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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
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...

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...
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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
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...

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...

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...

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...
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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
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...

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...

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...

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...

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 --...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Friday 3 June

Hate (16:41) - Ya know what I hate? Fox Sports Net. Ya know why? No, itis not because our regional branch of the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....
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...

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...

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...

Monday 17 January

Una Gran Serie de Historias sobre BEisbol (21:53) - Since I spend a lot of time here -- too much time, really -- ripping apart stories that offend my...

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...

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...

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! --...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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,...

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...

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....

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...
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:...

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...
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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
Dead, Dead, Dead (13:53) - Sorry to all eight of our fans. In moving my DSL provider -- and saving myself $30 a month! --...

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...

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....
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...

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...
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 --...

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...

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...

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...

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"...

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...

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...

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...
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...

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...