Of Bissinger and Blogging
By now, nearly everyone who writes a blog, reads a blog, or has just heard of a blog is aware of the “discussion” between Will Leitch and Buzz Bissinger on a recent episode of HBO’s CostasNOW.
Leitch, the creator of the incredibly popular and influential Deadspin.com, appeared on the show to argue the merits of the new internet media revolution. Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights” — a great book — and “Three Nights in August” — a terrible book — appeared in the role of “angry luddite with a file folder.”
It’s easy to get worked up about Bissinger’s profanity-laced tirade against an entire medium he sadly misunderstands, but I’m not going to join the legions of bloggers and enlightened readers that are up in arms about Bissinger’s hateful, ignorant opinions.
Why am I not concerned? Because Bissinger demonstrated to the world that he’s a sad, bitter man who can’t come to terms with the evolution of his profession. His ignorance and anger don’t worry me, because I don’t write to please Bissinger, or the dinosaurs of the sports journalism world.
I work at a newspaper, and I know many sportswriters. I interact with veterans of the dead-tree journalism business all the time. The vast majority of these experienced writers don’t have nearly the misunderstanding and hatred of blogs that Bissinger does. Quite to the contrary, many of these people are embracing the medium.
In a day and age when column inches are shrinking, and sports sections are being limited to perhaps four to five pages on a daily basis, blogs represent an outlet for all the writing that doesn’t fit in the print edition. Nearly every major newspaper in every city and state has a staff blog, and most utilize the freedoms of the web to expand upon their stories and offer further insight into the beat the cover, or further explore their opinions on a topic. They get it — unlike Bissinger.
I write about sports first because I love baseball, and secondly because I enjoy sharing my thoughts on the game with others — and I do mean sharing, because one of the greatest aspects of blogging is that you’re not writing in a vacuum and hurling words into the void. There’s a community of people out there who can comment on, react to, and build upon anything I choose to write.
Furthermore, Bissinger’s bile doesn’t get to me because I know that for all his bluster and outrage, he simply represents the ignorant sound and fury of an increasingly marginalized member of the mainstream media. His refusal to accept that a new source of sportswriting has emerged to compliment and enhance the current system is a sign of his downfall, not a strike in the futile and plainly silly war on blogs by the over-50 sportswriting crowd.
If I got upset every time someone said something ignorant and hateful, I’d be on medication for high blood pressure by now, and surely trimming years off my life due to stress.
As it is, I’m happy to do what I do, and I’ll continue to ignore the loud protests of ignorance by a vocal few who just don’t get it. I’d suggest that you, the reader, follow suit.