Idiots Write About Media

"Media" archive

Friday 2 March

Murray Chass and Willful Ignorance (18:07) - The other day I read the most astounding piece by Murray Chass of the New York Times. Things I don’t... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 30 January

Like a Rolling Stone (14:59) - "This is uglier than Mick Jagger at an 8 a.m. wake-up call." -- ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla, during the Kansas... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Sunday 31 December

The Phantasmagorical Brain of Dave Del Grande (10:51) - Dave Del Grande writes: There's no doubt in my mind the Bears would have won more than 10 games this... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 4 September

The Polar World of Bruce Feldman (10:42) - Bruce Feldman, whom I've never heard of before, writes on ESPN.com: I feel so foolish. I bought into this whole... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Monday 24 July

Barry Bonds, Lightweight (15:32) - So I'm driving home from southern California yesterday, and since the Giants are playing the Padres, I can listen to... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Saturday 22 July

Pitch Around! Pitch Around! (10:39) - You know what I really hate? The indignities of daily life? Other people? Yourself? Yes, yes, I hate all of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Sunday 9 July

Stick to Baseball, Dave (11:45) - From ABC's World Cup coverage, and much maligned play-by-play man Dave O'Brien: [Zinedine] Zidane, by the way, the fourth player... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Tuesday 4 July

ESPN Declares Its Independence from Baseball (09:18) - So I called up the TiVo programming guide this morning in order to record the Germany-Italy semi-final while I was... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Thursday 18 May

Phun with Photo Captions (12:42) - Pretty interesting column from C.W. Nevius in the Chronicle today on how the Bay Area is becoming quite the region... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 11 May

The Next Round's On Sut! (17:36) - I don't care who you are or where you hail from -- nothing chases the work-day blues away quite like... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Tuesday 9 May

Great Moments in Editing (21:00) - So Jim Baker is writing the occasional piece for ESPN again. And that's good. Since I'm a paying customer over... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Friday 6 January

Let's Pick on 19-Year-Olds! (23:41) - Amidst our crowing over having taught overmatched teeney-bopper columnist Erica Lucero a hard lesson about graciousness in victory, reader mtvcdm... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Wednesday 21 December

This Time, Plaschke, You've Gone Too Far (23:17) - I swear, one of my resolutions in 2006 will be to ignore Bill Plaschke, unless I'm really, really desperate for... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
And So It Has Come to This (22:10) - So over on ESPN.com, they're doing this thing where USC plays a mythical schedule against the best 11 teams of... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Wednesday 7 December

Mark My Words (21:49) - So today ABC/ESPN and NASCAR made an 8-year TV deal. So when you notice that over the next year SportsCenter... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments
Faux Plaschke vs. Real Plaschke (06:52) - Not to beat this thing into the ground, but last night, putting on my Bill Plaschke cap (it pinches a... | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments

Tuesday 6 December

Tomorrow's Terrible Columns Today (21:28) - Upon hearing the news that the Dodgers hired Grady Little as their new manager, I took it upon myself to... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Sunday 4 December

B(C)S (22:31) - Somewhere out there, there is probably a very insightful commentary on the BCS and its ability to put together compelling... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments

Saturday 26 November

Pass Up a Chance to Bash Plaschke? Are You Mad? (19:23) - Wonder why Jason and I team up to write this blog? Because mediocre minds think alike. Here's what my compatriot... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 24 November

Simers on Blogging (08:22) - I'm not typically prone to engage old-media-vs.-new-media argle-bargle, largely because I think the whole bloggers-or-newspapers debate is based on a... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Wednesday 16 November

Quratrebkca Ctronoservy (22:20) - Ray Ratto's column today is about Joe Ayoob, Steve Levy, and the Tedford dilemma. But he also takes a couple... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
The Artless Dodgers (13:07) - See, Dodger fans? It's not so hard to make ax-grinding, sabermetrics-and-young-people-hatin' Los Angeles Times hack Bill Plaschke happy when hiring... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Tuesday 15 November

Heartwarming Ayoob Story (12:15) - This Tim Keown piece on ESPN is worth reading. Among other things, it exposes just how much better Tim Keown... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Monday 14 November

ESPN Rage (10:12) - The people who write blurbs for web sites are often not the site's best and brightest. (Present company excepted.) Can... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Sunday 13 November

Windy City Windbag (21:17) - While we are busy pointing and laughing derisively at Around the Horn panelists, we would be remiss if we did... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments
The Trouble with Plaschke (20:30) - This just in from our We Should Have Posted Something on this a Week Ago file: Matt Welch -- America's... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Friday 11 November

