A few more thoughts on pop media
I'll be the first one to admit that, as bloggers, we at Goat Riders haven't always been the friendliest toward the media. I suppose that being a part of the pop media phenomenon has led us to believe that we must always blog honestly, even at the expense of our "betters."
So, whenever a Tribune or Sun-Times journalist has written something absurdly stupid, we've pointed it out. We ridicule Paul Sullivan's writings on a regular basis, Phil Rogers has evolved into Caveman Journalist (not because of the content of his writing, but because of the quality of his monosyllabic headlines), and the Nameless One shall remain Nameless until he gives us a reason not to feel that way. But it wasn't always that way. While I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure that we said little or nothing bad about the journalists until they started smack talking about us. At that point, it became open game.
Once, about a year ago, the Tribune began contacting blogs with the intent of using them to promote their product. They wanted us to talk about Red Eye, and to publish promotional materials about that Chicagozine. We would've been happy to help, except the first thing they asked us to publish was a cover story about the Chicago White Sox. (Red Eye wanted to know: would they repeat?) As a Cubs blogger, that offended my sensibilities. So, I photoshopped the cover to mock the White Sox and Red Eye. Shockingly, they never sent anything back to us after that.
During the season - as some of you may remember - the ESPN show Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith began to make it a habbit to use blogs as a means of promoting the show's guests. Somebody from the show would EMail blogs and ask us to publish a press release. Like many Cubs blogs, we did that for the Dusty Baker interview, commenting in particular on a piece of language that encouraged us to boo Dusty should we watch the show in the studio. Now, I really, really couldn't stand Dusty Baker, but I'm an honest person. It bothered me that a man would agree to do an interview without realizing that people were being encouraged to boo him. It felt like an ambush. We said as much here, it got picked up by Deadspin, Dusty found out about it, and he cancelled his appearance. I'm sure ESPN has no love for blogs.
In other words, it hasn't always gone well for us with the mainstream media. But there have been instances of it going just fine. This blog has interviewed several people from the Cubs organization - broadcaster Len Kasper, minor league catcher Chris Robinson, and now-traded reliever David Aardsma. None of that went badly for them. We didn't ambush them, we didn't criticise them, and in fact we wouldn't. If you're cool enough to do an interview with us, then we are going to consider you to be a friend of the site. We'll write about your accomplishments, we won't make jokes at your expense, and we'll get your name out there to people who otherwise might not know or may not care.
Anyway, I can see why the media might dislike us, and why organizational baseball might not trust us, and it really doesn't bother me. I know we haven't always done the easy thing, and I realize that had we, then we might have a few more contacts by now. But so long as GROTA continues to grow, then it will be harder and harder for us to be ignored. So keep reading, and spread the word.
One thing is for certain. We couldn't do it without our readers and friends. Some of those friends include:
Lolligaggers, Clute's blog. Clute has been a great commenter on this website, and his blog deserves attention. Go read it.
Thunder Matt's Saloon. Chip Wesley is another regular commenter on our site with his own blog. Although Thunder Matt's talks about way more than just Cubs baseball (or Matt Murton), they should still be a daily read for people who are looking for a baseball fix. Also, I think they're really going to like the Matt Murton photoshop I cooked up.
Ivy Chat. Chuck doesn't comment too often on our site, except for when to tell us where we've gone wrong, USUALLY in a VERY AMUSING WAY! Actually, Chuck is joining the GROTA crew, so I shouldn't tease him too much. What you may not know is that Chuck's Jewish dentist is second cousins with a guy whose ex wife's best friend's nephew works for the same British company as Kevin, our go-to web guy.
Joe Aiello's View from the Bleachers. We have a gentle rivalry with Joe, who is a very friendly guy to chat with on AIM. VftB is a very well put together site and should definitely be on everybody's regular blogread list.
