The Great Mystery: Guys who get paid to write about sports

[Hungary Jack]

I just read another piece of crap from Bernie. Yes, I know. Shame on me. But in it he quotes a verse from a relatively unknown Springsteen tune from his "off" decade (the 1980's) that the vast majority of readers will not get. It was just lame.

If this is the type of mindless rubbish that gets you a well-paying job, then where the fook is my meal-ticket? I whipped up that Cardinals preview in about 3 hours, and all I'm getting is some beer and a "thank you". There is something terribly wrong here.

[lukethedrifter]

Except that about 99% of those loads of people belong to one demographic that is considered less than discerning by the rest of cinema-goers.

What makes the opinion of a person in one demographic any more important than the opinion of a person in another? Does my vote count more in the coming election simply because I'm more educated and mature than many other voters? Of course not. In fact, you can make a good argument that as a collective the midteen-early twenties demographic is the single most important demographic out there based on total number of movies watched, money spent on movies, etc. If your movie fails in that demographic, it's going to have a hard time doing well in popularity polls or at the box office.

There is a very clear consensus among devoted followers of cinema (Specifically, movie critics) when it comes to Boondock Saints, and that is as close as we can get to an objective measure.

How often do the critiques and tastes of the "devoted followers" of any particular medium reflect the critiques and tastes of the masses? We have a music contest on this very board with a large collection of music lovers participating...how many top ten songs (from any decade, by any measure of popularity) do you are going to be entered in that tournament? Probably only a handful...if that. Yet these are the songs that the majority of Americans (and sometimes even the majority of the Western World) have agreed to be the "best" songs of their respective generations.

In the same vein, are the general wine tastes of America reflected by the serious wine conniosseur? Are the general food tastes reflected by the serious food critics? Book preferences reflected by literary critics?

I think it's safe to say that they probably aren't. If you're an average person (read: not a self-proclaimed "lover" of the media), then you probably care much more about what your friends think about some form of entertainment than what "the experts" think.

There is no such thing as good or bad so will you please rephrase piece of crap.

[AdmiralKird]

No one ever said achieving the American Dream required competence, just hard work.

[Hungary Jack]

Except that about 99% of those loads of people belong to one demographic that is considered less than discerning by the rest of cinema-goers.

What makes the opinion of a person in one demographic any more important than the opinion of a person in another? Does my vote count more in the coming election simply because I'm more educated and mature than many other voters? Of course not. In fact, you can make a good argument that as a collective the midteen-early twenties demographic is the single most important demographic out there based on total number of movies watched, money spent on movies, etc. If your movie fails in that demographic, it's going to have a hard time doing well in popularity polls or at the box office.

There is a very clear consensus among devoted followers of cinema (Specifically, movie critics) when it comes to Boondock Saints, and that is as close as we can get to an objective measure.

How often do the critiques and tastes of the "devoted followers" of any particular medium reflect the critiques and tastes of the masses? We have a music contest on this very board with a large collection of music lovers participating...how many top ten songs (from any decade, by any measure of popularity) do you are going to be entered in that tournament? Probably only a handful...if that. Yet these are the songs that the majority of Americans (and sometimes even the majority of the Western World) have agreed to be the "best" songs of their respective generations.

In the same vein, are the general wine tastes of America reflected by the serious wine conniosseur? Are the general food tastes reflected by the serious food critics? Book preferences reflected by literary critics?

I think it's safe to say that they probably aren't. If you're an average person (read: not a self-proclaimed "lover" of the media), then you probably care much more about what your friends think about some form of entertainment than what "the experts" think.

There is no such thing as good or bad so will you please rephrase piece of crap.

Comparing the plight of the 2007-8 St. Louis Blues to the laid-off, girl-losing, car-washing figure in the Boss' Downbound Train is sports journalist crap at its finest. It is the most gratuitous, meaningless, uninspiring, unimaginitive analogy that could ever be conceived by an animate being. It actually made me dumber.

[GatewaySnayke]

Interestingly enough, I just wrote a review of a documentary called "The Paper," which is about a college newspaper for Penn State. I ripped the hell out of all of them. I have journalists on par with golf course owners as "people who take their job more serious than it actually is."

[EastonBlues22]

There is no such thing as good or bad so will you please rephrase piece of crap.

Okay, okay...I take back everything I said. But only because you felt so strongly about it that you contaminated this thread too.

[lukethedrifter]

There is no such thing as good or bad so will you please rephrase piece of crap.

Okay, okay...I take back everything I said. But only because you felt so strongly about it that you contaminated this thread too.

I am ambivalent about this.

[Hungary Jack]

If you are ambivalent, then why do you post in Rants? One cannot be ambivalent while ranting, although one certainly may rant about ambivalence.

[lukethedrifter]

because today i learned that there is no such thing as good or bad. and that is rant-worthy.

[Arthur Dent]

I thought we were just arguing about what good and bad mean not whether they exist.