Why Do I Continue to Read Peter King?

Shelterdog

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In my opinion, those are a distant second or third to the Father's Day note.
Agreed. I'm also partial to his story about the Dolphins' decision to do hard knocks. Stephen Ross didn't make his guys do it, he just told his employees that he wanted to do it and, gosh golly gee, they agreed with him.
 

Average Reds

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I love the fact that our process appears to be that we scan King's latest MMQB every Monday and then run here to point out the areas we want Leather to focus on as he prepares to eviscerate King.

Good stuff.

Edit: And I second the request to have you focus on the travel notes. I want to say "I have no words" but I'm confident that you will...
 

Leather

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First, his point about the top ten picks in the 2006 draft is inane.

Six years shouldn't be forever in the NFL, but looking at the top of the 2006 draft is evidence that six years is more than enough to make or break careers. The top 10 players in the 2006 NFL draft have been employed by 19 teams through six seasons -- the smart teams don't stay married to guys when either the marriage isn't working or the priorities have changed.
So, let me get this straight: players drafted in the top of the first round, on average, have been signed by two teams.

Given the fact that rookie contracts have all run out after 5 years, that seems pretty fucking typical, doesn't it? Top 10 players are usually pretty good, and will cost a lot to hold on to if the team can't work out an extension. Or, they just suck and bounce around.

This is his hard-hitting football analysis? "Oh wow, players change teams!"? That's it?

But I bring you this list to make a point about the Houston Texans. They had a chance to re-sign the first pick in the 2006 draft, the man they hoped would be their defensive centerpiece and lead them to multiple division titles, Mario Williams. They let him walk.
They let him walk...Because he would have cost too much money to retain!


Instead of keeping the first pick in the 2006 draft, they chose to put their pass-rush future in the hands of the 46th pick in 2009 (Connor Barwin), the 42nd pick in 2011 (Brooks Reed) and the 26th pick this year (Whitney Mercilus).
Because those guys are cheap!

For a team that finally won a division and a playoff game in its 10th season, the Texans certainly made a lot of changes.
And this is unusual...how? Are the Texans unique in that the salary cap doesn't apply to them? Is King suggesting that they should have, could have, kept all of the expensive veterans on the roster? I mean, what the fuck is the point?

It's GM School 101
Yes. Exactly. So, again, why does this merit being your leadoff point of analysis?


These Texans illustrate the way of the world in the NFL.
"Teams that suck, draft good players, who become expensive, and must be replaced with cheaper alternatives." Holy shit. He's cracked to code.


And next week ...
Don't buy your dad, or your favorite father, anything for Father's Day (June 17) until you read the column next week. I'll have at least six books (seven, if I get aggressive with my reading in the next three nights) for you to consider buying.
In order to get the books you want, you'll have plenty of time to order via Amazon (I do it a lot, and the books, even via regular mail, take three days at the most) or by going to your hometown bookstore (my preferred mode of book shopping). I look forward to this annual Monday Morning Quarterback rite of June. Hope you do too .
What a pompous asshole. How the fuck do you know what me or my father would want?

And, for the record, you know that whatever he suggests will be cliched, treacly, bullshit.

On the Niners stating they weren't "flirting" with Peyton Manning:

Well, OK. I've heard all the theories this week about why Harbaugh would say that when the 49ers were clearly very interested in Manning. Harbaugh is showing faith in Smith, mostly. And good for him for doing so.
But here are the facts: The 49ers wanted Manning. Harbaugh is parsing words. "Erroneous'' that the Niners "were flirting with Peyton Manning?'' Come now, coach. Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman flew from San Francisco to North Carolina and, in disguise (hoodies covering their heads to avoid a prying iPhoner from photographing them), watched Manning go through a throwing session. The 49ers thoroughly investigated Manning in many other ways, I'm told, and would have been thrilled if he'd called them that Monday in March and said, "I want to come play for you."
What's so irritating about this is that it's not really football news. I mean, teams say bullshit all the time. Look at Rex Ryan, who makes so many bullshit statements King could write a book with them if he ever felt like it. But that's not what King is pissed about. King is pissed because he thinks Harbaugh is making Peter King look like a liar, because King was one of those reporting on Manning to the Niners. It's so obvious, and so petty. Everyone with a fucking brain knows that Harbaugh is just backtracking to defuse any ill-feeling in his locker room. Christ.
 

