Grantland

Tartan

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Aug 20, 2008
361
MA
Yeah, you are right. Somehow it made more sense to me at 1:30 am. That's what I get for trying to decipher analogies about merkins and shaved genitalia at that hour.
 

Blacken

Robespierre in a Cape
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Jul 24, 2007
12,152
Yeah...I'll admit, I didn't really get the Steven Hyden hate. And then I read that article.
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
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Jul 18, 2005
28,451
So it's based on a moron's understanding of the term "Rock and Roll", and boils down to dumb shit such as:  "Dude, like, how can you be in a rock and roll hall of fame if you don't, like, rock really hard?!"  
 
This is literally 6th-grade level discussion.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

has fancy plans, and pants to match
Dope
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Apr 12, 2001
24,548
He made an entry argument for kicking the Police out of the RRHoF and replacing them with NWA and didn't make the obvious "Fuck the Police" joke?

And Judas Priest is the second most influential band on hard rock, aside from Black Sabbath? Over Zeppelin?

Fuck the Hy-den coming straight from the underground.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
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Nov 4, 2007
62,312
This might be the worst sentence in human history:
 
 
But “rock and roll” no longer has that ecumenical connotation anywhere else in our culture. Nobody says, “The youth of today are in love with rock-and-roll artists like Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars,” just as “jazz” is no longer cultural shorthand for horniness and shooting heroin. In 2015, “rock and roll” is practically synonymous with folk music.
 

moondog80

heart is two sizes two small
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Sep 20, 2005
8,105
They have an piece on the Shaq/Penny Orlando Magic that is probably good, but the formatting and illustrations...just give me a "text only" option so I can read the damn article.  I don't think I can get through it as is.  Does that make me old?
 

B H Kim

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moondog80 said:
They have an piece on the Shaq/Penny Orlando Magic that is probably good, but the formatting and illustrations...just give me a "text only" option so I can read the damn article.  I don't think I can get through it as is.  Does that make me old?
 
Every browser has a plug in or extension that will do that for you.
 

TroyOLeary

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Jul 22, 2005
178
I thought the formatting was fantastic.  Most oral histories I get halfway through and I forget who the hell the last names listed even belong to, especially if it's like this one where there's a good number of assistant coaches and Orlando media guys.  The fact that you could just mouseover the name to see their face and role was great.
 

kenneycb

Hates Goose Island Beer; Loves Backdoor Play
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Dec 2, 2006
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Yeah the only problem it caused me was when I page downed at the end of the sections and had to briefly scroll up. The horrors I say.

Got through half earlier and was pretty solid though they really glossed over the Indy series.
 

ypioca

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Apr 18, 2007
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Jesus fuck, I just read that Hyden trade machine piece. That is top-to-bottom garbage - from the irony of this hack judging other people's musical notions, to him writing "the Minutemen" about a dozen times, to his nonsensical argument re: Morrison and Morrissey.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Doug Beerabelli said:
As far as I could tell, not a single NFL story on the site today.   Because nothing noteworthy has been happening lately with the Shield.
They already wrote what they plan to on "deflategate" other than that not much that they would write about has happened. If something substantial happens that needs more than the main page ESPN writeup someone might do a piece on it.

Edit- also most of Grantland's pieces aren't even up yet, most go up after noon.
 

TroyOLeary

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Jul 22, 2005
178
The ESPN-owned site that really should be doing something with Deflategate is FiveThirtyEight.
 
Besides one godawful piece that is essentially a chat transcript, 50% of which is rehashing the already-debunked fumble study, they have been silent on any of the statistical sections of the Wells Report.  One of the bigger stories of the year with a heavy scientific and statistical aspect?  This should be right in their wheelhouse.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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Pierce wrote something, that was it.   With all the writers there, you'd think there'd be someone who would be having the discussions we are having on this site.   And not just from or expecting a Pats bias angle.  What is Goodell doing here, and is it good for the NFL and its teams and players remains an excellent question, something that I'd expect would be the kind of analysis they'd be known for.
 
Maybe that's just me.  I understand there's plenty of reporting on it via other ESPN vehicles.
 
EDIT:  4 pm Friday, still no NFL story I see.  
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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Jul 21, 2005
17,585
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It's May, Doug. May.
 
Of the four major American sports only one is not playing and half of them are in their playoffs. You are surprised that the one not playing has no story? 
 

Doug Beerabelli

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On Grantland, yes.   "Sport and Pop Culture (formerly) from Bill Simmons and our rotating cast of writers" is the Grantland tagline.   At this point, with its popularity, I'd argue the  NFL is at the apex of the place where sports and pop culture collide.
 
Based upon the "It's May" point, which certainly makes sense, one would think the sites devoted to reporting and analyzing sporting events would be the one to ignore this, but it seems its the other way around.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
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Drocca said:
It's May, Doug. May.
 
