Don’t Like: Hillary Supporters Turned McCain Supporters

So, to the aforementioned, let me get this straight… you’re going to abandon Hillary, your beloved candidate, who is for/represents the following: universal healthcare, pro-choice, gun control, strategic removal from Iraq, raising taxes for the funding of schools/police/fire departments, investigating gas price manipulation, the creation of green collar jobs, and lenient on immigration .

… And you’re going to vote for McCain, a candidate who stands for/represents the following: privatized health care, pro-life, against gun control, long term military presence in Iraq and probably Iran, keeping taxes low, no new global warming legistlation, and has a hard stance on immigration.

In other words, they’re complete political opposites.

How, in the name of all that is good and holy, could you possibly do that? It’s akin to saying “I don’t care what a candidate represents whatsoever, just if I identify with them and will even vote for someone else out of spite.” It’s unfathomable to me.

Is the presidential office a game of “who’s your nominee?” NO! There are candidates who fall much more in line with Hillary’s viewpoint. The closest? Yup. Barack Obama. They are nearly identical in political policy and if the direction of the country is important to you (isn’t that core of what politics is supposed to be about?. If Obama lost the nomination I would have voted for Hillary in a millesecond. That’s how similar they are.

But the perceived damage that has been done in this primary election is too much for some. I don’t understand this. Many supporters seem to be confusing the sexist comments being brandied about the internet message boards/blogs/quotes in articles as being Obama-centric. That could not be further than the truth as most of that is coming from conservative users and websites (or morning asinine radio shock jocks). Believe it or not, this has actually been pretty tame as far as bad tactics and insults go from the actual Candidates. It’s been hard fought and long, that’s for sure, but hardly as dirty as even 2004.

If you absolutely cannot vote for Obama there are a host of 3rd party candidates from the following who fall much more in line with Hillary’s policy: the Working Family’s Party, the Independence Party of America, the Centrist Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party.

*My friend Edu is the only who makes a good point on the issue by saying [to paraphrase] that the failure to elect Hillary has deeply shaken his confidence in the Democratic party and he thinks they have made a critical mistake. But still, the idea of voting for McCain is taking it too far. It’s much more legitimate to simply not vote at all.

Don’t Like: The Recent Fox News Speculation on Michelle Obama’s Video of Her Saying “Whitey” When She’s Really Saying “Why’d He…”

Fox News is ALREADY pimping out the info about an alleged tape in which Michelle Obama said: “Whitey cut Medicare, Whitey put us in Iraq for no reason, Whitey do nothing about Katrina!”

This is hilarious. A bunch of bloggers, using a simple search for quotes on the internet revealed that this was in fact her talking about Bush and saying: “Why’d he cut Medicare? Why’d he put us in Iraq for no reason? Why’d he do nothing about Katrina?”

Way to go, misunderstanding the way people talk! Yeah, that’s right I used misunderstanding the way people talk as a noun. Deal with it.

Don’t Like: Arlen Specter

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3395829

Seriously Dude? Still. You’re fucking still harping on Spygate? You want a full-on investigation like the mitchell report? FUCK YOU.

Everyone keeps digging and digging and digging and they just keep coming up with the same thing the Pats told Goodell in the beginning. He already gave them the HARSHEST penalty ever given by the NFL. What the fuck else do you want? Worse, you’re a self-professed die-hard Eagles fan and you’re getting into this over some fanboy bullshit. STOP WASTING CONGRESSIONAL MONEY.

The story is over. It was over after Matt Walsh contributed nothing new.

You’re the official fuck-stick of the week. Go hang out with Jay Mariotti. You should fawn over your mutual hate of the Patriots and give each other handjobs.