Fire Steve Phillips (16:57) - (apologies to Ken Tremendous and company) ESPN "Insider" (that means you have to pay to read him) Steve Phillips today... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 1 November

King for a Day (09:14) - Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame have opened up fan balloting for the Ford Frick Award, which honors... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Sunday 30 October

Bill Plaschke Knows About Mistakes (17:02) - As Phil has noted on many occasions, L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke is horrible. I'd call him the worst sports... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 26 October

Fish in a Barrel (14:13) - It's been a long time since we've made fun of our ol' whipping boy Jim Caple. Let's remedy that, using... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 25 October

Bloggerbacks! Stinkbomb! Lunatic Fringe! (15:13) - So Dave Albee of ANG newspapers just wrote a piece attacking Cal bloggers and likening them to the jerks who... | 1 Trackbacks | 8 Comments

Wednesday 19 October

Bill King Tributes Better Than Mine (13:20) - As always, Ken Arneson sets the bar high for A's bloggers with this recollection, plus a collection of previous posts... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 18 October

In Memoriam: Bill King (13:45) - I miss you already, Bill. Update: OK, I've had some time to gather my thoughts into something that is hopefully... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Except For That Other, Bigger State (13:40) - Actual dialogue from last night's Astros-Cardinals tilt, during that giddy 20 minutes when the Astros were rubbing their hands over... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Monday 3 October

Warning: Professional Writer at Work (12:16) - I've sworn off reading any Skip Bayless columns at ESPN's Page 2 because life is too short and precious to... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Wednesday 7 September

E!SPN (13:56) - Great piece in The Cornell Daily Sun: I recorded a normal hour-long SportsCenter and watched it, stopwatch and notepad in... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 17 August

Must... Not... Listen... to... Sports... Talk... Radio... (Vol. 1) (11:47) - Had to run to the bank this morning to get my finances in order. Made the mistake of turning on... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 15 August

Rex Accepts What He Cannot Change (23:00) - Let us turn our attention away from the dark clouds gathering around the A's and back toward happier times --... | 6 Comments

Wednesday 10 August

Krugerrands (10:01) - So KNBR (The Sports Leader) fired Larry Krueger a week after declaring that "he won't be fired." On the one... | 0 Trackbacks | 14 Comments

Thursday 4 August

There's a Thin Line Between Hate and Ratings (22:24) - I'm enjoying The Road From Bristol probably more than I've enjoyed any online, 64-entry NCAA-tourney style diversion since The Road... | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments

Thursday 14 July

I Heartily Endorse This Product And/Or Service (12:41) - "Shameless link-whoring," Mac Thomason sheepishly writes in the comments to this post. Perhaps, we respond, but a vital serice to... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Monday 11 July

Long Day's Derby Into Night (22:06) - As I am fond of telling anyone ever button-holed into a baseball-related conversation with me, I attended the 1987 All-Star... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Sunday 3 July

Unfortunate Headline of the Day (15:22) - Sitting at home, watching the suddenly resurgent A's try to take two-of-three from the White Sox, and scrolling through the... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 21 June

The Long and Winding Road (10:45) - If you live on the West Coast, at some point in time, you will find yourself driving up and/or down... | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments

Friday 3 June

Hate (16:41) - Ya know what I hate? Fox Sports Net. Ya know why? No, it�s not because our regional branch of the... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Tuesday 24 May

What's Next -- Mock Coinflips? (13:26) - Lord knows I hate picking on ESPN -- The Lord: You do? I always got the impression that you kind... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Saturday 23 April

Thank You, Suzy Kolber, for Making Us Laugh at Love Again (11:55) - You know, the tricky thing about interviewing someone? It's not just asking the right questions -- sometimes, you also need... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Saturday 16 April

Inside the Wine-Dark Mind of Rex Hudler (11:03) - If I have to listen to him, there's no reason why you people shouldn't suffer, too. So we proudly introduce... | 0 Trackbacks | 9 Comments

Thursday 14 April

New Advice for Columnists: Write What You Don't Know (15:03) - The minute word came out that Bo Jackson filed a defamation suit against an Ontario, California, newspaper that ran an... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 11 April

Now, That's a Put-Down (22:12) - And you thought it was just your old friend Phil who had nothing kind to say about know-nothing athletes and... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 6 April

Memo to Self: Start Reading Headlines More Carefully... (14:17) - ... because otherwise, when you see a headline like Cardinals Set Date for Secret Papal Vote, you might think that... | 1 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 5 April

Do-It-Yourself Hackery (23:41) - Why wait until tomorrow's paper to see what awful LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke is going to wring his hands... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 4 April

BALCO Luck Next Year (14:51) - Hey! The Pulitzer Prizes were announced today. Notice what didn't win any awards? The Chronicle's award-begging series on the BALCO... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Sunday 13 March