Leather

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If you follow football, you'd know that the top three quarterbacks on the Raiders roster are Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Terrelle Pryor. You're one heck of a fan if you know the fourth quarterback Oakland will bring to camp this summer
.

You'd be an even bigger fan if you gave even the tiniest of tiny shits.

Ok, here we go:

Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
Red-eying home from Los Angeles last Tuesday night. Flight leaves at 11:45 p.m. I get to the airport at 10:30 and go to the fish place/bar near the gate. I sit at a table for four and get my computer out. I have already eaten, so I order the most interesting of a group of drab beers on tap, Stella Artois.
At 10:50, a busboy comes around and starts putting chairs up on the tables. You know, the way chairs are put up at the end of a school day, upside down, with the seat on the table and the legs in the air. The guy puts all three chairs up at my table, as if to say, Drink up, schmoe. We're closing soon. Except no one says anything.
I give the guy a look and say, "Closing soon?'' He evidently doesn't speak English. He just shrugs. Then, about five minutes later, the TVs go off. A minute later, about half the lights. A waitress goes to the front door and pulls down a metal gate to the place, then positions herself at a side door, which she loudly opens, and then just stands there.
I get the message. I pack up, walk out. Wouldn't it have been a little more civil to say, at 10:45, "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be closing at 11. So everyone, please finish up. Thanks."

OH MY GOD! SOCIETY HAS HIT THE SKIDS!

NOBODY TOLD PETER KING THAT THE RESTAURANT, WHICH WAS CLEARLY CLOSING AT 11:00, WAS CLOSING!

I just love the image of PK, sitting there, composing this little tidbit in his head, hoping that nobody would come over and tell him that the place was closing.

"Oh, god...I guess they are closing. But if they don't tell me, what a travel bitch-fest this will make. Oh god, here comes a waitress...please don't tell me you're closing so I can preserve the appropriate level of righteous indignation..."

Also, I like that he felt it necessary to explain to me what "putting the chairs up" means. I guess, with his allusion to school, that he was trying to make some sort of connection there, like he resented being treated like a child. That'd be ironic, given that he faults the establishment for not specifically instructing him that the place was closing, when he clearly could have/should have made such a determination on his own. I guess he flunked the "Inferences" section in third-grade Language Arts.

More to the point, though: it's clear that King has never worked a service-oriented job, so he can't appreciate how awful he must seem, to these minimum-wage (no doubt) earning, late-shift working, people who, no doubt, have been there for 6-10 hours. They are getting ready to close up. In walks this fat ass, who looks at their beer selection, and makes some disapproving grimaces and groans before selecting a perfectly fine beer for, probably, $7.00. The bartender probably figures that the guy will stay at the bar. But no, he takes the beer, walks over to a table for four, and proceeds to open his laptop. "Ok" the bartender thinks to himself. "No big deal. We'll just let him stay until closing but start cleaning up."

So they clean up. And still the fat man sits there, making no motion to either order another beer or get the fuck out of the place. Ramone stack the chairs. The fat man gives Ramone the stinkeye, mumbles something, Ramone just shrugs. They turn on the lights. They turn off the TV. The fat man, instead of getting off his ass, starts glaring around at everyone. "What the fuck is he so pissed about?" the bartender thinks. "We're closing in 5 minutes, he's the only guy in here...In fact, there's only like 8 people in this goddamned terminal. Christ. He looks like he's going to have a heart attack. I'm not going near that guy, he'll bite my head off."

They bring down the steel gate. But they don't ever tell the man to leave, because they don't want to be rude. "He can stay and finish his beer. Christ, it's been 20 minutes, how long does it take this guy to drink one beer. Jesus."