Like: Dennis Eckersley

Besides being a hall of fame pitcher, a former Red Sox player, and an all-around great competitor, Dennis Eckersley is a whole bunch of other things I like too. Right now he works doing analysis for NESN and he’s sharp, fun, and no-holds barred. Not in that dumb shock-value way either (i’m looking at you ESPN). He just says what he thinks and he’s got the brain and experience to back it up. Thank god he’s comfortable talking in front of camera. Besides, I love analysts who actually played ball (because they usually have good insight) and his light yet somehow intense personality totally works. I love it.

Also the Eck is one of those guys who never looks any older. Like Tony LaRussa, Steve Martin and Dick Clark (pre-stroke) the dude always looks the same. It’s one of those reassuring things in life… Like seatbelts.

He even threw sidearm. Sidearm! Nothing is more responsible for blowing out young arms like crazy-ass side arm motions. Well… maybe kids trying to throw curves… or kids trying to pitch a ball that’s way too heavy for the that motion period.

The Fountain of youth…

Don’t Like: Jay Mariotti

Hilarious picture.

Jay Mariotti is a columnist of the Chicago Sun-Times and a daily guest on ESPN’s Around The Horn. He’s also an insufferable know it all who knows nothing about the nuance of sports. He is a wholly reactionary figure who will swing whichever way the way wind is blowing around. He’s not stupid or anything, he’s just makes completely blatant assumptions based ONLY on final results. It’s part of the growing trends of sports writers where they’ll be contrarian just for the sake of it or completely fair-weather and call for completely asinine moves from front offices. You’re a journalist and that is a sometimes-privilege of your job. You’re supposed to give insight we don’t know about you blowhard.

Perfect example: Today he said that the Suns have to fire exceptional coach Mike DiAntoni and actually tried to give an example. He mentioned that Steve Kerr gave a suggestion on how to use Shaq in a certain situation and DiAntoni disagreed and this is obvious sign of dysfunction.

Luckily Jackie Mac was there to completely beat his ass down and point out that this is part of the DAILY EXCHANGE of every single GM and coach in the league. This happens every single day between GMs and coaches and a lot of times it gets testy. But see Mariotti wouldn’t know that cause he doesn’t spend any time with actual teams. You know, the stuff actual sports journalists do. He sits in his Chicago office and appears on Around The Horn spouting off whatever dumb, reactionary opinion he gets from trolling the internet. It’s disgusting. DiAntoni is fantastic coach and apparent Mariotti thinks catching bad breaks and losing to arguably the best team in the league means that he should be fired.

Gah, it’s infuriating. What a complete idiot. And at least Woody Paige knows he’s an idiot.

Also Like: www.chud.com

I couldn’t find a more accurate picture of the website but I still like it.

CHUD is by far my favorite site on the internet. It’s a genre movie website that is NOT soaked in the fanboy hysterics of something like Ain’t it Cool News (IE they don’t rely on nonsense sneak preview spies). They have a smart and dedicated staff that know how to judge action/comic book/horror/genre movies on their own merit, BUT they also do a surprisingly grounded and intellectual job of handing the the more artistic films that come out every year.  Most of the reviewers seem to be well rather well read and versed in film study. They appreciate the truly interesting directors. They’re plugged into the critic circuits yet they’re completely removed from the industry BS that strangles publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. They approach big Hollywood prestige pictures with just the right amount of skepticism.  They have a great eye for films flying under the radar. They also have a lot of contrasting opinions among their reviewers which is rather nice to see.

Best of all, they approach their subjects with a nice sense of humor. It’s the kind of humanism that most publications lack in their seriousness. The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, all of them are completely humorless when that’s exactly the kind of honesty a lot of criticism needs. Even funnier publications like Entertainment Weekly, and the AV Club have surprisingly mundane and serious reviewers.  (The AV Club I find to be  awfully snarky and “holier than though thou”). I also have to be sure to clarify that by needing humor I don’t mean to make a joke of the subject, but just an understanding of the levity needed to analyze the medium with any kind of accuaracy.

