Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 466 Editor's Choice: 25
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Last time today...
[Read the article: Design of the times]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...cause my wife is getting irritated.
My first comment WAS about the show. Everybody just started jumping on my ass, so I naturally felt the need to defend myself. I certainly didn't start the "Laura's a bad mommy" meme, just confirmed that I had observed that too.
The strange thing about this particular letters section is that none of us actually knows Laura, but people are defending her and calling me names (so far - turd, worthless piece of shit and jackass) as if I just insulted their mother. What's with cult of personality? Will we even remember the 2nd runner up to the 3rd season of Project Runway in 2 years? A year?
Like I said before - its Reality TV - its not supposed to be taken seriously by anyone but the people involved. Do we really need to get all broken up about Laura, Bo Tice, Coral, or whoever we think was cheated in the next reality program sensation?
You know who I think got cheated? The many great designers who keep their nose to the grindstone and get their break the old-fashioned way: Hard work and REAL talent. They probably can't afford a ham sandwich, let alone a loft in Manhattan.
Do we really think "American Idol" winners are the most talented performers in America? Do you think that ANY of those people on survivor could actually survive on a desert island?
A previous poster mentioned the editing and how people are given "types" and edited into engaging storylines. This is not a new phenomenon. Reality TV has been around for 8+ years and its pretty hard to claim ignorance at this point. And anyone who goes onto a reality show cannot complain how the producers decide to typecast and stereotype them. Seriously, they sign a form that says they can't complain, at least in a legally binding sense.
So let's stop pretending we're offended when someone cracks wise about anyone who chooses to jump into the ridiculous coliseum that is Reality TV. It's OK. They don't care about you, either.
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Who will do the right thing?
[Read the article: Me and Mr. Bonds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let me congratulate Mr. Kamiya on a well-written article from a (much needed) different perspective on the Bonds debacle.
The question left unanswered is: if this is going to be the problem of Pandora's box proportions that Kamiya says it will be, who's going to step up and be the adult here? It seems to be the unwritten question which Kamiya is begging someone, anyone, to resolve.
Bonds? Forget it. His man/boy psych 101 emotional issues, obvious contributors to his ability to put himself in such physical and psychological danger in order to further a career that was pretty special before the steroids, will not allow him to stop himself.
The Giants? Nope. They've already mortgaged so much talent to keep Bonds, virtually the only thing keeping the seats filled at their park, that, like a junkie too far into the system to know they're lost, would need a serious intervention to stop them from "using" at this point.
MLB? They would seem like the most obvious candidate, but it seems that they are content to look the other way and hand-wring over idiotic crap like Pete Rose. Perhaps their plan is to eternally snub Bonds (like Rose) in his professional afterlife, robbing him of respectability in his fame-deprived old-age?
So this leaves us with the fans. The vast majority of us have already voiced our displeasure at Bonds; witness the polls Kamiya cites. The thing is, most of us MLB fans are not about to boycott our teams to purge the Giants of their problem.
So I guess it comes down to Giants fans. Are you satisfied that this proud franchise will be decimated upon Bonds' inevitable retirement? Are you, much like the President and this Republican congress (got to get in the political angle), willing to destroy everything you hold dear for fleeting, temporary excitement? Excitement that could easily be replaced by something like a World Series title, an increasingly unlikely outcome as long as the cancer named Barry Bonds is on your team?
Mr. Kamiya - the choice is yours.
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To all those who are better than me...
[Read the article: Me and Mr. Bonds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To all of the LWs complaining that there needs to be some "perspective", i.e., "Bush is evil/people are dying somewhere so why are we talking about anything else?"
1. Please see the other 95% of Salon that isn't Sports or Celebrity coverage. Not all of us want to think about politics constantly.
2. If you're so morally superior, why are you wasting your time reading and posting a letter to such a blatant, frivilous waste of time? Shouldn't you be starting a soup kitchen or picketing Dick Cheney? Moral relativity indeed.
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This is a form letter.
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hey (name of sport who King did not cover today) fan!
We're really sorry that King did not type a paragraph on (name of sport) today. You see, Salon is primarily a News/Politics/A&E journal that offers those who enjoy sports a different perspective from other online journals. Salon is not intended to be an online Sports magazine. Never has been, never will be. Just because Salon happened to find a sportswriter with an IQ well above 90% of most sportswriters does mean your entitled to (name of sport) coverage.
In fact, what makes King such a good writer/analyst of sports is that he does not pretend to know about sports that he is not familiar with. This is actually a refreshing and ground-breaking type of sports coverage but might leave you feeling a bit neglected if you are a fan of (name of sport).
I would recommend taking the 2.5 seconds it takes to type is such better known Sports Journals as ESPN.com, SI.com, or SportingNews.com (to name a few). Individual leagues actually have their own websites, usually conveniently named after the league (e.g. NFL.com, NHL.com, etc.). I've also heard that there's this new-fangled contraption called "Google" which, for a few more seconds of your time, will do a "word search" over all of the internets. I've heard its pretty useful.
Respectfully,