Though I’m not quite ready to call DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg “one in a million”, he might actually be rarer than that. For instance, he actually bothered to listened to Tony Kornheiser’s radio show last Friday, a program in which the “PTI” lynchpin addressed the subject of bloggers. While discussing “American Idol”, of all things.
I don’t want to single anybody out in this area, but, you know, some people sit at home and they watch TV and they watch radio and they “blog” about certain “things,” and they think they know what they’re talking about, and they think they have sources. They have no sources. They make stuff up. They’re toads. They’re little toads. Actually, they’re pimples on the behind of the greater body politic in this country and in this city (everyone in the studio cackles for no reason). And because, because they have access to airwaves and three or four people read them, they think, ‘Oh, I’m very important.’
In fact, in fact, if a huge dumpster landed on their mother’s house (cackling), and got all the way into the basement and crushed them (more cackling), nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that’s any good at all. They, they are, they are, they are sucking mole rats (more cackling), and that’s the nicest I can be to them. But because, because they have a name, or, you know, because they get feedback from others, you know, they think they’re very important.
I know, I know, above comments seem particularly knee-jerky and paranoid. But I’m fascinated by the possibility of flying dumpsters, much as I’d love to know exactly what service to humanity is being provided by Kornheiser kolleagues like Dan LeBatard.
Of course, there oughta be some distinction between “making stuff up” and merely expressing an opinion.
Bloggers tend to get touchy (and perversely, triumphalist) when a noted mainstream media figure launches this kind of tirade. That seems less warranted, to me, with Kornheiser. His default move, when he doesn’t really know much about something, but senses he doesn’t like it, is to rip on it hyperbolically. Lots of guys do this sort of thing (particularly on talk radio), but Kornheiser isn’t really a outrage merchant like the Colin Cowherds of the world. I think he just thinks bashing something in this manner is funny.
In the overall scheme of things, sure, Tony’s a more reasonable pundit than Cowherd. But harping on the credibility of “bloggers” in 2008 is just as tired as blogs demonizing the MSM without citing who or what they’re talking about. I think Kornheiser is VERY funny on occasion, much more so than most of his ESPN colleagues. I appreciate that his intellectual laziness is a schtick, but merely because Tony’s a more skilled practitioner than Matt Ufford doesn’t mean he can’t do better.
Agreed, he can do better. I just don’t ascribe the same maliciousness to Kornheiser that I do to other commentators … except when he’s going after someone who is critical of his broadcasting skills.
He looks like The Joker.