YIKES! Pearlman or Lupica?! This might be your toughest decision since Spillane-Coonan!
The other day, while appearing on a panel at Blogs with Balls, I committed an act that I go out of my way to never, ever do: I ripped another journalist.
...The writer I bashed was Mike Lupica of the Daily News here in New York. Lupica is slammed quite often—usually on sportsjournalists.com, usually anonymously. At Blogs with Balls, my take wasn’t anonymous. It probably should have been, but it wasn’t.
Anyhow, my problem with Lupica is no different than my problem with many athletes: The sheer, galling arrogance.
...Hence, when I see a guy like Lupica doing the Jesus two-step; when I hear him dogging editors; bemoaning fellow writers; complaining about not getting this or that; well, it irks the hell out of me. It really does. I know of too many people—good people—who have been at the receiving end of a Lupica rant. I also hate the need too many of my writing peers have to become celebs. I watch Lupica, and I see a man who yearns to be recognized. We all have egos, but, well, yeah.
This doesn’t mean he’s necessarily a bad guy at heart. And, at his best, Lupica’s certainly a talented scribe. But perspective is a funny thing. Once lost, it’s awfully hard to retain. One day, when Mike Lupica no longer has a job … when ESPN stops calling and the Daily News folds, I believe he’ll find it.
Until then—wake up, bud. Wake up.
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1. Johnny Two Screens Posted: June 15, 2009 at 08:32 PM (#3220211)Yeah.
In that case, you could at least root for the country's people and history to be saved.
In this campaign, they can't possibly bomb each other enough.
I'll take the fork in the eye.
Nah, more like the Communists and the wannabe Communists (POUM).
my problem with Lupica is no different than my problem with many athletes: The sheer, galling arrogance.
On a scale of 1-10, the chutzpah there is at 175.
that is worth it alone. C'mon it's soccer outside of Curling there isn't an easier sport to make fun of than soccer.
Still don't like him, and turn the channel if ever he comes on.
Hopefully we are on his side.
Orwell fought with the POUM, but was by his own account murky on the ideology. It took the Spanish Civil War to turn Orwell into an anti-Stalinist. It took another war and the successful expansion of the Soviet empire for him to make reluctant peace with western democracy.
What exactly is the Jesus two-step? Seriously.
"Now we see how unprepared this team was for big games all along. Now we see, because if they can lose one big game, they can lose them all."
"He can tell us that everything is ok, but we know better. Because if everything were ok, it would not be not ok."
I bring this up because, a few minutes ago, I went on sportsjournalists.com (a site I enjoy for the industry buzz) and read this, RE: my Lupica post:
Two questions:
When is the last time anyone here bashed Lupica? It seems we’ve just ignored him for the past year or so.
Is this what you call the pot calling the kettle black? I mean, Pearlman calling out anyone for arrogance is ####### hysterical to me.
I admit, my skin is thin. Too thin, without any question. But this sort of stuff hurts—especially from peers. I handle writing criticisms pretty well. Whether I like them or not, they’re fair game, especially if I’m gonna rip athletes for their performances. But I’m a little stung whenever I read this kind of thing. I’m the first to admit that, back in my Tennessean and Sports Illustrated days, I was waaaay too cocky. I look back with tremendous humiliation. I actually thought being a writer gave me the right to strut; that a picture in the newspaper or a byline in a magazine had any real-world bearing. Of all the things I’ve experienced in my career, the best came in 1995, when Catherine Mayhew, a Tennessean managing editor, demoted me to the late-nights cops beat and said, “Learn to get things right.” It was a slap in the face—much needed.
But, as with most people, time brings perspective. As I sit here in Cosi, sipping from an iced coffee, writing for a living, I have much more respect and admiration for the 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds making $6.50 per hour, putting themselves through college, busting their asses, than I do for my daily endeavors. Sportswriting is fun and joyful and, occasionally, important. But the lasting impact is, at best, minimal. Fifty years from now, nobody’s reading my books or looking back at my articles. I’m well aware of that. With rare exception, we’ll all be forgotten with time. That’s OK, I reckon.
I’m babbling, because I’m a bit hurt. Do I have an ego? Sure. I still enjoy seeing my byline; still like seeing my books on shelves; etc … etc. I probably Google my name too often, and I long for the day when I’m walking on a beach and I spot someone with something I’ve written. What can I say? I’m human.
If I’ve been arrogant or dismissive to anyone reading this blog, I truly apologize. Maybe, in the act of jabbing Mike Lupica, I’ve actually become Mike Lupica.
If so, it’s not the way I want to live. I took the Lupica post down..
to: fainaruwadasb!tch@gmail.com
Jeff,
Hits are down. You bash me and I'll bash you back; let's see if we can get some Neyer/Dibble action going. Call me "arrogant" or something and the get all the blog-losers telling us what fukcs we are.
Thanks,
Mike
Note: blog-losers is not meant to bag on people here. Just what I think Lupica'd say.
Hank's thoughts?
I referenced the Larry Sanders show at a game night last week, and I drew blank stares from the 9 other people in the room. I've never felt so old. Just because they're all in their late 20s doesn't mean they shouldn't be familiar with one of the great TV comedies of the 90s.
"If I could, I'd tell Charles and Diana to just hang in there."
I did not know Mr. Pearlman was a fan of Neil Gaiman's Lucifer.
So he followed up that bit of sage advice by getting things wrong for fourteen more years and counting.
Explains a lot about newspapers.
The Communists are always the good guys, unless they win. Reds sell out so fast and hard that they make Scott Boras blush.
How can so much wit be packed into such a tiny body?
Is that a choice when you're bubbling in for the SAT?
"Mom, are we Communists or Baptists?"
Unfortunately, this is how it works at most newspapers. A couple of the places I have worked have been the exception, including where I am now...but most reporters turn their nose up at covering the police beat. Young reporters get stuck on the beat until they can get something "more important." Whereas just about everyone would kill to be a baseball reporter.
I've always considered it one of the most important beats but at most places, they don't want to fill the paper with crime stories because they're "low-rent" and don't reflect "our readers." More importantly, it's not what advertisers want to see. And most editors sure as hell don't want to deal with some sort of police corruption story.
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