The Swamp

tennbengal wrote:This is pretty damn fine work from Magary:

https://deadspin.com/the-reckoning-alwa ... socialflow

A_B wrote:Great read on Chavez Ravine.

A_B wrote:Great read on Chavez Ravine.

govmentchedda wrote:How soon we forget Jorge Cantu.

tennbengal wrote:The Diane Moskowitz bat signal is up:

https://deadspin.com/you-survived-at-nf ... 1821277178

rass wrote:Anyone else see this headline and click just to make sure it wasn't TT?

EnochRoot wrote:Swatting? Jesus Titty-Fucking-Christ.

I mean, how’s that not a form of terrorism?

People ask us why we harp on Bill Simmons a lot here and the answer is because he’s the most powerful, influential sportswriter in America. He is the only man who was given not one but TWO blank checks to open up a vanity shop, wherein he can collect writers to lend him the kind of prestige that his own work cannot. And he sucks. He is a deluded brat whose entire reference point for anything is himself, and who has sunk ever deeper into flannel-draped megalomania in his quest to become a peer among West Coast tech bros. That, my friends, is newsworthy shit.

Johnny Carwash wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:08 pm I called the number but it just said "This is duff, leave a message."

There are analogues to “Spartans Will” at pretty much every major university. “We Are Penn State” is one of the closest, both for its strident emptiness and its association with a sexual-abuse scandal that reached the upper levels of the institution. There’s also “Bear Down” at Arizona, which was trotted out after Sean Miller came under fire for possibly endorsing the payment of DeAndre Ayton. My own alma mater, the University of Michigan, constantly bombards students and alumni with “Leaders and Best.” No industry in America has its slogans more cheerfully and passionately repeated by its customers than higher education. And now that schools have the power to connect with alums through all forms of social media, those slogans have only become more organized and widespread.

However wised-up you might be, this constant marketing tends to make an impression. Until I started reporting this article, I hadn’t noticed the extent to which Michigan’s “Block M”—registered as a trademark in 1982—dominates my post-grad apartment. It’s on my laptop, a pillow, a bottle opener, a flag, a blanket, and a pennant. Taken altogether, it’s both very normal and a little creepy. The University of Florida’s brand guide leads off with a particularly scary summary of this relationship between alum and alma mater: “The brand strengthens you—and you strengthen the brand.”

This isn’t always a healthy symbiosis. What the brand wants is not inherently synonymous with what you want, but when the brand sets its mind on something—selling merch, winning tax breaks, fighting back against scandals that call the whole cynical enterprise into question—it can readily field an army of loyalists to support the cause. These devoted followers will deflect criticism and attack those who question their alma mater just as loyally as they’ll cheer for the team on game day. They’ll do so in something like unison. They already know their rallying cry.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the real value of PFT Commenter’s shtick imitating a dog-whistling, sexist, message-board idiot is tricking people—or at least certain people, whose opinions matter very much—into thinking that Barstool Sports is not in fact dominated by racist, neanderthal bullies who harass women online, videotape each other in the shower, and call underage girls hot, repeatedly, but in fact some high-concept gag. This isn’t the thing itself, PFT Commenter’s presence proclaims, in the face of a mountain of evidence that it is. But we’re all in on the joke.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 2:05 pm Nods at Laura Wagner, well done:

https://deadspin.com/so-who-is-barstool ... 1826203697

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 2:06 pm

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 2:05 pm Nods at Laura Wagner, well done:

https://deadspin.com/so-who-is-barstool ... 1826203697

Agreed.

Semi-related: I like Richard Deitsch's podcast, but I still can't get over his fawning over their (Barstool's) CEO, Erika Nardini.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:19 pm you're also not hiding behind a caricature at your place of employment, so it's not apples to apples

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:19 pm you're also not hiding behind a caricature at your place of employment, so it's not apples to apples

Johnnie wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:34 pmI won't defend barstool, but PFT/Eric seems like a decent person who works for a shit company.

Rex wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:22 pm That felt like the Swamp calling out someone for not posting scores.

Joe K wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 5:02 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:22 pm That felt like the Swamp calling out someone for not posting scores.

Yeah. Not sure when Wagner joined Deadspin but any Deadpin or Gawker contributor who took a paycheck while AJ Daulerio was their editor doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on in criticizing anyone for working for Barstool.

Rex wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 6:40 pm

Joe K wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 5:02 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 3:22 pm That felt like the Swamp calling out someone for not posting scores.

Yeah. Not sure when Wagner joined Deadspin but any Deadpin or Gawker contributor who took a paycheck while AJ Daulerio was their editor doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on in criticizing anyone for working for Barstool.

I guess the problem is you can’t find a sports media org pure enough to properly call out another sports media org.