Yarbage Cubs Review belongs to Chris Yarbrough, an authentic journalist who also blogs! Yarbage is a friendly guy who has done things for this site that you will never know about because they are Top Secretish. He hasn't updated since January, but his was one of the first blogs I read.
Kermit's Fire Lou Piniella was recently pimped out by this website, and I'd recommend it to anybody. If you failed to check it out a few days ago, now is the time to make up for your great folly.
And a whole slew of others. Greg, Cheri, antigoat, in a nutsack, Haight, Scott GF, other Scott, Craig, Gleebo, and anybody else I forgot to mention, thank you for commenting on this site. Without you, we'd be a blog without readers. Or more accurately, we'd be nothing.
Mike D.
Awwww, f&%!k. Chuck's coming here? That's just great!
Wrigleyville
I'm going to have to start commenting on here more, dammit.
theantigoat
Here comes the shameless plug for my site.
http://theantigoatjournal.blogspot.com/
It's just a general sports blog.
thanks to all. I really enjoy commenting on this site.
PIIIIIIIIMP
kurt
Well, the general rule is that if you get into an argument with me that spans a few weeks over a variety of subjects (calling me or others names in the process only to recant when I ask you to not make it personal), then we become blog-friends and I plug your website. It works out best that way for everybody, really.
Wrigleyville
i knew i was doing something wrong, you dickhead.
Karl
Did you all know that Kurt got a new hat for Christmas? It was really hard finding one big enough. Oh, I knew I had it right because it fit me. I had to get that in there to beat Kurt to the punch. He'll have to come up with something else.....
theantigoat
When did we get into an argument that spanned a few weeks? I thought it spanned one day, it did for me at least. Did I miss something?
Karl
It was a generalization. Trust me, some have spanned a few weeks. In fact, it can be rather entertaining....
kurt
Wrigleyville - I hope you don't mind, but I went in and fixed your last comment for you.
Karl - I'm not sure if you're trying to say I'm egotistical (big-headed) or if you're just trying to get personal. Either way, you have no blog for me to promote, so you're wasting your time.
kurt
Karl is right, sir. It's a generalization/joke.
theantigoat
Okay, Kurt. I gotcha, it's cool.
It is driving me nuts waiting for Spring Training. Like no other sport, baseball seems to take forever to roll around. I guess because I anticipate it so much.
In case anyone is wondering, Z is winning the Cy Young. Ramirez is taking the MVP. The Cubs are taking the Central. I am a homer, but I'm being serious. I got the fever. CUBBIE FEVER!
cherigrace
Baseball fever is rampant at our house as well.... the only remedy is reading one's favorite Cubs' blogs!!
I actually figured out the other day how many days till Opening Day. (bad sentence, three uses of same word) Anyway, you don't want to know, it's rather depressing. Anybody else as pathetic as me?
If I have to work on opening day, I'm gonna be in the lobby watching WGN and people are just going to have to die. (I work in the ER) I'm kidding. Seriously. I think.
theantigoat
You gotta break it down Cheri into segments. Don't look at how many days until opening day. Only until P's and C's report, then when regular spring ball starts, next look to your fantasy draft(you do play fantasy baseball right?). After then, and only then, can you look to opening day.
You work in the ER? Are you a nurse? My wife is, is the reason I was asking. She used to work in a hospital, she hated it. She is now in Home Heatlh Care.
Chip
We're currently on vacation (from sportswriting) until pitchers and catchers report, so if you want stuff on the Cubs you may have to look elsewhere. But if you want our insight on skimasks, James Bond, Predator and Danny Bonaduce, we're the place to be!
Jason R.
Wrigleyville -
I agree with Kurt. More insults, fewer insights.
But I'll give my official endorsement of Wrigleyville23 as a "friend of goatriders": Wrigleyville23
Jason R.
Wrigleyville -
I agree with Kurt. More insults, fewer insights.
But I'll give my official endorsement of Wrigleyville23 as a "friend of goatriders": Wrigleyville23
Chuck
Wow! I'm in! News to me.