Maria walks over to the gate and opens the door, so the man can leave. She stands next to the door so if anyone else tries to come in, she can tell them they are closed. She waits patiently, not looking at the man. He looks like he's almost done. Oh wait, here he comes...he seems mad. "Why's he so mad?" Maria thinks. "What the fuck is it with these people. I've got two kids at home, a boyfriend who can't find a fucking job, and living with my mother is driving me fucking crazy. I come to work at this goddamned airport every day, and never, not once, do I get to fly anywhere. This fat fuck, who can drop $7 on a beer with his corporate card is pissed off at me? For what? I bet he gave a 50-cent tip. White people are so fucking stuck up."

The fat man ambles out, his roller-bag behind him, already out of breath.

g. Hard to imagine there's a better job being done on TV in supporting roles than by Anna Chlumsky (chief of the Vice President's staff on HBO's Veep) and Timothy Simons (the annoying liaison between the president's office and the Veep's). Chlumsky, the former child star, is positively dead-on at what I imagine the VP's chief of staff to be.
Know a lot of VPs, do ya Peter?

h. Rest in peace, Claire Fauci. Claire was the mom of one of daughter Laura's Tufts classmates, who was an incredibly bright light.
"Rest in peace, person who is only notable for being related to someone who went to school with a Daughter of Peter King."


i. Thank you, Michael Strahan, for your kindness. Strahan phoned Claire a couple of weeks ago to send some cheer her way. The only team she liked was the Giants, and Strahan, because he'd done a PSA on marriage equality, which Claire strongly believed in, was her favorite player. Now Michael Strahan -- there was a man Claire loved. And he returned it in a warm phone call.
"Let me talk about Claire some more by not talking about Claire, but instead focusing on a football player's act. Never mind the fact that she's dead, look at what a swell guy that Michael Strahan is!"


j. Nice time at Cards-Mets Saturday afternoon. One of the great things about living in New York is being subway rides away from big-league teams
If you live in Manhattan, like Peter Warbucks. If you live in Brooklyn, or Queens, or the Bronx, or (god forbid) Staten Island, a subway ride to one or both of the parks could take 90 minutes. As always, Peter assumes that his experience mirrors that of everyone, without giving consideration to the fact that he's a member of the proverbial "1 percent". I don't begrudge him his wealth or success, I just wish he'd spend more time doing what he did to get it, and less time reminding us of it.



m. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is under attack because he wants to eliminate the ability of fast food places to sell super-sized sugary drinks. Under attack is putting it nicely. The papers are killing him. I think Bloomberg's doing the right thing. You can't fight the obesity epidemic in this country by suggesting mild solutions. You've got to fight it. And Bloomberg's trying. Good for him. And if people don't like it, then tax soda. Tax the daylights out of it, the way we tax cigarettes.
"Yes. If the poor people don't like the banishment of soda, then simply raise the price! They can afford it! And if not, then they shouldn't have the right to drink it! The rabble simply don't know whats good for them! Down with sugary drinks! *sips his venti latte with over 400 calories .* Let them drink coffee!"
 

mrsbeasley

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I've never actively looked to read Peter King but every Monday I show up here to read DrLeather's takedowns. As has been said, you're doing God's work here. Thank you!
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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My favorite part of his Father's Day explanation is that he has to tell us how Amazon.com works. "It usually takes them three days to ship a book!" Yeah, no shit Peter but what about if you wanted to order "Abbey Road"? Can you tell us what that CD looks like and how fast it will get to my house? SPOON FEED ME, PETER! SPOON FEED ME!

Also, he spent a large chunk of his NFL column on the Mets radio announcer and how HE felt about Santana's no-hitter. It's a nice little human interest piece, it really is; but it does not belong in the MMQB article any more than Tom Donohoe's Bounty Gate thoughts belong in Nick Cafardo's Boston Globe's Baseball Notes. I wonder why King didn't do a mini sidebar on Santana for the SI.com site Saturday or Sunday (or even today) with a link in his MMBQ article?
 

