Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger

This hits a note close to home. A couple weeks ago, I was sitting and chatting with Mike Henderson, Wolfy, and he was saying that too often, arguments (debates, as I refer to them) online were a little too all over the place. I answered back that I thought that was the point of online conversation—that all thought was iterative, and the perfect blog post and the perfect comment didn’t necessarily exist—that all debate was based on the last thing said. That’s the beauty of the ongoing conversation online, as I see it. Granted, this isn’t necessarily “investigative journalism,” but it is something that can be equated to what’s being said here. All online conversation offers the opportunity to drift off-topic, seemingly, when what’s really happening is that the people involved are thinking through their positions and adjusting to what they see as the point of the moment. That’s a big deal. Whenever anything is put into print it’s over. Either you write a perfect article, or a flawed one. That’s that. And a lot of people think that’s the way it should be. In a generation, that’ll be laughed at. I think we should laugh at it now. (via Journerdism)

If you pay attention to sports, you’ll probably recognize several of the clips that are mixed together here in this outstanding remix, set to music. All of them are laugh out loud funny in context, especially the one with Joe Namath. It’s four minutes long, but worth it, to me. (via Deadspin)

E!! over at “E!! The True Conservative Story” put the debate out there to her readers and got some response. My favorite was the first, wherein I’m called a moron for what I consider a red herring argument. So I’ve responded. Thanks to E!! for noticing something over here and making it more widely known. I’m of the opinion that it really isn’t that serious of a question at this point. I based my post on a few assumptions that probably are pretty illogical. But I like the idea of thinking about that stuff. It just bums me out that while I’m trying to debate the responsibility to society of news organizations who are founded on the ideals of an informed public that it becomes a debate about government intervention and socialism, which never even crossed my mind. It’s still fun, if a bummer, though.

I like the idea of this feature by Deadspin a lot. Everyone always wants to talk about the beauty of their favorite team’s stadium. I love Dodger Stadium. I also love AT&T Park. The way they approach this (AT&T is the first) is interesting. They seem to have taken all of the things people will cite as good attributes about their stadium of choice and attack each of them. For instance, AT&T is touted as being privately-funded. It wasn’t. The things that are (or were) celebrated inside the stadium are attacked. It’s good, and I can’t wait for the Dodger Stadium one. I fully expect the plight of the Chavez Ravine residents to be brought up and drilled home. It’s important to keep all of this stuff in perspective when we look at sports. Real people’s lives are affected, either monetarily or physically in the case of Dodger Stadium. We need to remember that stuff.

Just this morning I looked the guy up to find his middle name for a little smack talk. I saw that he has ALWAYS hit major home runs, and figured he was just rare. Then I thought, “I would have said the same thing about Alex Rodriguez.” But I hoped it was possible he was clean. THEN I read this story. What a kick to the gut for the Dodgers.

Fired Nevada Soccer coach Terri Patraw got her case tossed out of court by a judge. Based on what I know about this case, and Terri Patraw, this is justice finally being served. I don’t know if this means all of her possible lawsuits are now off the table, but I’m positive it’s not going to be the last we hear from her. The University is going after their attorney’s fees, which could end up around $500,000. I hope they get them.

The RGJ could do incredibly well reading this and at least taking a step or two toward trying to adhere to it. I think they violate the first two things he says and the third is probably happening. Those things make their site a total joke and make people not believe that comments in news can be useful when they should be a part of every story. I’d like nothing more than for commenters to be accountable for what they say, just like they are here and on other sites. If you say something here that makes no sense, is attacking of others, or whatever, then I will call you out. Authors of stories should do the same on their site.