The Buzz Bissinger meltdown
Posted on April 30th, 2008 – 2:46 PMBy Michael Rand
As we guessed, the YouTubes now have a full 10 minutes of the “Costas Now” debacle of last night featuring Buzz Bissinger and Will Leitch. It’s HBO, so there is some bad language involved. Leitch stammers and tries to get words out while Bissinger and Costas turn their noses upward and pummel away, sounding quite frankly like jerks who had valid points to make but couldn’t stop tripping over their own egos along the way. Braylon Edwards? We have no idea why he was even invited. Ready for awkwardness? Here you go.
(Update: YouTube has removed the video, but Deadspin still has a working version).
24 Responses to "The Buzz Bissinger meltdown"
Repeating my earlier comment:
I demand that the next RandBites is an extension of the Costas Now issue.
Also that it includes both Aaron Gleeman and Patrick Reusse, because I would ignore a house fire to listen to that podcast.
Note to Mr. Bissenger: when you read one of my Hunt Downs aloud in order to excoriate Michael Rand and the kids these days, my name is “Stu.” Thanks in advance.
Wait…so what was wrong with the comments on Salsbury?
Wait…so what was wrong with the comments on Salsbury?
Steak?
I imagine Buzz overhearing a conversation about sports at a local bar, sauntering up to the folks engaged in the discussion and saying, “excuse me, you fellas have degrees or any formal training in broadcast journalism? No? Then I don’t feel you should be allowed to talk about sports. Please cease discussions.” Complaining about the web seems the same basic principle. Fans having conversations about sports isn’t going to go away. It’s just a medium, Buzz. Chill out.
Poor guy. (That I kind of hate.)
saying, “excuse me, you fellas have degrees or any formal training in broadcast journalism? No? Then I don’t feel you should be allowed to talk about sports. Please cease discussions.”
Not nearly enough profanity, I don’t actually believe that Buzz would say that.
I think it’s funny that whoever recorded it got a reminder to watch NOFX: Backstage Passport.
@Dave MN- yeah, I had a feeling that was misspelled, but I’m far too lazy to find the correct way. I would like some steak though…
Jon- Your debate teams need an athlete to sit mostly in awkward silence to round things out.
Hmmm…apparently DeadSpin and blogs like RandBall are making people dumber. Apparently the guys on Access Vikings were all in line for PhDs before the Strib blogs came along…
Toonces: Great catch about Backstage Passport. I was thinking the same thing but forgot to mention it.
Apparently the guys on Access Vikings were all in line for PhDs before the Strib blogs came along…
Just like Ireland was a futuristic wonderland before they created whiskey…
Bob Costas’ opens the debate by saying that a reasonable criticism of the sports blogosphere is their tone of gratuitous potshots and mean-spirited abuse.
So Mr. Bissinger criticizes the sports blogosphere by offering….gratuitous potshots and mean-spirited abuse.
I’ve read a number of rambling, malicious, pointless comments on sports blogs. I’ve even written a bunch. But very few compare to Mr. Bissinger’s homily.
homily.
Is that a black eyed pea dish?
I suppose that someone should point out that Bissinger once wrote for the PiPress. A restaurant review he wrote about the St Clair Broiler hangs in that overrated establishment.
I would like to state that “Bissinger” sounds like a classification of defecation.
Examples:
The Runs
Montezuma’s Revenge
The Beer [redacteds]
Bissinger
Kinda sounds like it would burn
Is this the guy that wrote Friday Night Lights? The guy that made millions off a High School Football team?
Can we expect Rand sitting next to Mark Rosen, Delmon Young, and J.K Rowling on anytime soon?
Okay, so now that I’m home I was able to watch that whole thing over at Deadspin. Bissinger is a total piece of garbage for criticizing people for debasing others, while trying to debase Will the entire [redacted] interview. I hate holier than thou hypocrites. Bob Costas can catch some rare disease and die for all I care. That man has gotten worse and worse at his job and at being a human being over the past decade…really, what does he have to offer anymore?
Braylon Edwards is a crybaby. You live in a different time. This is not the 60s and 70s. It’s not just the internet that’s different. LIFE is different, you idiot. In the 60s and 70s you could have slept with all of the groupies you wanted without fear of disease or death. Not so today. You also could party non-stop back then without being called on it. Also, no longer true. Adapt! Quit whining.
Will didn’t do the best job of standing up for himself, but I don’t know what he could do when he was basically there to be a straw man for a psycho (Bissinger), a washed up hack (Costas), and an athlete who wishes it were the “good old days” (Edwards). I hope Edwards has a catastrophic knee injury next season, then he’ll have something to cry about besides just being caught partying like a dumb[redacted].
/pounds beer.
Strange as it may sound I think both Buzz and Will have valid points. Costas is better suited for something other than controversy and conflict.
I stongly support the right to free speech in blogs. However, Buzz and Costas have a point where many times the bloggers have a decidedly vitrol and nasty tone, which have nothing to do with the actual sport or athlete and does nothing to further the discussion and debate. Some bloggers seem to retain a similar angst that drives teens to secretly give the finger to a parent when their back is turned in protest to whatever they disagree with. Why? That’s up to therapists. But childish rants about hoping someone blows a knee because they are expressing their opinions, as bloggers express theirs, is about the same speed.
Will was right in the fact that Buzz seems scared his and his ilk’s time is passing. Change, especially when it may be linked to your income, is very difficult as you get older. And some people have difficulty adapting. It would seem Buzz has hit that wall.
Well said, Huge Jazz. I thought Buzz had some valid points to make as well — and that he went about it in a very poor manner, which undermined his credibility and led to the downward spiral we can now all see thanks to the miracle of the Internet. I think Will even would agree with some of the points. There’s going to be good and bad in everything, especially a medium that is so inclusive. But Deadspin is not the problem. It’s found a vast audience that “gets” what it is trying to do.
Sorry, but Buzz was right on! Nobody is saying you don’t have the right to blog whatever you want, but the fact that you do doesn’t make it meaningful or intelligent.
I mean really, what’s the point of the BigBen or Leinert photos? Leitch is squirming because he gets called out and can’t defend his position. It’s all about where “journalism” is headed, do you want to have a intelligent discussion (and by “intelligent” I don’t necessarily mean serious)about and issue or do you simply want TMZ/MTV journalism?
One could easily find several dead-tree sports columnists that engage in the same kind of writing that Buzz accuses Deadspin of. The same thing can be found on ESPN. But that’s OK, I guess, because they’re “professionals.” And for Costas to condemn Will because of his comments section is ridiculous. Should we condemn Buzz because of the people who yell [redacted] every time they read one of his pieces? Buzz is just another journalist angry that he’s being eclipsed by “amateurs.”
The problem is that Bissinger seems to think all blogs and websites fall under the same umbrella of worthlessness. Will mentioned this briefly but it was never really addressed, the Good blogs/websites, ones in which there are talented and creative people involved, will generally produce material that people will want to read. Those that spew off the cuff opinions and vitriol will not.
As far as publishing athletes drunken photos, I see the pundits on ESPN and in print jumping on the same bandwagon and debating those issues just as frequently. Lastly, for Bissinger to assert that what commenters write after a post should somehow be attributed to the original post, clearly shows what level of ignorance we are dealing with when it comes to “new” media. Buzz is a phenomenal writer, but his actions on Costas Now were childish at best.
