U Hoops - Winning will make everything go away
Day Two of TubbyGate
and where does Trevor Mbakwe think he's going? Who is gonna take him? Trevor, you're trial is next month. Let's take a minute here and think things through.
May 18, 2010
and where does Trevor Mbakwe think he's going? Who is gonna take him? Trevor, you're trial is next month. Let's take a minute here and think things through.
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- Evil Empire 1, Good Guys 0
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
- Note to Ray Edwards: Tread lightly, my good man.
- A visit to the Dump
- Twins - One month down, five to go
- The Doo-doo in Detroit
- The Franchise...and keeping another franchise?
- Minnesota Vikings: Draft Comments
- Vikes Draft "night"
- Tuesday Morning Grab Bag
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5 Comments:
Can we get a little internal discussion going on mission drift here? The "Holy Bejeebus" sidebar is replete these days with little political sniping. Today we've got an article re: Woody Allen on Roman Polanski. I'd submit that's a bit far afield from our mission here - Polanski's a scumbag, I'm sure we'd all agree, and also a talented artist who's produced some great films. There's an interesting discussion to be had there regarding how our personal and moral feelings about the real life behavior of artists can/should/does affect our enjoyment of their work and ability to separate the merits of the art from the artist. And an interesting discussion about his varoius defenders and how their personal friendships appear to get in the way of rational discussion of the man's crimes. But when it's a link on a sidebar, it looks like the blog's taken a unified position on something.
That's even more true on the link to the NYT Blumenthal piece. When we peg it on the side of the page with a blanket condemnation of a man titling it, it looks like we think that's the end of the story. But there's a lot going on here.
For instance, it turns out the article is actually a hit-piece produced by the GOP candidate's hired oppo research team and fed to reporters. This is obvious upon reading the article, which, among other things, makes a huge deal of Blumenthal's deferrments, which of course have nothing to do with his statements (and was a common practice during the Vietnam era, that apparently doesn't seem to diminish a politician's ability to brag about their troops-lovin', war-mongering machismo so long as they're a Republican). It also suffers from some sloppy journalism, including slipping in unresearched innuendo based on the (probably questionable) reporting in other articles in minor-league publications from years ago, regarding whether or not he was on the swim team at Harvard. It even fails to even mention the many more numerous occasions, all more recent and during the current period in which Blumenthal is, you know, actually running for Senate, on which he's unequivocally stated that he wasn't in the country of Vietnam but served in the reserves during the era, including in televised debates the entire state of Connecticut could watch.
We could discuss the delicious irony of the NYT deciding that this is where they draw the line and will straight up call a politician a liar, and how ridiculous the "liberal media" trope looks when we get reportage like this.
We could discuss the degree to which we think the (much more widespread than this article would imply) practice of shading statements about military service is unpalatable, as compared to other truth-stretching by politicians. Why does this make one a "piece of shit" when other, often more blatant distortions and half-truths which have real world consequences, are totally ignored?
We could discuss the weird fetishization our nation has with whether our political leaders, elected mostly to do things like manage a $2T economy and legislate a regulatory framework for the country, killed people overseas in their youth.
If we think those are pressing enough issues to take some time away from discussing all things MN sports, we should totally discuss them. But I think they should go in as real posts here, not just drive-by links. We have diverse political perspectives that aren't well-captured in linking. Same goes for the "Your Gov't At Work" section.
Thoughts?
May 18, 2010 at 12:12 PM
I have been absent from the blog for a while (not by choice my time has become more limited), but when I am on here I do read and post under the Holy Bejeebus section quite a bit. The stuff I post is usually to get a chuckle (football in the groin), maybe some sports stuff (a top ten list featuring a MN team)or something out of the ordinary (The industrial grinder video).I don't take it too seriously.
I barely glanced at the "Piece of Shit" link. Had it been about Michelle Bachman and titled "This chick is whack." I would have read it. Would that link be out of line?
Anyway, it has never bothered me as I don't think FTLOSBW has much of a following, maybe high single digits on a good week. If people took ownership of the links would that solve it? Personally, I am not really interested in debating Polanski or Blumenthal. I don't want to say don't post it, because I do find some of it humerous like the Rep who thought Guam was going to tip over or Harry Reid voting the wrong way again.
May 18, 2010 at 1:14 PM
I wish I had but that cash on the BJays today. Yikes.
May 18, 2010 at 1:21 PM
I'm all for breaking up the monotony with some political banter from time to time, especially during the relatively slow sports months of spring/summer. Very true that people obsess way too much about military service. Shouldn't we be more concerned with voting records, legislation authored, etc.?
Tubby's world is crumbling a bit (or should I say a lot). With Paul Carter transferring, Royce White still an unknown, and Mbakwe totally up in the air, this team will have no power forward / small forward presence. Add to that a very ho-hum recruiting class, and things could be a bit ugly next year, unless the guards really play well, Rodney Williams develops quickly and Sampson/Iverson really assert themselves.
11-2? Yuck.
May 18, 2010 at 2:38 PM
Personally, I think an occasional random posting about the world, entertainment, people or politics or what have you is a welcome filler, seeking to fulfill the "pinch of jaded-malaise regarding the world around" us portion of the mission statement. Frankly, I enjoy the banter, uneducated as it may be, whether it be sports or other erstwhile things. I guess i forget to check the holybejebus links most of the time, so maybe that makes it less painful. But sometimes it's enjoyable to see what someone might find random or moving enough to share. It's the only place i get news of the world since i've mostly checked out.
May 18, 2010 at 5:39 PM
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