Average Reds

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I can't resist. I have to pre-empt leather with my own thoughts about King's musings on Darrelle Revis:

8. I think I'm not going to feed the Darrelle Revis story yet. Not until he doesn't show.
Why did I immediately assume this was not true?

But it's not as simple as saying he should live by the terms of his contract.
Oh right. That's why.

I am certainly a live-by-the-terms-of-the-contract guy. The Jets paid him, on average, $16.25 million per year in the first two years of the deal. They paid that with the full expectation that Revis would be the best defensive player in football.
Again, call me crazy, but I get the sense that we're going to learn that King is not really a "live-by-the-terms-of-the-contract guy."

We could probably argue that (DeMarcus Ware would be in the discussion), but I think Revis has proven he's the best defender in the league over the past two years. The Jets are due to pay him $6.75 million, on average, in the last two years of the deal. Why set the contract up that way unless you fully intend to re-do Revis' deal after two years?

Maybe they structured the contract this way because it's somewhat common for players (and their agents) to insist that contracts be front-loaded to mitigate some of the financial risk associated with long-term, non-guaranteed contracts?

If only there was a knowledgeable writer who had covered the NFL for years and could weigh in on these things....

Edit: I apologize for not thinking of a way to properly mock King's elegance in using the legal term "re-do" to describe the state of affairs here.
 

lostjumper

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m. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is under attack because he wants to eliminate the ability of fast food places to sell super-sized sugary drinks. Under attack is putting it nicely. The papers are killing him. I think Bloomberg's doing the right thing. You can't fight the obesity epidemic in this country by suggesting mild solutions. You've got to fight it. And Bloomberg's trying. Good for him. And if people don't like it, then tax soda. Tax the daylights out of it, the way we tax cigarettes.
This is amazing. This fat idiot probably drinks over 1000 calories of Starbuck's Latte's per day, but he's excited that someone wants to limit how much soda someone can drink to battle obesity. He's not very smart, is he?
 

Shelterdog

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I can't resist. I have to pre-empt leather with my own thoughts about King's musings on Darrelle Revis:



Why did I immediately assume this was not true?



Oh right. That's why.



Again, call me crazy, but I get the sense that we're going to learn that King is not really a "live-by-the-terms-of-the-contract guy."

[/left]

Maybe they structured the contract this way because it's somewhat common for players (and their agents) to insist that contracts be front-loaded to mitigate some of the financial risk associated with long-term, non-guaranteed contracts?

If only there was a knowledgeable writer who had covered the NFL for years and could weigh in on these things....

Edit: I apologize for not thinking of a way to properly mock King's elegance in using the legal term "re-do" to describe the state of affairs here.
He's right about Revis but for the wrong reasons.

If Revis doesn't hold out in 2012 or 2013 he becomes a free agent the day after the 2013 season ends _and_ the Jets take a $9 million cap hit for him in 2014 _and_ they can't franchise him.

If they don't extend Revis this year and he stays healthy and plays well, they are in as bad a position as you can be in with a star player a year from free agency--Revis's agent will just say give me the richest contract for a defensive player ever by the first day of training camp or my guy is going to hit the open market and blow up your cap at the same time.
 

KiltedFool

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The rest of the NFL will be laughing at the Jets!

Oh, and I posted about that Jammer article that PK references elsewhere in the BbtL forum, and then winced when I read his column and saw he had linked to it. I got it from a Steelers site and felt profoundly embarassed to realized that douche had also linked it. Oh the shame.
 

Toe Nash

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My favorite part of his Father's Day explanation is that he has to tell us how Amazon.com works. "It usually takes them three days to ship a book!" Yeah, no shit Peter but what about if you wanted to order "Abbey Road"? Can you tell us what that CD looks like and how fast it will get to my house? SPOON FEED ME, PETER! SPOON FEED ME!
Is there anyone in 2012 who doesn't know that Amazon's not lying when they say "two-day shipping?" Unbelieveable.
 

Average Reds

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He's right about Revis but for the wrong reasons.