And, for what it's worth, my dentist isn't Jewish.
However, my second cousin's dad (my first cousin once removed) used to be my dentist and that same second cousin is the owner of a very nice wine bar in The Glen.
I'll sit back and wait for The Sloth to say, "Don't you mean, 'Whine'?"
kurt
You've been in for a while, we're just incredibly slow at getting you access.
Wrigleyville
Thank you for fixing the comment (though I must admit to wondering how much I had to drink before posting it).
And thank you of course to Jason....
Dickhead.
Byron
You've been in for a while, we're just incredibly slow at getting you access.
What Kurt really means is that I'm an asshole who disappears for weeks on end. Promises things that I don't deliver... and doesn't communicate well with the rest of the Riders... only Kurt's nice and didn't say all that.
Chuck, I'll send you your info soon.
kurt
Byron - I wouldn't say - or THINK - those things, even if I was drunk.
Byron is the guy with the keys to the site, but he's also the guy with the most time-consuming real world job. But he does excellent work for this site, and if I had even once EMailed Byron and said "where's Chuck," then I'm betting Chuck would be posting here by now.
cherigrace
antigoat-
Yes, I'm a nurse and I've always worked critical care of ER and loved it. You gotta be a little crazy. It's probably also why I'm a rabid Cubs fan
Tonker
Whuh? Did I miss a mail? Chuck's joining Goatriders? Right, that's it, I resign. If we're colleagues, I might actually have to be nice to him, and although I have no morals or principles worth mentioning, that's just a bridge too far. FYC!!
Oh, and welcome, great mate. It's good to have you on board. Are you going to be our Doug Pappas (God rest his soul)?
Tonker
Oh, and Cheri? An ER Nurse AND a Cub fan? Good God, darlin', just how much pain and suffering can you pack into one lifetime?
cherigrace
Tonks-
Thanks for the laugh. I have got the winter blues bad. (and I don't even live in the frozen north) Anyway, the way I figure it, you use the same skills you develop as a critical care nurse in dealing with the Cubs. They are:
1) The ability to find humor in the most nonhumorous of situations; and
2) The ability to stick one's head in the sand and believe it will All be Okay in the End!!
Actually though, when you're around death and dying it kind of puts baseball in perspective. During the season sometimes I had to keep myself from writing Lecture Sermons to some of the goatrider posts and/or comments about how-tragic-life-was-and-how-God-hates-them because the Cubs weren't doing well. When you've just had to go tell a young wife that her husband and son have died in a car wreck, you tend not to feel very sorry for people because Their Team Ain't Winnin'. Which doesn't mean of course, that I don't desperately want the Cubs to win. It's just that if they don't, I count the blessings I have at home. With baseball, there's always another season and another chance. I think that's one reason it's a good thing to have in your life- something where there's always a tomorrow.
And at times you can blend the two worlds- I once ate a ham sandwich and watched the ninth inning of a Cubs game during a code. Really. I mean, the guy was really old, really dead, and the doc just wouldn't give up. It had been going on an hour too long and we were all pretty tired of it (after awhile it just becomes cruelty) Anyhow, so I pull this sandwich out of my pocket (having no eaten for ten hours) sit down at the foot of this dude's bed, and click on WGN. The doc says to me in horror, "You Cubs people really are crazy."
(Of course then they sent LaTroy in, and I figured the dead guy might be more fun to concentrate on)
Dammit, if only they had TVs in the ER rooms! It's gonna be rough this season.
Chuck
So, I buy you breakfast at I get insulted? FYC? Oh, no mon cheri. FYT!
And speaking of Cheri, does Cheri have a pic of her in her nursing outfit?
kurt
That's Chuck for you, always raising the level of discourse wherever he goes.
cherigrace
I don't know Chuck, the sight of me in my blue baggy scrubs, tennis shoes, and hair up in a ponytail might be more than you could handle...
kurt
Snap.
Chuck
Try me. I can handle a tremedous great little.