To wit, here’s a decidedly adult and intelligent excerpt by Devin Faraci, one of CHUD’s writers: “There’s explicit sexuality in Towelhead that will shock some. Another journalist at Sundance, who hadn’t seen the film, wondered to me why Alan Ball would even want to make a movie about this subject. To me that question is its own answer; the way that society sexualizes young girls is something that we don’t address because it makes us uncomfortable. Ball looks the issue squarely in the face and, instead of delivering epiphanies like he did in American Beauty, he leaves us to examine the shards of perspective and truth. And in the end he has the courage to make a wonderful, sex-positive statement; it’s perhaps the movie’s closing scene that will send Puritanical Americans out of the theater with the most unease. To me it was uplifting, and I imagine it will be to the millions of women who identify with Jasira’s struggles”

Now compare it with another one of his excerpts for Steven Coogan’s Hamlet 2: “When Steve Coogan’s character reads a bad review of his latest high school play (a two hander version of Erin Brockovich) in the high school newspaper and yells, ‘I feel like I’m being raped… in the face!’, I knew that Hamlet 2 was a funny film.  “

Ladies and Gentlemen, this exactly the kind of respective criticism film needs.

Don’t Like: Journalists Freaking Out Over Tyler Hansbrough

People who don’t think there’s a racist component in basketball are, well, I’ll just say deluded. Basketball players are overwhelmingly African American, which makes it wholly unlike Baseball (which has a truly multi-cultural makeup) and Football(which features mostly white athletes at the key quarterback position). I won’t even mention Hockey. But due to a number of factors with basketball: the visibility of the athletes, the great tv contract, only 5 starting positions, the popularity in urban areas, and the complete commercial synergy, Basketball is pretty much regarded as a “black sport”. The transition has probably weeded out the actual racist people, but this is not really about that and more about the subtleties of the situation. You see, white basketball players get too much due and a lot of times some black players don’t get enough.

For example, Chris Paul is having the best Point Guard season ever. He runs the pick and roll and high screen better than I’ve ever seen. He can score at will and is the complete core of his team. If he keeps it up (a big if) he could surpass Isiah Thomas as the greatest point guard ever.  And yet he hasn’t got any of the journalistic fellatio that Steven Nash did in his two undeserved MVP seasons. Once again, I love Nash and he’s a terrific player, but come on. He won it in two years where there were clearly better candidates (Tim Duncan could have got his 3rd and 4th) and Nash didn’t get it last year when he actually might have deserved it (that honor went to the also white Dirk Nowitzski). Which brings us to Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina basketball.

Hansbrough is a damn fine player, again, don’t get me wrong. He has a complete game. He hits clutch shots. He plays with tenacity. His team is great. He’s one of the best players in the country. But he’s not an Oden. He’s not a Durant. He’s a top 5 college basketball player. And journalists are lining up to slobber all over him. He’s being heralded with such vast and uncompromising love you would swear he’s a sure thing on the NBA level. Well no folks, he’s not the sure thing. The reaction is completely out of whack and yes, it’s because he’s white. Completely, totally, wholly because he’s white. There have been a litany of players of comparable value. Just last year Al Horford put up similar numbers (though Hansbrough doesn’t have Horford’s size of physicality). David West too and he even has an eerily similar style of play.  Neither of them got the kind of love that Tyler does.
Why am I so adamant about this? Hansbrough is still a good player right? Because a player should be judged for who and what they are on the court.  America ha broken A LOT of its sports barriers and now it’s time to keep the trend going. It’s okay for most of the great players in the NBA to be black. We don’t have to over-reward the white players who “make it”. It’s okay to compare a black player’s style to that of an historical white player and vice versa. Steve Nash passes in a similar way to Oscar Robertson. There, why is that so hard to say?  People don’t have to be shocked when black players are commended for their intelligence. Black players should be commended for their tenacity and defense, and at the same time there shouldn’t be this complete amazement when a black player “actually tries”. It’s a false perception and it’s kind of BS. It’s all the new epidemic, folks.

… and Tyler Hansbrough isn’t the next Larry Bird.