SB Nation User Blog: soundchaser

Blogs and traditional media

soundchaser — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:11:26 -0000

There was a segment on blogs and their place in sports media on Bob Costas' HBO show last night. Old Media wasn't well represented, from the accounts I've read. Anybody see this? If you're interested in blogger accounts of it, Fire Joe Morgan has a post as does Dodger Thoughts. Deadspin, too, I guess, but that shouldn't shock you....

Happy Birthday, Paragon!

soundchaser — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:19:15 -0000

Paragon, I hope you don't mind me sharing this with the community... I know I speak for many when I say I hope your day is great and you can take a lot of time off to enjoy it! We all appreciate everything that you put into this site and we hope you have many more of these days to come.

Folks can use this thread to pass along their own greetings/appreciations/condolences.

Blogging and Journalism

soundchaser — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:27:45 -0000

I'm sure many people here read Deadspin already but in case they don't, here's a post that has some great things to say about blogging and journalism:

http://deadspin.com/348383/the-super-bowl-bye-week-jamboroo-in-which-drew-pauses-to-make-a-serious-p oint-about-blogging-as-journalism-then-makes-chili

The thing that offends me most about the journalists' outrage at bloggers is the attitude of 'they aren't in our club so nothing they have so say is worthwhile'. Meanwhile hacks like, well, most of them, continue to pretty much say whatever they want and automatically get legitimacy. It's nice to see the hacks squirm because they know their jobs are in danger...

request for Paragon

soundchaser — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:10:43 -0000

This isn't the right time for an Injury Clinic on the Knee Subluxation but I know some folks here are Laker fans. I'm sure I'm not the only reader who would want to hear how bad these injuries are in your professional opinion:

Bynum doesn't like waiting game

Back when I was in NJ, one of my senseis suffered a hip sublux during a black belt test, didn't sound like a lot of fun! I'd hate for Bynum's career to be in danger...

more Mitchell report reaction

soundchaser — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:58:11 -0000

I'm sure all of you agree that two great baseball blogs out there are Jon's DodgerThoughts and Rob's 6-4-2. But you may not agree that they both reached a low point of late with their attacks on the Mitchell report. Jon seems to want to pretend it didn't happen and thinks deliberate cheating is comparable to honest umpire mistakes. Rob amusingly takes leave of his Objectivist ways to stand up for a union while saying that if people don't defend themselves, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Dave Zirin makes some great points, as always, tho you may not agree with his political analogies:

Dave Zirin: The Mitchell Report: Absolving the Owners

Schadenfreude watch

soundchaser — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:24:49 -0000

You know schadenfreude (SHAH-din-FROY-duh), the pleasure one gets at the suffering of others? Well, for those of you who absolutely can't live w/o USC winning the BCS title, here's a little something to keep in mind for the rest of the football season. Remember, any team can beat any other team on Any Given Saturday (esp. rivalry games), so here's a look at the upcoming schedules of the 10 teams ranked higher or close to USC in the 3 major polls with their AP ranking in parentheses.

LSU (1): the BCS title is theirs to lose, but they're meeting Kentucky and Auburn among their conference opponents.

Cal (2) will play both ASU and USC before meeting Stanford.

Ohio State (3) Luckeyes will meet both Wisconsin and Illinois before their final game against Michigan, whose season has certainly gone uphill since week 2.

Boston College (4) gets to attempt to stop Notre Dame's winning streak and later gets Virginia Tech and FL State.

South Florida (5) meets Cincinnati in a few weeks and does have a chance to go undefeated this year.

Oklahoma (6) has lost to unranked Colorado and their only ranked future opponent is Missouri. Do they still have a rivalry w/ OSU?

South Carolina (7) has lost to LSU and gets both Tenessee and Florida, as well as a rivalry game w/ Clemson.

West Virginia (8) gets Rutgers soon, which may give the Scarlet Knights a chance to get back into the Top 25. They'll also face Cincinnati and have already lost to South FL (which isn't as bad as losing to Stanford).

Oregon (9) gets a whole lotta Pac-10 opponents, including USC.

Missouri (11) gets OU next week and have big rivalries w/ both Kansas teams who they play at the end of November.

Virginia Tech (12) has already lost to LSU and they get Boston College AND FL state later.

One could also root hard for Stanford now, as their subsequent success makes the loss less embarrassing.

A BCS title is not impossible. A slim chance is better than none at all -- just ask the Colorado Rockies...

If you're still reading, you may want to see the musical Avenue Q as they've a hilarious song about schadenfreude. I was lucky to catch the Tony-winning version when I lived near NYC a few years back...

Elimination wrap-up

soundchaser — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:13:06 -0000

I'd like to see the Rockies win tonight as they haven't had much playoff success but I know even if they do win we're still lookin' up at the Padres. So let me wrap things up here...

Dodgers finished 82-80, beating out only 5 worse seasons in the last 20.

Good things to happen this year:

Vin Scully kept up the great (if diminishing) work
Finished higher than the Giants
Giants had a crappy team, 20 games under .500
Mets blew a big lead and missed the playoffs
Yankees didn't win their division

I really don't care that much that our young players showed a lot of promise. It's all a crap shoot until they actually produce, as I learned back when all my friends started telling me about future Hall of Famers Gregg Jefferies and Len Bias. I understand it's all based on hope, but I'd rather spend my hope on Rick Monday getting a full-time job with Flag Protectors of America.

Elimination Watch, 9/28/07

soundchaser — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:40:53 -0000

It's been fun, Braves! This weekend, 7 NL teams fight for 4 playoff spots. Of the 15 games on tonight, 2 AL games will determine the AL East final standings and it looks like 5 games will determine the NL playoff picture.

There's been a lot of talk about the Dodgers tanking in the last couple of weeks and losing so many games. Is there anybody talking about how Great the Rockies are playing? Do the Rockies have to sweep the playoffs to make reasonable folks think that maybe it wasn't a choke job? Not that I want Loiza back next year...

Elimination Watch, 9/27/07

soundchaser — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:26:47 -0000

Nite-nite, Tigers! I say that with sadness, as the only thing that would have made me fine w/ the Dodgers missing the playoffs is finishing higher than the Giants (done!) and the Yankees also missing the postseason. The AL season is over except for the final winning percentages.

The NL continues to be interesting as the Brewers draw closer to the Cubs. The Braves look like the next to be eliminated, something I'm sure their announcers will discuss with as much enthusiasm as they show for anything. 4 teams remain to be eliminated!

Elimination Watch, 9/26/07

soundchaser — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:14:48 -0000

Bon voyage, Mariners! Be seeing you, Dodgers! The Tigers are hanging tight in the AL while the Brewers could still win the NL Central if things go their way. 5 teams to go!

Sorry to see the Dodgers' season end but at least they'll finish better than the Giants. And with the Rockies making a run, one can always point to that as being the thing that kept us from the playoffs. Go Rockies!

Dodgers' best possible record: 85-77 (as good as 2003)
Dodgers' worst possible record: 80-82, which is the best you can do with a losing season