Monday, March 30, 2009

Enough with the economy, stupid

What do Dominoes, Charles Schwab, car companies, the President and sports writers have in common? They're all using the black hole that is our economy to sell us their product. Pizza companies and brokers use it in the obvious ways, Obama uses it to sell his plans, and the sports writers of America use it as a gag to get you to read their columns. And it's getting really, really old.

Front page of ESPN on Monday promotes an article by baseball writer Jayson Stark which starts off with an 'enough is enough' cry about MLB's struggle during this recession. Finally. Except, he does exactly what everyone else is doing; using the economy as the backdrop to their otherwise weak attempt at expertise.

The basis of the article is to, I think, rate the most notable players of the game. This is done by breaking them into groups like "The All-Money Player Team", The All-Bear-Market Player Team", "The All-Most-Active-Stocks Player Team", and well, you get the idea. That's right, the best way to stop talking about the economy is to use it as an outline to your own column. Somehow, I think it misses the point.

And it's not like there is anything to actually gain from this market-laden rubbish. Writing about who the best team of all #11's would be (The All-Chapter 11 Team) or who has money-related names (The All-Moneyball-Name Team) is hardly expert analysis, and surely isn't worth the front page headline (I think there's some kind of basketball thing going on right now). It is the pinnacle of laziness.

So please, stop with the economy gimmick. Fans are already gruesomely reminded every time we open our paychecks, see ticket prices or buy a beer at the park, so stop reminding us when we're trying to enjoy life's biggest distraction, and start reminding us why the Worldwide Leader keeps your wallet stacked.

I enjoyed this 2009 MLB preview from Bleacher Report much more.

1 comments:

Aunt Steve said...

Good writing J. REALLY good. Leave it to the drive-by media to (even in sports) use shock-and-awe for their own personal gain. Maybe the headline of your next article should be

ESPN EXCLUSIVE: OCTUPLET MOM REVEALS SOURCE OF SPERM DONOR.

Henry Whippleschites, a season ticket holder for the Atlanta Braves, ......................................................

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