbucks, watching Costas sweat.
I walked in and met Costas and his wife, who looks like a less harsh, friendlier Cindy McCain. I don’t drink coffee, so she bought me a water and, after about twenty minutes of small talk, drifted away to another table. I sized up Costas. He looked exactly like he did on television. It was almost creepy. It wasn’t makeup that made him look perpetually 35; he actually walks around like that, all the time. Sure, the hair was dyed, but he’s a TV guy — you kind of have to do that until you’re as old as Bob Barker and don’t have to care anymore. I was excited to be talking to him. Look, Mom, it’s Bob Costas!
And then, for about an hour, I became Costas’s personification of the internet. I knew that his understanding of the web was rudimentary, but I had no idea just how clueless he really was. It was as if he had never looked at a computer until the “get-a-life losers” kerfuffle. But rather than respond with curiosity, Costas had, apparently, decided that everything on the internet was designed specifically to make him look like a jerk. And because he apparently had never met anyone who worked online before, I became the outlet for his frustrations.
Costas railed about bad language on blogs and blog comments (“You shouldn’t say things online you wouldn’t want your children to say”), cowardly anonymity (“You wouldn’t dare say any of this stuff to my face”), lack of access (“You’ve never covered an Olympics; I’ve covered five”), and, amusingly, whether he was funny (“You know, I go on Jon Stewart’s show, it’s clear he finds me a riot”). I was struck by how willful Costas was in ignoring evidence against his central point: that everything written on the internet was meant to personally denigrate him, and that I had written it. I explained to him that I wrote the post, and afterwards, readers were allowed to comment. (You know, like in that Bernie Miklasz column.) He was unable to grasp this; at one point, he actually said, “Why do you think me being dipped in Rosie O’Donnell’s ##### is funny?” I explained to him that I had not written that, carefully disguising (I hoped) my opinion that, well, it is a funny image.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
And while Costas's comment about Leitch's haircut was classless (and perhaps a bit of gamesmanship, given it was right before taping), the reaction to it sort of feeds into the perception that bloggers can dish it out but are rather thin-skinned when they are criticized or tweaked. That's certainly not true in all cases, but there is a general tendency out there for a blogger to say mean things about a subject and then get pissed off at comparatively slight offenses.
Other than that, I've never entirely accepted the hey-I'm-the-blogger-not-the-commenter-so-don't-hold-me-accountable-for-my-comments defense.
Now get off my lawn!
(former blogger; never got too many comments, though)
Yeah, except you don't have to worry about getting your ass kicked.
I'm not sure about his "views" but the show he set up was pathetic and if Costas isn't embarrassed by the fact that he basically structured an ambush (and apparently all because people told short jokes about him) and than sat back and watched one of his panelists insult another panelist with profanity, he is a bigger clown that he appears to be on television.
More importantly, the piece shows Bob's general ignorance of the topic he was purporting to cover. Not generally the type of thing a "journalist" would be proud of. Of course when your blowing through more eye make-up than the entire 1986 RCA roster, maybe ignorance and a gross lack of professionalism aren't that big of a deal. Oh and Bob is short and I'm not buying the stand-up/no squatting stuff without substantially more evidence.
EDIT- I do agree with number 3, the lack of physical fear on the internets increases the level of douch_baggery by a whole lot.
On the internet, the reader has to figure that out from the context and these oldsters can't handle that.
Hence the complaints that a commenters on a tabloid site like Deadspin or even the site itself fail to follow professional journalistic standards.
Hey, I always liked Costas as a commentator. So, it's not like I am anti-Costas. But the reasonableness of the views have to be judged by the assumptions which are behind them. Apparently he isn't very familiar with internet blogs. Confusing "comments" with a blog author's opinions creates a straw man argument to attack. Would Costas argue that Rosenthal or any number of other MSM blog authors are tasteless just because the comments on their web site are stupid? If I recall, Costas' previous opinions on this subject were based on a belief that all sports blogs are at the same level as the reader comments on a newspaper web site (say, the ridiculous comments on the Houston Chronicle Richard Justice blog). There are such a wide variety of sports blogs, I am sure that Costas could find one which suits his tastes and interests...assuming he is willing to take the time to look for them.
What are the commentators supposed to write about? The tone of the site is that sports and being a fan are slightly absurd. Besides if you want to discuss Matt Bush, the New York Knicks, or MMA there are other places dedicated to each topic. You aren't going to get a good discussion with such a wide variety of topics as there is on deadspin.
Yeah, I don't buy this. The topic of io9 is Science Fiction, Jalopnik has cars, Gizmodo has tech, Defamer the movies. All of these topics are certainly as large and varied and open to severe wankery based on the most base stereotypes of their audiences, and none of them even approaches the level of "LOOK AT ME FARELLY FARELLY LOOK AT ME JUDD APATOW LOOK AT ME" that exists in the readership.
I mean, none of this is that important so my rant starts to seem stupid, but those who have run the site support this unique mode of "commentary", and as old and out-of-touch as Costas seems (note so far he seems to be the ONLY one who has brought up the rights issue with the A-Rod leaks), Lietch has set him up like a tenpin here. From the history of DEADSPIN and the way it has been run, I really don't find all that much to admire in this article or Lietch. (Yes, I know this article is from NY Magazine) He's as slanted and editorial as those he dismisses.
If he had me on the show I'd have nowhere to hide. In fact, I think most of my commenters would be on Costas's side, at least as long as yelling at me for beating up Costas was the subject.
(That was at Lassus.)
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main