Belated weekend link dump: I like writing

by rubin sierra on Feb 3, 2008 1:09 PM PST

So I'm Rubin Sierra, but those of you who know me probably know me as "that guy who's always talking about how much he likes Ray Ratto." But I don't just like Ray Ratto; I like sportswriting in general, and I'm rather opinionated about what I like. While I don't generally agree with AN as to what constitutes good sportswriting (see above), the opinions of AN have expanded the number of columnists I read a bit. Years ago, somebody in AN turned me on to ESPN's Bill Simmons, who I've since read pretty regularly, even if he is a bit long-winded and a bit too much of a frat-boy. More recently, I've gotten hip to the stylings of The Kansas City Star's Joe Posnanski. I like.

And then, most recently, I got hip to the writings of Chuck Klosterman. Although Klosterman is, for the most part, not a sportswriter, although he does write the occasional sports piece for ESPN's Page 2. But he's a good writer, and as I was pouring through his archives I came across this piece about Harry Potter, which I enjoyed especially after having read this long AN thread about HP the day before. Klosterman's take on the HP phenomen:

The bookish kids reading Harry Potter novels may not go on to control the world, but they will almost certainly go on to control the mass media. In fifteen years, they will be publishing books and directing films and writing broad jokes for unfunny situation comedies that will undoubtedly be downloaded directly into our brains. And like all generations of artists, they will traffic in their own nostalgia. They will use their shared knowledge and experiences as the foundation for discourse. So I wonder: Because I don't understand Harry Potter, am I doomed to misunderstand everything else?

So you see, AN, how your patience with me has allowed my horizons to expand beyond Ray Ratto. Tis a great joy. Oh and hell, here's the latest from Ratto. Sifting through the snark, I deduce that its main point is to remind us that the A's are collecting revenue-sharing money this year, while the Giants are not. Almost enough to make you want to start a "Zito" chant.
One more link: want to commit a CGV? This is the thread to do it in! Amazingly still not deleted as of 1 p.m. Sunday, some 14 hours after it was started.

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< registers www.firerayratto.com >

C'mon, RS, even you have to admit that today's Ratto column is really, really, really badly written. Absurd overstatements that are unnecessary to his thesis, awkward transliterations of spoken bar-chat turns of phrase, literary filler equivalents of "um" and "like," meandering sentences, confusing constructions to obscure simple points. It burns!

The best that can be said about this is that it's imaginative. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Feb 3, 2008 2:30 PM PST reply actions

Well he wouldn't want to exceed our expectations

Ratto's column today is just more aimless sub-Radnich drivel; I can never get that time back, can I? I love great sportswriting too, but the Wide Wide World of World Wide Web has shown us that the lugheads who made it into print don't exactly hold a monopoly on analysis, insight, or the ability to spin a good yarn.

Susan Slusser is an exception; her column truly contributes and adds something unique to our consumption of info and about the A's. Most mainstream writers horde their insider knowledge, which they randomly pepper into their columns, never thoroughly reporting an interesting situation lest they soil their credentials.

The Chronicle and most other papers are obviously scrambling to find any last shred of relevance. Will any of us really care when, one day, we wake up and realize they, the SJ Mercury, and the Trib are all gone?

by Mark H on Feb 3, 2008 8:09 PM PST up reply actions

yeah

subtract all the "really"s, and I'll concede the point. A lot of meandering, a lot of confusion. (Aside: You're a punctuation enthusiast. How would you have punctuated the "really"s above?)

But sheesh--firerayratto.com? Honestly, you have become the snobbiest monkey recently. Of late even a guy I've described as the king of writers has failed to impress you. Am I now to theorize that "meh" is high praise coming from you?

Brainless Automaton #439

by rubin sierra on Feb 3, 2008 11:53 PM PST up reply actions

Hm. That is a challenge.

I think your solution is the one that makes the most sense.

I'd probably circumlocute it to avoid the punctuation challenge: "Subtract each 'really.'"

Eh, I've always been an idiosyncratic snob. (And I don't mean that in the sense of "I'm so brilliant I can't be categorized"; rather, "The good men in white coats who raised me to adult chimphood did a remarkable job of scrambling my circuits, so I'm not necessarily consistent from point to point.")

Another big "meh": There Will Be Blood.

The best that can be said about this is that it's imaginative. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Feb 4, 2008 9:41 AM PST up reply actions