If Revis doesn't hold out in 2012 or 2013 he becomes a free agent the day after the 2013 season ends _and_ the Jets take a $9 million cap hit for him in 2014 _and_ they can't franchise him.

If they don't extend Revis this year and he stays healthy and plays well, they are in as bad a position as you can be in with a star player a year from free agency--Revis's agent will just say give me the richest contract for a defensive player ever by the first day of training camp or my guy is going to hit the open market and blow up your cap at the same time.
Three quick responses. (And I will assume that what you say about Revis' contract is gospel truth, since I do not know the details.)

First, I could make a pretty strong argument that it's better for the Jets to stick to their guns for at least another year before attempting to "re-do" the contract.
  • Two years can be an eternity in the NFL, and I'd want Revis to stay healthy through this year before I tear up this contract and take on the risk of another extension.
  • Revis has no leverage this year because he cannot hold out.
  • Next year you're going to want to re-visit the issue, and if you have to add something up front to help Revis get over the "insult" of not restructuring his contract this year, you do it. But it's worth it (to me) because you take a year's worth of injury risk off the table.
Second, WTF is King talking about? If what you are saying is true, there is literally zero chance that Revis holds out this year, because it would gut all of his negotiating leverage going forward. Too bad there is not a real NFL reporter with connections who could have dug up that fact before King talked about it...

Lastly, that provision about the cap hit the Jets have to take if he leaves as a free agent is one of the dumber things I've ever seen.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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What's so irritating about this is that it's not really football news. I mean, teams say bullshit all the time. Look at Rex Ryan, who makes so many bullshit statements King could write a book with them if he ever felt like it.
I only hope he takes the time to tell me if I'd like to read that book for father's day afterwards.
 

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The worst part about his Father's Day recomendations aren't the book choices themselves, it's the MMQB Q&A column the following Tuesday when knuckledraggers give King a big sloppy kiss, "My paw and I weren't talkin' since the Vietnam War, but I took your advice Mr. King and sent him 'Tuesdays with Morrie' for Father's Day. After he read it on Sunday night, he called me on Monday morning and we began bawlin' like infants. Me and him have become friends again--we went fishing and hunting, fixed up his car, walked the entire Appalacian Trial, saw a ball game and the entire of run of 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' and then finished the morning by clipping coupons. And Mr. King we have you to thank for it. The night after Father's Day, he died and 20 minutes later I wrote this email to you. So thank you again Mr. King, for giving us one more day. Thank you."

King usually says something like, "Glad I could help."
 

Leather

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Yea. Again, he has such a huge ego that simply having an awesome, well-paying, job isn't enough. He has to be Dear Abbey, Atticus Finch, and Anthony Bourdain, too.
 

Corsi

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RT @PatTh0mas: You seen what you look like? ... Yes. To be generous, I'd call myself "portly."
https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/209691210368032770
 

Shelterdog

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Three quick responses. (And I will assume that what you say about Revis' contract is gospel truth, since I do not know the details.)

First, I could make a pretty strong argument that it's better for the Jets to stick to their guns for at least another year before attempting to "re-do" the contract.
  • Two years can be an eternity in the NFL, and I'd want Revis to stay healthy through this year before I tear up this contract and take on the risk of another extension.
  • Revis has no leverage this year because he cannot hold out.
  • Next year you're going to want to re-visit the issue, and if you have to add something up front to help Revis get over the "insult" of not restructuring his contract this year, you do it. But it's worth it (to me) because you take a year's worth of injury risk off the table.
Second, WTF is King talking about? If what you are saying is true, there is literally zero chance that Revis holds out this year, because it would gut all of his negotiating leverage going forward. Too bad there is not a real NFL reporter with connections who could have dug up that fact before King talked about it...

Lastly, that provision about the cap hit the Jets have to take if he leaves as a free agent is one of the dumber things I've ever seen.

Your points are all good. It's a fairly complex contractual situation and one that King plum doesn't get. Of course, he's a fat lazy shit so what can you say.

