oh, and, left over from this morning's commute...

[winterbadger]

Dear NPR,

Just so you know, I'll be turning off my radio when Frank Deford comes on in the future. I've gotten so tired of his acidulous, sarcastic, pompous, whiny, hate-tinged diatribes that I'd really rather listen to the sound of my engine and the wheels on the road than his commentaries.

I realize that sport is a field you don't want to ignore. I'm actually interested in some stories from the world of sport. I find John Feinstein quite entertaining, even when he's covering sports I'm not interested in. But, you know, that may be because he's intelligent, humourous, and doesn't talk down to or insult his audience, things that Deford does on a regular basis.

So as long as you're featuring Mr Deford, I'll be enjoying some quiet on my morning drive.

Jan

Comments

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

*sets a hot cup of tea in your general vicinity and scampers off*

[azbound.livejournal.com]

I surely hope you put something in the cup besides tea.....

[winterbadger]

Milk and sugar, one would hope! ;-)

[azbound.livejournal.com]

Oh no honey, with the day you are having, something a bit stronger and aged at least 10 years seems in order.

[winterbadger]

:-)

Yes, but that comes in a glass by itself, and we have a moment of silence and a sad tear with it...

Diminshed, but not defeated.

Here's tae us!
Wha's like us?
Damn few!
And they're ae deid!

[winterbadger]

You're such a sweetie! :-)

[blueinva.livejournal.com]

What did he broadcast that was so upsetting? I know the guy has a cutting edge when it comes to sports journalism, but from what I've read he's pretty good and even handed...

[winterbadger]

Just my personal opinion, but after listening to him for years, I've just gotten tired of his arrogant, bitchy, whiny, sly, childish, petulant ranting. I'm not going to rehearse all his tiresome and offensive little traits; they're too numerous. I'll just observe that from what I've heard of him, Cro Magnon would be more appropriate than cutting edge.

As for why someone who hates and loathes soccer as much as he does feels the need to keep bringing it up so he can bash it a few mroe times is beyond me and suggests that he suffers profound psychological and sexual inadequacies that are presumably keeping many trained professionals of various sorts busy and well employed.

[blueinva.livejournal.com]

Ah...he's another non-fan of football, well he's pitching to an audience that for the most part believes it too, and he's not alone - Wilbon and Kornheiser aren't fans either and will dismiss it as a non-sport. I think that has more to do with the relative lack of prowess of the US' players (as my father asked at the weekend: "who do the Americans have that's truly world class - Zindane, Beckham, Shevchenko, Eto'o, Roberto Carlos 'class'?") and until that changes soccer will not be taken seriously here in the US, or will Europeans look on American soccer as anything more than a lesser standard.
As to Deford's style, I'm a fan when he writes pieces like this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/frank_deford/03/15/bonds.hof/index.html
Sorry mate, until we have younger writers come through, the US trifecta of football, baseball and basketball will be the only sports given serious thought.

[winterbadger]

. I think that has more to do with the relative lack of prowess of the US' players...

I disagree. If it were that, people like Frank Deford and his ilk wouldn't go out of their way to mock and deride the entire sport, all those players you name included. This is something visceral, something that has to do with the sport being foreign and having a universal appeal, something US sports have never achieved. Traditionalist, blinkered American sports crusties like Deford *hate* football precisely because it did not originate in the US but is nonetheless popular in many, many parts of the world. They would hate it and revile it if the US won the World Cup three time in a row. It's not about the sport--it's about them.

Sorry mate, until we have younger writers come through, the US trifecta of football, baseball and basketball will be the only sports given serious thought.

Again, I have to disagree. Soccer gets good, serious coverage by newpapers and television all over the US; it's just this cadre of bittereinders who are fighting a rearguard action. Does soccer get the coverage of baseball, basketball, or American-rules football? Of course not, because it's all about money, whihc is all about viewership. It will be a long time, if ever, that soccer challenges those sports. But that doesn't mean people need to demean it, and most sportswriters don't. Defors is a punk, in theis and many other ways, and so I choose to switch him off.

[blueinva.livejournal.com]

>Traditionalist, blinkered American sports crusties like Deford *hate* football precisely because it did not originate in the US but is nonetheless popular in many, many parts of the world. They would hate it and revile it if the US won the World Cup three time in a row. It's not about the sport--it's about them.

I wonder how he feels after the World Basketball Championships and the World baseball Classic. Both sports which the US notionally dominates, but which the national team not only managed to win, but fail at miserably. It is a very American thing as far as soccer goes, but then I know American based sports (such as football and baseball) are derided in the UK as only being played because the US can't win at 'real' sports.

I also know that there's been healthy debate about the US' standing in the FIFA rankings, and it's felt they ought to be far lower (outside the top 20 was the number I saw bandied about on one board) because of the paucity of opposition they face (with Mexico being the only real competition in CONCACAF) and that they might be better fitted moving into South America's group in the same way Australia moved from Oceania into Asia.

I wonder if that might excite some interest in the national team - seeing some truly world class opposition.

>It will be a long time, if ever, that soccer challenges those sports. But that doesn't mean people need to demean it, and most sportswriters don't. Deford is a punk, in this and many other ways, and so I choose to switch him off.

Of that we can both disagree. There's enough background noise in life already without having to listen. I apologise if I was a little nosy, but I was truly interested in what this guy had said that had caused your post.

[blueingenue.livejournal.com]

Yes. Less Frank Deford, more Andrei Condrescu. I love that accent. *drool*