"Well, first off I is not that important. I am just a writer from Slam, XXL, NBA and Nike who found his way into ESPN's backdoor. Lucked up. Spit a few verbs, convinced 'em that Stephen A. wasn't the only one.
"So instead of wasting space on Page 2 ducking my own sic, I figured if I told you some of the things I believe in, that would give you a better idea of what I intend to flip once a week for the Worldwide Leader. Because it ain't where you at; it's where you coming from that matters. Right?"
First off, I'm pretty sure most of the above isn't in Engling, and secondly, THIS PERSON IS GETTING PAID TO WRITE THOSE WORDS. Honestly, how does ESPN edit this guy's columns? "Scoop, you wrote, 'It ain't where you is.' We suggest using, 'It ain't where at.'" I am absolutely baffled that somebody at a large media company thought this guy was not only talented, but that it was worth promoting as the sports world's lead story.
Scoop Jackson is an award-winning journalist who has covered sports and culture for more than 15 years. He is a former editor of Slam, XXL, Hoop, and Inside Stuff magazines; and the author of "Sole Provider: 30 Years of NIKE Basketball," "Battlegrounds: America's Street Poets Called Ballers" and "LeBron James: the Chambers of Fear." He resides in Chicago with his wife and two kids.
I mean, it must be a joke, right? Either the concept or the credentials at the end.... He would have written his first article 8 years before he was born, otherwise.
The first part threw me for a loop, but I enjoyed the "I believe.." part. Probably stemming from watching too much wrestling, but my first reaction was, "This gimmick is crap." But it might have room to grow.
He would have written his first article 8 years before he was born, otherwise.
The thread title is a joke. He's trying to make fun of the author's ability to complete paragraphs. (<- joke)
It's fairly obviously they let all the Page 2 writers write like they'd like to write, and just keep them on task and , They're more intersted allowing unique voices speak in their own words instead of looking for something vaguely gramatically correct or even factually correct.
It's Blog2. Either the ain't's will cause you to flip back to the 'professional' baskebtall pieces or they'll warm you up to the writer.
(above is not neccesarily a statement of approval)
Since this was the typical 'make 50 comments and hope one of them hooks you", I actually had more of a problem with his other article; no one in Chicago (which I mean non-Ill Ini grads) would care about Champagin-Urbana basketball if they hadn't been undefeated and even when they were, it was running second basketball story to a .500 professional team. And now that they've lost, they're about three weeks from being completely forgetton, winning the title or not.
The press loves them and coveres them huge because of it's place in history, but to most of us, these are 1 kids we really didn't know before they blew out Gonzaga and won't care much about by elite eight, I reckon. (<- folksy joke!)
I had a friend growing up who was born on leap day, and on his 32nd anniversary he had celebrated just 8 birthdays, so his wife threw him a party complete with a clown and pony rides.
Hopefully Simmons will ignore him and make him irrelevant. Scoop just threw a lot of crap at the wall - he will get mail and will get people talking about him but it's anybody's guess as to whether he will stick.
The man is obviously not seven years old. I would bet, however, that your typical second-grader could probably hang with, ahem, "Scoop" (ugh), in a head-to-head grammar matchup. Hence the title.
I understand the concept of letting writers speak in their own voice, but those articles aren't transcripts of speeches delivered by the writer. This guy actually took the time to put pen to paper and craft sentences filled with "ain'ts" and "ya'lls." (And FWIW, he didn't even spell "y'all" right.)
Also baffling, ESPN.com puts this guy front-and-center during the work day. Maybe things have changed from when I was a web producer, but the 1-5 time period generally has a lot of "corporate time-wasting" traffic. I don't think Ralph in Accounting is going to find a lot of common ground with the writer's work.
Originally posted by sweetrollThe man is obviously not seven years old. I would bet, however, that your typical second-grader could probably hang with, ahem, "Scoop" (ugh), in a head-to-head grammar matchup.
I'll take that bet.
I understand the concept of letting writers speak in their own voice, but those articles aren't transcripts of speeches delivered by the writer.
Perhaps that is how his writing is intended.
This guy actually took the time to put pen to paper and craft sentences filled with "ain'ts" and "ya'lls."
So do a HELL of a lot of other writers. Keep on the lookout for them too.
Also baffling, ESPN.com puts this guy front-and-center during the work day. Maybe things have changed from when I was a web producer, but the 1-5 time period generally has a lot of "corporate time-wasting" traffic. I don't think Ralph in Accounting is going to find a lot of common ground with the writer's work.
The 1-5 time period is not just the max for "corporate time-wasting" traffic, but pretty much ALL traffic. "Corporate time-wasters" don't butter ESPN's bread...sports fans do, so if Ralph in accounting is offended by a different voice he can just click "back," go to the NBA section, and decide between ESPN's trifecta of goofy white guys who would never dare use "ain't" in their pristine sentences.
Originally posted by Alessandro"Ducking my own sic" ... Heh, that's actually kinda funny.
And I thought this forum was to bash wrestling-related web sites ...
(edited by Alessandro on 8.3.05 1532)
I just gotta know. . . what exactly does "Ducking my own sic" mean? I know I must be getting old, as the kids like to say, but that's some jive-talkin' that I just do not understand.
Originally posted by drjayphdMaybe it'd make a little more sense if he'd said "ducking my own sick". But the point is it's clearly from the Ruck Fules school of linguistics.
(I'd say what it's SUPPOSED to mean, but I'm at work and all.)
Well that's just bass ackwards.
"Now that you've built up the courage to get into the gym, let me give you five reasons why you should put in the time to train with consistency: 1. Increased strength 2. Improved self-confidence 3. Injury prevention 4. Self-discipline 5. Sex (Trust me, you'll have a better shot with the ladies if you're in shape.)" -- Making the Game, pp. 14 - 15
This guy actually took the time to put pen to paper and craft sentences filled with "ain'ts" and "ya'lls."
So do a HELL of a lot of other writers. Keep on the lookout for them too.
Yes and tell all of them that it's Y'ALL, a contraction of "you" and "all."
And there's more. Here's Simmons's reaction in today's mailbag column:
Q: Scoop Jackson says that "Cornbread, Earl and Me" and "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars" are the greatest sports movies of all time. Where do you rank them? Brian Artis, Newport News, Va.
SG: That's like asking me, "Scoop Jackson thinks the world is flat, where do you stand?"
(edited by Matt Tracker on 11.3.05 0938) "To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
So do a HELL of a lot of other writers. Keep on the lookout for them too.
Yes and tell all of them that it's Y'ALL, a contraction of "you" and "all."
That's an issue you should have with Scoop Jackson's editor.
Originally posted by Matt TrackerAnd there's more. Here's Simmons's reaction in today's mailbag column:
Q: Scoop Jackson says that "Cornbread, Earl and Me" and "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars" are the greatest sports movies of all time. Where do you rank them? Brian Artis, Newport News, Va.
SG: That's like asking me, "Scoop Jackson thinks the world is flat, where do you stand?"
(edited by Matt Tracker on 11.3.05 0938)
Bill Simmons' opinion on Scoop's taste in sports movies is irrelevant.
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I really like it in conjunction with the one included in Zone Alarm Pro. They're totally unobtrusive, easily customized, and work, always a good thing.