In case folks missed this piece, Craig Calcaterra wrote a good article about the Posnanski and Paterno situation last Friday:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/13/posnanski-and-paterno/
I think Calcaterra hits the nail on the head about Posnanki's forthcoming Paterno book when he writes:
"I feel like the world is currently demanding something decidedly un-Posnanskian at the moment."
I also largely share Calcaterra's feelings when he writes, "I worry about the reception of the book he does put out, both critically and commercially. Which probably doesn’t matter to most people, but it matters to me as, like I said, Posnanski is my favorite baseball writer and I’d like to see this work out well for him."
I don't care about the book's commercial reception, but I do care about its critical reception and Posnanski's reputation, for the reasons Calcaterra describes. That's why I bothered to post so many comments about the topic on Posnanski's blog.
It may not be fair to demand that Posnanski produce "something decidedly un-Posnanskian." But, as every parent has told every child, life's not fair. Or, as a rather controversial writer once put it, "Men make their own history, but not under conditions of their own choosing."
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Tale of Two Joes: Shoeless and Paterno
Long-time fans of Bill James will remember his sometimes tasteless but scathingly funny comments about baseball players. Many of them were collected in the book This Time Let's Not Eat the Bones, the point of which was to feature James' writing without the statistics. The most memorably tasteless comment was, "Rick Cerone is to catching what Thurman Munson was to aviation."
But Bill James could be scathingly eloquent too when he made serious arguments, and he did not hesitate to take a stand on strong moral grounds. The one I remember best was his article about whether Shoeless Joe Jackson belonged in the Hall of Fame. It was a brilliantly written and argued piece. He began by granting that sure, Shoeless Joe deserved a place in the Hall for his baseball greatness, despite the fact that he helped throw the 1919 World Series. But, James continued, before we put Jackson in the Hall, we should first admit all the great baseball players who didn't throw games. As James developed his argument further, he made the case that every major league baseball player ever who didn't throw games should be admitted to the Hall of Fame before Shoeless Joe. And every manager, coach and umpire. And every Negro League player, manager, coach and umpire. And everyone in minor league baseball. And everyone in college baseball...and high school baseball...and Little League...and sandlot and stickball. And then, James concluded, when every person who has ever played the game of baseball honestly is in the Hall of Fame, then, maybe then, we can find a place in the Hall of Fame for Shoeless Joe Jackson.
It's incomprehensible to me that the same person who could make such a powerful argument on the immorality of throwing games, is now incapable of taking a strong public stand against the immorality of Joe Paterno covering up and aiding and abetting Jerry Sandusky's child molestation. It's hard to believe it's the same Bill James whose comment on the Freeh Report is that it exonerates Paterno.
I will not mince words: Bill James has become an apologist for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. If Joe Posnanski, who is inextricably associated with Paterno now, remains silent in the wake of the Freeh Report, that makes him an apologist for the aiding and abetting of child molestation too. And all the commenters on Posnanski's blog and elsewhere who have argued that Posnanski does not owe anyone any comment on the Freeh Report, they are apologists for the apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. I do not know what the legal culpability is for such things. But I do know that there is a great moral culpability for it.
But Bill James could be scathingly eloquent too when he made serious arguments, and he did not hesitate to take a stand on strong moral grounds. The one I remember best was his article about whether Shoeless Joe Jackson belonged in the Hall of Fame. It was a brilliantly written and argued piece. He began by granting that sure, Shoeless Joe deserved a place in the Hall for his baseball greatness, despite the fact that he helped throw the 1919 World Series. But, James continued, before we put Jackson in the Hall, we should first admit all the great baseball players who didn't throw games. As James developed his argument further, he made the case that every major league baseball player ever who didn't throw games should be admitted to the Hall of Fame before Shoeless Joe. And every manager, coach and umpire. And every Negro League player, manager, coach and umpire. And everyone in minor league baseball. And everyone in college baseball...and high school baseball...and Little League...and sandlot and stickball. And then, James concluded, when every person who has ever played the game of baseball honestly is in the Hall of Fame, then, maybe then, we can find a place in the Hall of Fame for Shoeless Joe Jackson.
It's incomprehensible to me that the same person who could make such a powerful argument on the immorality of throwing games, is now incapable of taking a strong public stand against the immorality of Joe Paterno covering up and aiding and abetting Jerry Sandusky's child molestation. It's hard to believe it's the same Bill James whose comment on the Freeh Report is that it exonerates Paterno.
I will not mince words: Bill James has become an apologist for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. If Joe Posnanski, who is inextricably associated with Paterno now, remains silent in the wake of the Freeh Report, that makes him an apologist for the aiding and abetting of child molestation too. And all the commenters on Posnanski's blog and elsewhere who have argued that Posnanski does not owe anyone any comment on the Freeh Report, they are apologists for the apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. I do not know what the legal culpability is for such things. But I do know that there is a great moral culpability for it.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Delusional
It's sad to see people destroy their own reputations by defending the indefensible out of a misplaced loyalty to the image of a coach that they had in their minds for decades, an image which has turned out to be false.
Franco Harris is becoming one of those people:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/for-franco-harris-search-for-penn-state-truth-continues-644596/?p=0
Harris says he has only caught pieces of information about the Freeh Report. But without full knowledge of the report, he is already asserting, "I don't think it's complete yet," "I'm definitely not making a decision based on the Freeh Report," and "The Freeh Report doesn't do it for me." In effect, he is dismissing the report before he has learned what it contains! This is the thinking of a delusional person who wants to hold onto his delusions.
Harris claims that because one piece of information from the report was leaked ahead of time, "They lost me as far as the integrity of it." Never mind that the leak turned out to be accurate. Never mind all the other information in the report. For Harris, the fact that one thing was leaked is enough to discredit the entire report. This is the thinking of a delusional person.
