OT: Absolute lack of class at Yahoo sports
As some of you may have heard, The Puck Daddy blog over at Yahoo sports had two guest writers on doing eulogies for the Wings. Kind of a funny roast type of deal. Other teams got it too. What really sent it over board were comments made about Vlady and Gordie. The comments were taken down eventually. KulaksKorner captures them though.
Our next guest is Vladimir Konstantinov! Roll your old bones up here, Vladimir, and say a few words…
What on earth goes through a person's mind that they think it's okay to make jokes about someone left paralyzed?
Here's the dementia joke they made about Gordie:
The man who is first on that list with an amazing 1,687 career games is Gordie Howe. And as soon as he remembers where Joe Louis Arena is located, I’m sure he’ll be here to congratulate you on your career. Or wish you happy birthday.
Your first mistake was reading Yahoo sports. Your second was inflicting it on everyone else.
I keed, I keed. But seriously, Yahoo sports is awful.
They were great bordering on awesome. Some of the better writers have left because they pay crap (srsly - otherwise I might be working there now) and they've replaced them with...less. Wysh is good at Puck Daddy but there's a dude who used to just be a hockey blogger who hated Chris Osgood and drew Microsoft Paint crap on top of Osgood all the time, until Yahoo took him away from his little Ozzie-hating world and upgraded him to full Drew Sharp. Half of the crap he writes is to antagonize Wings fans.
There's a few good writers and I'll keep going there as long as they have them, especially Wetzel. Hinton's loss was a huge blow to their college football coverage; Graham really doesn't know much more than ESPN headlines tell her except in her very narrow window of knowledge. I don't even bother reading her anymore. I just go to Yahoo college football then remember Doc Sat/MMQB/Hinton isn't there, and then I sigh.
Some background, the Red Wings blogbase is vastly different from, well, this one. Head on over to Abel to Yzerman, the primary Wings online cove, and you'll see there's a lot of trolling back to other teams.
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:31 PM ^
I'm sure she's a nice girl and wonderful person, but she is just bad as a sports blogger. As you said all she does is re-hash headlines from ESPN and the like while often making silly mistakes that just scream "PLEASE EDIT ME KTHX." Did Yahoo really think that a (to that point) part-time writer was going to take over the huge enterprise that had become Dr. Saturday and flourish? I don't follow their logic if so.
I guess time will tell, but are we really going to see some of the in-depth, maticulously-researched pieces coming out of DocSat that Hinton would crank out with ease seemingly so often? I don't think so.
Ha, doing what?
Man who pissed your coffee this week?
I can't imagine how anyone could hear that and find it to be funny.
"I keed, I keed. But seriously, Yahoo sports is great...for me to poop on."
Edit: Whoa wait a minute. I get a flamebait for sarcastically making a play off Owl's POs 5 post by referenceing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and I get a flamebait!? Is there no justice in the world?
Yahoo! Sports breaks a ton of stories. Their opinion articles on the other hand... Woof.
the red wings eulogies are normally very classless. puck daddy especially hates the wings, especially ryan lambert. its a shame, cuz wysh is a solid hockey mind and blogger otherwise.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
Lambert's always hated the wings. As I mentioned above, his route to Yahoo was a site where he hated on Osgood and painted stuff on top of hockey photos with Microsoft Paint -- not Shredder stuff, just like lines to give them mustaches. I was astounded when Yahoo hired him -- I got in an email chain with him years before that which ended when every shred of his argument was completely dismanted and rather than admit "okay, Osgood was a decent goalie" he turned into whiny hater bratty bitch. I mean, of course there's tons of dudes like that among sports fans, but you don't make them full-time bloggers. He's only there for the Drew Sharp effect: they know 1/3 of hockey's online fanbase are Red Wings fans, thus they hire this guy to troll Wings fans 24/7.
What's dementia?
-Pat Summit
Bold.
Too soon?
I'm pretty sure she doesn't know.
Keep going.
What were we talking about? I need some Fritos.
-Pat Summit
Go eat some glass you POS.
Making fun of people for their individual choices = funny.
