NPR, the soothing talc of radio, has now chapped my ass
I just heard 2 stories back to back on NPR that just bugged me... I'm writing this too early... they haven't posted the stories online yet.[Update -- links posted. --ed] If I think of it later, I'll try and get you the links.
Doing without TV
The idea of this story was that an advertising journalist was going to go a week (A WEEK!!!) without watching conventional TV, and instead, try to get his "fix" though more "high tech" means. His first night without TV, was, apparently, Sunday night, which, I guess, is the night The Sopranos is "aired" on HBO. This, he described, was "painful". Wow... dude... Try heroin... It's a little easier to give up.
Is America THAT addicted to TV? I mean, since I gave it up 4 years ago, I've been saying it does little more than rot minds, but... this is ridiculous. It's beyond ridiculous... It's sad.
Frank Deford on Roger Clemens
This boiled my bum. Frank Deford, who is usually, at least, entertaining, normally takes sports with a very tiny grain of salt. For a sports writer, that's usually all one can hope for. Well... This day was a little different.
Deford called Roger Clemens, in essence, a prima donna. Deford suggests that Clemens should take his retirement seriously this year. Fair enough. Then... get this... he referred to the other New York Yankees (it seems that is the team Clemens is playing for) as "working stiffs" because THEY show up for work every day, while Clemens is only contractually obligated to show up on days he's playing.
I have two issues with this:
1) Calling professional athletes "working stiffs" is like calling Dummyhead "a band of competent musicians" (I'm allowed to say this, as, in case you didn't know, I AM Dummyhead). It's flat out insulting to those of us who have JOBS where we're expected to PRODUCE SOMETHING to get paid, and are, essentially, living paycheck to paycheck. When a professional athlete shows up he or she is expected to PLAY a GAME.
2) If Clemens is as "in demand" as he seems to be (the market seems to continue bearing his obscene price) and teams can certainly go elsewhere, what's the big deal? I think that the ... "Yankees", is it?... I think they took him on just to take him off the market.. not so much so they could have him pitch (it is called "pitching", right?) for the Yankees, but so he couldn't pitch for anyone else. If the other players can't cope with this, that's an internal issue for Yankees management to deal with.
Doing without TV
The idea of this story was that an advertising journalist was going to go a week (A WEEK!!!) without watching conventional TV, and instead, try to get his "fix" though more "high tech" means. His first night without TV, was, apparently, Sunday night, which, I guess, is the night The Sopranos is "aired" on HBO. This, he described, was "painful". Wow... dude... Try heroin... It's a little easier to give up.
Is America THAT addicted to TV? I mean, since I gave it up 4 years ago, I've been saying it does little more than rot minds, but... this is ridiculous. It's beyond ridiculous... It's sad.
Frank Deford on Roger Clemens
This boiled my bum. Frank Deford, who is usually, at least, entertaining, normally takes sports with a very tiny grain of salt. For a sports writer, that's usually all one can hope for. Well... This day was a little different.
Deford called Roger Clemens, in essence, a prima donna. Deford suggests that Clemens should take his retirement seriously this year. Fair enough. Then... get this... he referred to the other New York Yankees (it seems that is the team Clemens is playing for) as "working stiffs" because THEY show up for work every day, while Clemens is only contractually obligated to show up on days he's playing.
I have two issues with this:
1) Calling professional athletes "working stiffs" is like calling Dummyhead "a band of competent musicians" (I'm allowed to say this, as, in case you didn't know, I AM Dummyhead). It's flat out insulting to those of us who have JOBS where we're expected to PRODUCE SOMETHING to get paid, and are, essentially, living paycheck to paycheck. When a professional athlete shows up he or she is expected to PLAY a GAME.
2) If Clemens is as "in demand" as he seems to be (the market seems to continue bearing his obscene price) and teams can certainly go elsewhere, what's the big deal? I think that the ... "Yankees", is it?... I think they took him on just to take him off the market.. not so much so they could have him pitch (it is called "pitching", right?) for the Yankees, but so he couldn't pitch for anyone else. If the other players can't cope with this, that's an internal issue for Yankees management to deal with.
posted by UrsusPacificus at 7:37 AM
0 comments