I could see the Jets sticking with their guns but then they really risk losing Revis for nothing, and getting stuck with a $9 million dead money fee too bot. I think they re-sign him to a big money deal this summer.

I do think there is a greater than zero chance that Revis holds out this year--sure he'd lose his post 2013 opt-out but if I were him I'd be very confident that the Jets would cave within two days of the first "N.Y. Jest" Post backpage.

The big cap hit if Revis leaves is because they were delaying cap hits on his 2010 extension, particularly in 2011 and 2012, which they needed to do because they were/are dancing on a razor's edge with the cap.
 

PBDWake

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https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/209691210368032770
In addition to the pot/kettle dynamic, it's hilarious how ignorant he is on the issue as well.
The industry has struggled in recent years as more health-conscious Americans have shifted away from sugary sodas toward bottled water and sports drinks like Gatorade. That's led to a 20 percent reduction in the calories consumed per capita through carbonated beverages over the last decade, according industry tracker Beverage Digest.
Really? Calorie intake in beverages is trending DOWN? But kids nowadays are so FAT... Hmmm...

So, let's recap some of the fun little King... misunderstandings.
m. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is under attack because he wants to eliminate the ability of fast food places to sell super-sized sugary drinks. Under attack is putting it nicely. The papers are killing him. I think Bloomberg's doing the right thing. You can't fight the obesity epidemic in this country by suggesting mild solutions. You've got to fight it. And Bloomberg's trying. Good for him. And if people don't like it, then tax soda. Tax the daylights out of it, the way we tax cigarettes
1) According to King, he wants to "eliminate the ability of fast food places to sell super-sized sugary drinks". Well, first off, yes. You're eliminating their ability to sell larger cups of these drinks. However, most fast food, restaurants, and movie establishments offer free refills on sodas. You're not ever actually cutting the ability of people to drink the same amount. What you are doing, however, is reducing profit margins in an industry where there's little room for profit anyways. Carbonated drinks are one of the few high margin products food places offer. Most customers won't be happy with a major pricing shift designed to bring a drink likely 1/2-1/3rd the size of what they were getting in line with what they were paying for the jumbo drink before. If it's kept the same, customers will be paying less for a smaller sized cup, but if free refills are still in effect, will still ultimately have access to the same amount of soda.

2) But what about drive-thrus? No free refills there! Nope, but if you're going through one, you're probably either with an enabling parent, or old enough to drive on your own. The government shouldn't give a shit in either of those scenarios. Although, that sentence implies they should also give a shit in other scenarios that don't involve the forcefeeding of diabetic children.

3) But think of the kids' obesity! Indeed. Think of it as you're still capable of ordering your triple whopper with cheese and jumbo fries, on your way to refill your soda at the stand.

4) Or, of course, you could go next door to 7/11 and get a big gulp, because shit, those are in convenience stores, so they don't count.
 

Reverend

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Yea. Again, he has such a huge ego that simply having an awesome, well-paying, job isn't enough. He has to be Dear Abbey, Atticus Finch, and Anthony Bourdain, too.
You forgot Oprah, who I believe actually had staff do serious research into book recommendations and then used the clout of her book club to try to get Americans to read classics.

It was really the framing that got me. Wait! Hold off on the decision making until you see what I have to say is a good idea. Even bracketing the issue of difference in tastes--although why would there be any disagreement with his picks since he represents Joe Everyman of the experiences with which everyone can identify?--he's pumping himself up as being able to offer some sort of authoritative notion of quality in literature.

"Hey, you know, I don't like to brag... but I read. Yeah, it's true. Books. Real ones, with hard covers and big words and stuff. If you want, I could put you onto a good book or two. Oh, no, don't worry about it, it's my pleasure. I find is both ennobling and humbling to be able to share my superior taste and erudition with the masses. Just trying to do my part."


So, let's recap some of the fun little King... misunderstandings.
You missed the most basic misunderstanding in that it somehow eludes Mr. King that people switching from sugary carbonated beverages to sugary non-carbonated beverages is not progress.
 