Jerry Sandusky was a child molester. Paterno and Spanier and Schultz and Curley covered it up, aiding and abetting his crimes. The delusional defenders of Paterno are apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. And the online commenters who say otherwise are apologists for the apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation.
It's sad to see this. People are destroying their own reputations by the day. It's time to speak out against Paterno. It's time to speak out against those who don't speak out against Paterno -- Franco Harris, Joe Posnanski, Bill James, to name a few.
Here's an example of a person who's doing the right thing: LaVar Arrington. He has realized the truth. About Joe Paterno, he now says, "I didn't know the person I thought I did":
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/lavar-arrington-joe-paterno-didn-t-know-person-014135658--ncaaf.html
More people should follow LaVar Arrington's example.
Franco Harris is becoming one of those people:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/for-franco-harris-search-for-penn-state-truth-continues-644596/?p=0
Harris says he has only caught pieces of information about the Freeh Report. But without full knowledge of the report, he is already asserting, "I don't think it's complete yet," "I'm definitely not making a decision based on the Freeh Report," and "The Freeh Report doesn't do it for me." In effect, he is dismissing the report before he has learned what it contains! This is the thinking of a delusional person who wants to hold onto his delusions.
Harris claims that because one piece of information from the report was leaked ahead of time, "They lost me as far as the integrity of it." Never mind that the leak turned out to be accurate. Never mind all the other information in the report. For Harris, the fact that one thing was leaked is enough to discredit the entire report. This is the thinking of a delusional person.
Jerry Sandusky was a child molester. Paterno and Spanier and Schultz and Curley covered it up, aiding and abetting his crimes. The delusional defenders of Paterno are apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation. And the online commenters who say otherwise are apologists for the apologists for the aiding and abetting of child molestation.
It's sad to see this. People are destroying their own reputations by the day. It's time to speak out against Paterno. It's time to speak out against those who don't speak out against Paterno -- Franco Harris, Joe Posnanski, Bill James, to name a few.
Here's an example of a person who's doing the right thing: LaVar Arrington. He has realized the truth. About Joe Paterno, he now says, "I didn't know the person I thought I did":
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/lavar-arrington-joe-paterno-didn-t-know-person-014135658--ncaaf.html
More people should follow LaVar Arrington's example.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Hello. I'm rokirovka. This may be the only blog post I ever write. I've been criticizing Joe Posnanski pretty harshly since the Freeh Report came out, in comments under his unrelated most recent blog post "Boo Boos".
A lot of people probably wonder, why get so upset about what one sportswriter does or doesn't write about Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State? After all, one sportswriter isn't really the main issue here, is he?
No, he's not. But there's a reason why what he writes or doesn't write matters to me. I am a sports fan. A big sports fan. I love to watch sports, I love to talk about sports, I love to read about sports. And Joe Posnanski was one of the best reads in the business. So was Bill James, whose books I grew up on.
So it breaks my heart when I see sportswriters whose work I have loved go off the deep end on a sports story that is more important than any sporting event, that should make sports itself seem insignificant by comparison.
It makes me wonder about sports fans in general. I would like to think it should be taken for granted that sports is sports, and life is life. Sports is a game, and life is real. No one should ever allow the game to become bigger than real life. As a big sports fan, when I relate to other big sports fans, I would like to be able to trust that they recognize like I do that our interest is just entertainment, and that sports is not so important in the grand scheme of things that it should cloud our view of real life. I think sports can illustrate life lessons, but only if we recognize that the sports examples are just illustrations, reflections of life and not life itself.
The thought of fans letting sports cloud their judgment of real life issues disturbs me a great deal. So when I see excellent and influential sportswriters like Joe Posnanski and Bill James letting sports cloud their judgment of real life issues, that is extremely disturbing to me. It makes me wonder, if Posnanski and James have succumbed to that, how many thousands or millions of other sports fans have too? And that, sadly, makes me question how appropriate it is to be a big sports fan at all.
I want to keep loving sports. But I want to do it in the company of other sports fans who have their heads on straight, not the ones who have become so mesmerized by the mythology of sports figures that they have lost their ability to see real life clearly.
A lot of people probably wonder, why get so upset about what one sportswriter does or doesn't write about Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State? After all, one sportswriter isn't really the main issue here, is he?
No, he's not. But there's a reason why what he writes or doesn't write matters to me. I am a sports fan. A big sports fan. I love to watch sports, I love to talk about sports, I love to read about sports. And Joe Posnanski was one of the best reads in the business. So was Bill James, whose books I grew up on.
So it breaks my heart when I see sportswriters whose work I have loved go off the deep end on a sports story that is more important than any sporting event, that should make sports itself seem insignificant by comparison.
It makes me wonder about sports fans in general. I would like to think it should be taken for granted that sports is sports, and life is life. Sports is a game, and life is real. No one should ever allow the game to become bigger than real life. As a big sports fan, when I relate to other big sports fans, I would like to be able to trust that they recognize like I do that our interest is just entertainment, and that sports is not so important in the grand scheme of things that it should cloud our view of real life. I think sports can illustrate life lessons, but only if we recognize that the sports examples are just illustrations, reflections of life and not life itself.
The thought of fans letting sports cloud their judgment of real life issues disturbs me a great deal. So when I see excellent and influential sportswriters like Joe Posnanski and Bill James letting sports cloud their judgment of real life issues, that is extremely disturbing to me. It makes me wonder, if Posnanski and James have succumbed to that, how many thousands or millions of other sports fans have too? And that, sadly, makes me question how appropriate it is to be a big sports fan at all.
I want to keep loving sports. But I want to do it in the company of other sports fans who have their heads on straight, not the ones who have become so mesmerized by the mythology of sports figures that they have lost their ability to see real life clearly.
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