Skateboarding And Blogging Are Not Crimes

The hot topic of the day would have to be what transpired on Costas Now last night. If you are not familiar, I'll have links and goodies and all that stuff later on in the post. Back to the title for a minute. My mom said something to me this weekend that kind of caught me off guard. She said something to the effect that skateboarders always end up in trouble. Insinuating that skateboarding is evil or a gateway to worse things. I had a thought just for a second to remind her that I was a skateboarder up through the end of my college life and I kind of turned out ok. And that traditional sports don't appeal to everyone. I also played every sport I had access to growing up as well, but that's neither here nor there.

The point I think I was on the verge of making was that everyone can't achieve greatness in the same area. You have to love what you are doing before you're ever going to be great at it, or even enjoy it. Not everyone has the physical build to play football/basketball/baseball. So skateboarding by itself isn't bad. (Remember, I'm probably older than you and skateboarding wasn't very main stream when I was growing up) So these kids that never got picked to play sports decided to go off on a tangent and do something that didn't require a team or an adversary. Instead of being accepted, skateboarders were looked at and treated as outsiders. And after a while you start to wear that as a badge of honor. You do things to let people know you don't care what they think of you. Listen to thrash metal or whatever is going to repulse parents. Because kids do that. But skateboarding by itself isn't bad. It's just misunderstood.

And I kind of feel the same way about blogging. Blogging in and of itself isn't bad. Just misunderstood by the MSM. But if you watch this video and listen to what Buzz Bissinger has to say, you would think that sports blogging is the gateway to the end of the universe.



It's not, it's just the end of sports reporting as we know it. I'm not attacking journalist by saying that. Because bloggers need sports reporters in most cases. Because if you're like me, you have a real fucking job and you need someone else to put the story out there and then you put the pieces together. And yeah, it's not like the worst bloggers that make shit up all the time are the ones getting all the attention. It's people like Will Leitch and Orson Swindell (along with many many others) that are making blogging a viable option. So much so, that AOL hired a bunch of underwear clad amateurs, including me, to write for them and get paid. And it's happening everywhere you look. Newspapers, magazines, etc. are all hiring bloggers because they see that it's the trend. It might not be the same as an independent site, because those entities still have to have a level or journalistic integrity. But it is short and to the point reporting with a twist. If the goal of blogging was to emulate sports reporting, what would be the point? The point is to entertain and inform. With the emphasis on entertain.

That doesn't make me the pinnacle of honesty and fair play. I've certainly said some petty and vindictive things about sports figures and sports reporters. But at the same time I do make a very conscious effort to have my facts straight. I mean, I don't say someone sucks because they are from Pittsburgh. No, I find out if they went to Pitt and then I say they suck.

But I didn't start this to get rich or famous, and I'm not. I started doing this because I have a love for WVU sports. And I wanted to express that. Somewhere along the way it turned into something more, and I'm lucky to be in the position I'm in. And I think the same is true for most bloggers. They do it because they love it. And it's that passion that shines through and makes blogs good and fun and popular. And I'll be honest with you, that's something that is sadly lacking from the main stream media. They've lost their passion, or at least their ability to impress it upon readers and viewers.

More on the subject:

Nunes the Magician
EDSBS
Dan Shanoff
Mr. Irrelevant
Deadspin
KSK
and of course, Awful Announcing for getting the video out there.

I'm sure more will follow tomorrow.