Someone Who Gets It (14:18) - We are very hard on the media here at the Idiot Sports Weblog (and looking at their collective body of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 11 March

I'm Not a Lawyer, But I Play One in My Column (13:47) - Answering a letter from a reader who wonders why Mark McGwire, Rafeal Palmiero and anyone else fingered by Jose Canseco... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Thursday 24 February

Sensible Journalism (10:03) - You will not find a more sensible article about the Barry Bonds story than Joe Sheehan's piece at Baseball Prospectus.... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments
Bad Journalism (09:57) - So Barry Bonds complains that journalists are out to get him because he doesn't kiss their asses. What's the response... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 18 February

You Make It Too Easy, Skip (09:35) - The inexplicably employed Skip Bayless leads off today's column with: You will not finish this column. How is that any... | 0 Trackbacks | 12 Comments

Thursday 10 February

You Know It's Early February When... (22:52) - Turned on ESPNnews at lunch today. I do that a lot. It gets me away from the computer screen for... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Monday 17 January

Una Gran Serie de Historias sobre B�isbol (21:53) - Since I spend a lot of time here -- too much time, really -- ripping apart stories that offend my... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 5 January

Great Moments in Wire Copy (14:21) - From the ESPN.com story announcing that the 49ers have given Dennis Erickson the ol' heave-ho: The 49ers will be honorable... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Wednesday 15 December

The Last Hack-O-Meter of 2004 (12:36) - When last we gave Jim Caple a taste of the lash, the ESPN.com columnist had abandoned his usual bag of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Sunday 12 December

It's All a Blur to Me (17:24) - While we're throwing out questions directly to our Southern California-based audience -- remember: bookcases available! No reasonable offers refused! --... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Wednesday 10 November

Maybe Next Year, He Can Go on the DL for Laryngitis (22:12) - Couple weeks back, I wrote in the comments thread here about how I was not that big a fan of... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Saturday 30 October

East Coast Bias Explained (21:05) - As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room on the outskirts of Washington D.C. The clock has... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 22 October

One Bad Column Idea Deserves Another (12:36) - Reader Marvin Gardens perfectly encapsulates my thinking about this turn of events. You'll be pleased to know, Caple has abandoned... | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments

Thursday 21 October

Jim Caple = The Extended Version of 'Funkytown.' Discuss. (12:19) - Deep within the darkest recesses of my iTunes music library is the recording "Funkytown" by certified one-hit wonder Lipps, Inc.... | 1 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Wednesday 20 October

Why Tim McCarver Is Smarter Than You and Me (01:10) - Actual quotes from actual McCarvers, during Game Six of the ALCS: "If the Yankees go on to lose this game,... | 0 Trackbacks | 7 Comments

Monday 11 October

Fake Quotes? No, Fake Columnist (17:56) - Yes, it's another one of Jim Caple's Fake Quote columns. And yes, it's painfully unfunny. And yes, we're as tired... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Wednesday 6 October

Fake Quote Columns Are the Last Bastion of the Lazy (10:20) - All right, kids, it's time to play the exciting new game... Count the Fake Quote Columns Written by Jim Caple.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 30 September

I Against ESPN: Part Two (Hack-O-Meter Edition) (19:55) - As mtvcdm points out in the comments of yesterday's Hack-O-Meter update: another day, another tedious Fake Quote column. Let's go... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
I Against ESPN: Part One (12:03) - So earlier this week, I came across this excerpt from Peter Gammons' latest column for the Worldwide Leader in Sports:... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Wednesday 29 September

Who's Your Hacker? (23:18) - Speaking of running things into the ground, what's our old pal Jim Caple been up to? Why, it's another one... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Yes, Phil Plans to Beat This Frank Francisco Thing Into the Ground; Why Do You Ask? (16:30) - So following Milton Bradley's bottle-inspired tantrum, surely we're going to be subjected to the same tsk-tsking and finger-wagging about obnoxious... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 27 September

Why, It's An Outrage! Or Not... (17:15) - As predicted, John Donovan did not print my letter pointing out that none of the things he cites as examples... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

Saturday 25 September

Hud The Homer (14:32) - Your Fox broadcast team for this afternoon's A's-Angels tilt -- the very under-rated Mel Proctor and the unspeakably abysmal Rex... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 22 September

Blood-Red Green (22:24) - My peaceful Tuesday-morning bus ride was interrupted by the shocking news that the San Francisco Chronicle has killed Glenn Dickey's... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Tuesday 14 September

I Just Flew Back From Kauai... (12:06) - ... and boy are my arms tired. Over-used Henny Youngman jokes aside, I've been traipsing about the Garden Island for... | 0 Trackbacks | 5 Comments