Of the four major American sports only one is not playing and half of them are in their playoffs. You are surprised that the one not playing has no story? 
 
Good point. It's not like the NFL is in the news or anything.
 

Remagellan

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Yes, but their two main NFL writers, Bill Barnwell and Robert Mays, have already stated that they think Deflategate is BS and they have no interest in writing about it other than to discuss the impact any penalties might have on the field.  Mays already wrote that he thinks the Pats will probably go 2-2 without Brady, which is exactly where they were at the quarter post this past season.  
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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johnmd20 said:
 
Good point. It's not like the NFL is in the news or anything.
Only 1 story is, and there isn't really that much to write about it.
Most of what is being written on the main ESPN site, eveywhere else and even on this forum is a mix of circlejerking and speculation.
 
I honestly can't think of what an interesting story about it sounds like, and I have no desire for anyone to write about it when they could write about better things. The only vaguely interesting story is a more general story about how the NFL handles discipline, but that isn't getting by the ESPN editing team.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Seabass177 said:
Chris Connelly named Interim EIC:
https://twitter.com/ChrisConnelly/status/603613710108622848
Smart move. He's capable of doing the job and too tied into all things ABC/Disney/ESPN to ever leave.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Hyden gets crapped on a lot here, justifiably, because he usually sucks.

Having said that, his piece on U2 is very good. Thoughtful, well-balanced, good interview with Clayton.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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Apr 11, 2006
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They talked, but not what Deadspin wanted to hear. It was not uncommon to read rumours that the Grantland staff loved working under Simmons.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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The Lowe Post with Jared Dudley is outstanding. Dudley is the most candid, honest, active player and he really tells you the real scoop.
 

Bozo Texino

still hates Dave Kerpen
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Jul 18, 2005
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Grantland tackles the history of everyone's favorite early aughts Boston meathead standard, the Yankees Suck shirt.
 
An enjoyable read.  I worked at Fenway with a handful of these guys in the late 90's.  I couldn't fucking stand Choe - he was Kerpen's only supporter.  Dude could sell his ass off, though.
 

mikeford

woolwich!
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Aug 6, 2006
29,539
St John's, NL
Hah, my brother is quote in that thing a few times. Wild time. Honored to be an alum of the businesses that spawned from the downfall of Yankees Suck Inc.
 

Soxy

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Dec 1, 2008
6,095
Yeah, I tangentially knew some of the people mentioned in there.  Definitely making the rounds on my friend's facebook pages, who were way more into the hardcore scene than I was.  Pretty surreal to see this as the lead story on Grantland.  The mere thought of a story on Grantland that contains photos of people wearing Right Brigade sweatshirts is fucking hilarious.  That it actually exists is bizarre.  (For the record, Right Brigade is, and always was, fucking terrible.  As are all of the songs on the Spotify playlist in the story's sidebar.)
 
I was living in Mission Hill at the time of the shooting, which basically happened down the street from me.  I had no idea it was them at the time, as I was pretty disconnected with the hardcore scene at that point (I always stayed an arm's length from really getting into the scene.... in part for reasons that will be pretty obvious to anyone who reads this).  It was already freaky, and only got freakier when I realized that I kinda knew some of the people involved.
 
Great read though.  Brought back memories of adolescence.  It was really nice to read that some of them have matured and don't look so fondly at those times with misguided nostalgia.  "We were shitty humans," as one of them says, is a pretty accurate description.
 

uncannymanny

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Jan 12, 2007
9,081
Also know some of these folks (incl having lived several times with mikeford's brother) and lived in the blue house in the left of the cartoon in 2004 too (34 Calumet). Nuts that this is on Grantland.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
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Apr 23, 2010
6,249
from the wilds of western ma
Wild read. Initial response was that there was some self-mythologizing/fabulist element in it. I was a Fenway regular at that time, as opposed to only going to about 10 games a year now, and don't ever remember ever seeing any of these brawls between sellers, or feeling any sense of danger/violence in and around Kenmore/Landsdown street area after games. But the above posts have me suspecting I just never happened to be around when it was going on. Anyway, wild, warped little piece of Boston lore. Would definitely recommend to those who haven't read it yet.
 

Dotrat

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This was an amusing and entertaining read, but I nearly choked when I read this at the beginning:
"When he wasn’t in class, Wilson ran in the city’s hardcore music scene. A tougher, faster evolution of punk, hardcore had flourished in Washington, D.C., and New York in the ’80s and ’90s, and was now peaking in Boston. Bands like Bane and Reach the Sky couldn’t have cared less about the radio: They had hundreds of sweat-drenched kids in VFW halls screaming their anthems — furious songs about unity and perseverance — right back at them."
 
Uhm, OK--I guess Gang Green never existed then.
 
All in all, though, I really enjoyed it.