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"Hey, you know, I don't like to brag... but I read. Yeah, it's true. Books. Real ones, with hard covers and big words and stuff. If you want, I could put you onto a good book or two. Oh, no, don't worry about it, it's my pleasure. I find is both ennobling and humbling to be able to share my superior taste and erudition with the masses. Just trying to do my part."
This is awesome. Because this is how he thinks, especially the bolded part.
 

Shelterdog

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You missed the most basic misunderstanding in that it somehow eludes Mr. King that people switching from sugary carbonated beverages to sugary non-carbonated beverages is not progress.
He also missed how remarkably stupid it is for King to say Coca Cola and Pepsi are getting hurt by Vitamin Water and Gatorade.
 

snowmanny

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Last week he taught us what the Abbey Road cover was and now he he tells us how Amazon works. I am giddy for next week.
 

Corsi

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I love the 'drab beer on tap' line. It's an airport bar, Pete. Do you expect them to have top shelf 1926 Scotch Whisky on hand?
This is the same guy who once wrote "Beernerdness: Gotta hand it to Fenway Park for improving the beer quality. Blue Moon on tap in the bleachers, Sam Adams summer ale and ShockTop Raspberry upstairs" and referred to Blue Moon as a "craft beer."

And I love how he drops the "upstairs" line in that note about Fenway beers. Upstairs...where the rich people sit.
 

Leather

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SImilarly, he commented yesterday:

k. Beernerdness: Good job by the Mets, making Kona Longboard Lager and Brooklyn Lager available, just a few steps from our seats. CitiField respects the diverse beer drinkers
(empahsis added).

WOW. Two half-decent lagers.* HOW DIVERSE!

I mean, it's not 1999 anymore: are there any ballparks that only have Miller or Bud these days?

*I've actually never liked Brooklyn Lager that much. Found it too filling.
 

Corsi

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"They've even got Chimay up in John Henry's suite. Nice job, Friendly Fenway."
 

Leather

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Does "diverse beer drinkers" refer to the diversity of beers, or the diversity of the drinkers?

Does King think that those are diverse types of beer (they aren't), or does he think of himself as an unusual beer drinker (he isn't)?

He's like, the Last Man in America to discover that shitty beer is shitty, and pats himself on the back for it every week.
 

ifmanis5

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King must be a barrel of fun at a ball game...



'Hey Pete, how 'bout some suds!?'

'Hmmmm, I find the selection a tad pedestrian.'

'Okay, how 'bout some dogs!?'

'Welllll, I think it best we order from Legal Seafood.'
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Does "diverse beer drinkers" refer to the diversity of beers, or the diversity of the drinkers?

Does King think that those are diverse types of beer (they aren't), or does he think of himself as an unusual beer drinker (he isn't)?

He's like, the Last Man in America to discover that shitty beer is shitty, and pats himself on the back for it every week.
I think that Peter King thinks that he has highly exceptional beer tastes and tries to impart that on his readers every week. What he doesn't get is that the people he is targeting his opinions to fall into two categories:

1. People who already know about the pedestrian beer that Peter is pimping and don't give a shit.
2. People who don't know about the beer and wouldn't be caught dead drinking it.

I suppose that there there is a very small percentage of readers who are impressed with his recomendations, but those people are impressed with electricity and running water. And it's not as if he's going all out on his beer recomendations, like I said I like Brooklyn; but it isn't stop the presses stuff. He's not recommending Fin Du Monde or some Trappist beer that has a high alcohol content.
 

Shelterdog

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Guys, TMQB has more of his thoughts on the soda ban. Ho-lee shit.

"OH NO! MY LATTES ARE UNDER ATTACK!!! "Since you're in favor of His Highness Bloomberg regulating sugary drinks, how about you include the amount of sugar in coffee based beverages on that list? I can't believe that your Grand Pumpkin Latte (or whatever the hell its called) has less sugar than a 20 oz. Coca Cola. Care to give away your freedom to choose your beverage of choice too, Peter?''
-- From Dave Henson, of Tampa, Fla.