Making fun of people for getting diseases that will ultimately kill them = classless and embarassing to have you even associated with UM. I really hope you didn't graduate from UM.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:01 AM ^
Ha ha ha lol. Go grab a cup of coffee and relax. Laugh a little. Enjoy life. I know Pat Summit is. You should too. No need to get all crazy.
UM MBA 2006 ; )
The Michigan Difference.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:51 AM ^
I don't understand how you can have this cavalier attitude toward people suffering from Alzheimer's, and then be hypersensitive about any criticism of Rich Rodriguez.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:51 AM ^
It's my angry vagina. She smokes cigarettes and her name is Barb.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
An Alzheimer's patient.
An Alzheimer's patient who?
Knock knock.
This guy should be fired.
Seriously thank you. This is all I'm saying.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:14 PM ^
I understand you think this funny, good for you. Even though all of the "jokes" you have made are about athletes/coaches you need to remember that they are first human beings and then a coach/athlete. I am sure if anyone you knew personally suffered from paralysis or dementia you wouldn't see humor in this, I truly hope you never have to experience the effect that these diseases can have on an individual and a family.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^
Disagree. My grandma has dementia and it's either laugh or cry. I'd rather laugh. Whether you laugh or cry isn't going to change the situation, and laughter is more likely to get your through it.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
I see your point, i guess this is going to be different for every person and will depend upon their outlook on life.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:03 AM ^
Both my great uncle and my grandma suffer(ed) from it. It's really not that big of a deal. You just laugh and shake your head. You folks must have joyless lives.
Were the Yahoo! comments a little out of line? Probably
Are you being ridiculously oversensitive to a sarcastic piece of writing? Yes.
I'm really sick of this politically correct crowd. If you don't like what someone writes, stop reading their work... and certainly don't link their work and give them more page views.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
There is a line that has been crossed with this type of writing. Athletes and coaches are people first and foremost.
Even though the article is sarcastic, you are messing with two people that are very close to Wing's fans hearts and mean so much to hockey in general. Are Wings fans more protective and easily pissed off than most fans fans, yes i agree (i am a Wngs fan myself). The problem is making fun of a situation that is not funny at all. Val has in a horrible and tragic accident and Gordie is one of the greatest hockey players of all time and who knows is hockey career might have something to do with his current state.
We are at a state in sports where those in power and those former players are attempting to take a stand against head injuries so future players do not have to suffer through the rigors of life that follow professional sports. By joking about the fact head injuries can lead to dementia and other diseases show that you, and others, are still not grasping the fact that these athletes are human beings first and entertainers second.
The site I go to the most now is Yahoo Sports, however I stay far away from those opinion or blogs. I just scroll through the scores of MLB or NHL games I may have missed.
At least it's not ESPN. I'll never forgive ESPN for that Feldman crap. Basically muzzled him.
Those jokes were as lame as FDR's legs.
Too soon?
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:50 PM ^
That guy is an assclown. I see Parise as a Red Wing in our near future and am extremely excited about that. Who cares what some chump has to say about the best franchise in the NHL. Haters make us famous!
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:12 PM ^
I swear it was here just a moment ago, when secondary M athletics were being discussed.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
April 24th, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^
I'M OFFENDED!!!!1!!!
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:42 PM ^
FTR, I found the Vlad joke to be the worst. There's nothing funny about making fun of a man confined to a wheel chair who can barely talk. And there's nothing PC about finding it distasteful. You have a right to laugh at whatever you want. I have the right to think you're a sack of human shit and ridicule you for it.
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:42 PM ^
FTR, I found the Vlad joke to be the worst. There's nothing funny about making fun of a man confined to a wheel chair who can barely talk. And there's nothing PC about finding it distasteful. You have a right to laugh at whatever you want. I have the right to think you're a sack of human shit and ridicule you for it.
but making fun of someone's life altering medical condition is wrong.
after reading some of the jokes in this thread some are really funny. For some reason, the Vady and Gordie comments pissed me off. Maybe because they are local guys and they are coming fom a national guy. I don't know.
His Dudeness got raped in this thread. That is unfortunate. Pat Summit jokes are always good and never bad.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:05 AM ^
I thought they were pretty decent jokes. Thanks.
I just wish I remember where I put my coffee.
-Pat Summit