Friday 13 August

Why the Olympics Don't Particularly Interest Me (09:26) - NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol -- who has been the subject of some playful teasing from yours truly in the... | 0 Trackbacks | 4 Comments

Thursday 5 August

The Man With No Name (16:44) - So as a part of his weekly baseball column on ESPN.com's Page 2, Eric Neel is asking readers to choose... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Dead, Dead, Dead (13:53) - Sorry to all eight of our fans. In moving my DSL provider -- and saving myself $30 a month! --... | 0 Trackbacks

Sunday 1 August

Pile On Plaschke (18:08) - Living in Southern California means I have to endure Bill Plaschke, the Los Angeles' Times columnist who never met a... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Thursday 22 July

Let My Bartman Go (13:57) - A special message for our good friend Jim Caple: Perhaps it may be time to retire the Steve Bartman jokes.... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments
Bush On Bush (13:08) - I am probably the only human being in the world amused by the fact that the San Francisco Chronicle's report... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Wednesday 14 July

Fox Follies (15:20) - Because I am working away from the Los Angeles headquarters this week and thus, farther away from my TiVo than... | 0 Trackbacks
Follow the Bouncing Hack (09:22) - Let us pause a moment to thank reader mtvcdm whose alerts about Jim Caple's latest columns serve two purposes --... | 0 Trackbacks

Monday 14 June

In Memoriam: Ralph Wiley (12:54) - Sad news to report: Ralph Wiley passed away this weekend. You may know him best from his most recent gig...

Friday 11 June

Detroit, City of Short Fuses (16:11) - Since the National Basketball Association and its unwatchable playoffs only exist in a theoretical world to me, the first I...

Tuesday 8 June

Linda, Your Hair is So Highly Defined! (23:17) - (Cross-posted from TeeVee, one of the many places you can find high-quality Jason Snell content these days.) I'm sorry I...

Thursday 3 June

Fox Loves You, Fans of [team]! (13:48) - Derek Zumsteg of Baseball Prospectus (and USS Mariner) is a really good writer. His pieces about the Cubs' morally indefensible... | 2 Comments

Sunday 16 May

Joe Morgan's 'Down With Oakland' Campaign Continues Apace (21:31) - One of these days, before sitting down to watch the Sunday night baseball game on ESPN, I'm going to have...

Thursday 13 May

Idiots Write About Weblogs (22:59) - This site is brought to you via Movable Type, an excellent weblog tool-slash-brainless CMS from Six Apart. Today, Six Apart... | 0 Trackbacks

Tuesday 11 May

All Right, We Get It, He's Fat (15:57) - So the mighty Jim Caple Hack-o-Meter has been idling in power-saving standby mode. The writer we take a perverse delight...

Wednesday 28 April

So Other Than That, Mr. Macha, How Are You Enjoying New York City? (10:35) - God knows I'm not trying to belabor this Ken Macha-screwed-up-last-night's-game-and-quite-possibly-Western-Civilization kick I've been on because it's one game out of... | 2 Comments

Wednesday 21 April

Fat? Phat! (14:38) - Reader Rocksteady is astounded by our negligence: Dude, you forgot the ultimate Caple Hack -- the "David Wells is Fat"... | 1 Comments

Saturday 17 April

The Hack-O-Meter Rolls On (11:11) - You know for a minute we were frightened. The day after we launched the Jim Caple Hack-O-Meter, the subject of... | 1 Comments

Tuesday 13 April

Hey, Kids! It's the Jim Caple Hack-o-Meter! (17:00) - In the recent past, Idiots Write About Sports has enjoyed a cruel laugh at the expense of Jim Caple. OK... | 6 Comments

Thursday 8 April

Barry Bonds, the Forgotten Man (14:22) - So I'm sitting here watching the third inning of the Angels-Mariners tilt, and Steve "Let the Celebration Begin!" Physioc of... | 0 Trackbacks
Ross, Ross -- Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me (09:38) - One other note about the Dodgers, a melancholy one that saddens me as much as learning that one of my...

Wednesday 25 February

Confidential to Jim Caple (10:00) - You know that thing I wrote yesterday about how it's funny to repeat the same Steve Bartman joke over and...

Tuesday 24 February

Yesterday's Jokes Today! (16:19) - Actual letters to actual sports Web sites: Dear ESPN.com: In his Feb. 24, 2004 column on spring training, Jim Caple... | 0 Trackbacks

Sunday 22 February

ESPN's Amateur Hour (19:29) - So tonight, ESPN's debuting Dream Job, in which 12 contestants compete for a one-year contract to anchor SportsCenter -- presumably... | 0 Trackbacks