Did a little research for you, Dave. The drink I get at Starbucks, the triple grande hazelnut latte (meaning it has a third shot of espresso and less milk) is 16 ounces, with 36 grams of sugar and 230 calories. The Big Gulp at 7-Eleven has, on average, 28 ounces of soda and four ounces of ice. That has 91 grams of sugar and 364 calories. The 44-ounce Super Big Gulp has 128 grams of sugar and 512 calories. Now, around the holidays, I do get -- maybe six or eight times a season -- the pumpkin latte or the egg nog latte, and those numbers are much higher. But my daily coffee drink has 37 percent fewer calories and 60 percent less sugar than the Big Gulp. Just for the record."


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/06/05/mail/index.html#ixzz1wxGSK6M4

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/06/05/mail/index.html
 

Corsi

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Hey Fatty! Do some math. Of course if you compare the 44-oz Super Big Gulp to your 16-oz latte it's going to have more calories.

Latte - 2.25 g sugar/oz -- 14.375 calories/oz
Big Gulp - 3.25 sugar/oz -- 13/calories/oz

It's a push, at best.
 

Leather

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He dodges the question entirely. The question isn't "how much sugar is in your drink?" It's "how would you feel if Bloomberg told you that you couldn't drink your [marginally less unhealthy] beverage of your choice"?
 

PBDWake

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He dodges the question entirely. The question isn't "how much sugar is in your drink?" It's "how would you feel if Bloomberg told you that you couldn't drink your [marginally less unhealthy] beverage of your choice"?
Also, you know, it'll still be perfectly fine under Bloomberg's proposition to get said Big Gulp. Being sold at a convenience store, it's not subject to the ban.
 

Corsi

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He dodges the question entirely. The question isn't "how much sugar is in your drink?" It's "how would you feel if Bloomberg told you that you couldn't drink your [marginally less unhealthy] beverage of your choice"?
Not only that, but the guy specifically frames the question as latte vs 20oz Coke and King responds with latte vs 28 or 44oz Big Gulp.
 

MoVaughndotORG

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I'd like to see a Venn diagram depicting those who like Peter King's book recommendations and those who think Pam Anderson is hot. There's got to be some serious overlap.
 

Leather

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And you just know he's full of shit when he says he only gets a grande sized. He obviously gets a venti.

And finally, his little "oh, well, hrm, um..." act regarding the holiday drinks (egg nog latte, pumpkin spice latte) is such horseshit. "Only 6 or 8 times a season" my ass. He raves about those fucking things the way people on this board rave about Kate Upton's tits. There's no fucking way he isn't getting those at least 3-4 times per week for each of their "seasons" (about 1.5 months each, I'd reckon).
 

Shelterdog

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He's not a grown man, dirty. He's a proud COFFEENERD!
The sad thing is that, like the college kid who pretends to love Jazz but only owns Kind of Blue and doesn't know Coltrane is on it, King actually thinks he's a coffeenerd.

You can drink whatever you want but pretending that Starbucks makes you sophisticated or cultured is just sad. Not realizing that your pumpkin lates and somebody else's megasoda are, like, exactly the same thing shows a level of empathy and respect for other's autonomy normally found in 13 year olds.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I'm still sad that Peter King wasn't allowed to drink his Stella Artois in peace at 10:55 pm in LAX. The fucking assholes who work there want to clean up and get home, can't they see that a Beer Nerd is enjoying a hard-to-get import?

Christ. Some people don't appreciate greatness.
 

Average Reds

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The sad thing is that, like the college kid who pretends to love Jazz but only owns Kind of Blue and doesn't know Coltrane is on it, King actually thinks he's a coffeenerd.

You can drink whatever you want but pretending that Starbucks makes you sophisticated or cultured is just sad. Not realizing that your pumpkin lates and somebody else's megasoda are, like, exactly the same thing shows a level of empathy and respect for other's autonomy normally found in 13 year olds.
His belief that Starbucks is a top rate coffeehouse combined with his bitching about the beer options in an airport lounge is really all you need to know about Peter King and the sophistication of his personal tastes.