I received a number of emails (that number being two) over the last couple of days asking whether or not I had seen that The Courier-Journal's U of L fan blogger Tom Heiser had taken a shot at me. I hadn't, so I checked it out and, yeah, it looks like The Courier-Journal's U of L fan blogger Tom Heiser took a shot at me.
After writing a post that voiced his support for the Cards but his apathy towards college baseball, Heiser received a trio of negative comments, one of which urged readers of his blog to frequent CC instead. He addressed the comments the next day in a post which included the following:
This statement surprised me for a number of reasons.
1. I've never said anything negative about Tom or his writing.
I'm a strong advocate of both U of L athletics and sports blogging, so saying something detrimental about a fellow Cardinal blogger is something I've never considered. I heartily enjoy the freedom that blogging permits and want to see the New Media thrive over the next ten years, so putting down anyone on the same proverbial team never made sense to me.
2. I don't really see this as a competition.
In 15 months of blogging I've made a grand total of $10. J.D. Salinger could come out of hiding tomorrow, decide that the only thing he wants to write about is Louisville sports and that he wants to do it in a blog format, and I'd be all right with that.
I don't have the statistics in front of me, but I'd be willing to bet my hard earned ten bucks that Tom's site generates more traffic than mine. It doesn't bother me. I love writing, I love Cardinal sports, and I love that I have an outlet where I can fuse the two.
3. This is the first time I can recall myself or something I've produced ever being referred to as "bland."
As far as journalism is concerned, I do have a strong appreciation for the straightforward presentation of facts and figures, but other than that bland has never really been my bag. I worship farce, I drink AMP, I party with Charlie Rose, and in my first political interview as a journalist last summer, I angered the Republican candidate for Iowa's vacant Secretary of Agriculture position by asking him whether or not he thought God had a rooting interest in his campaign (there was a back story, plus he was a dick).
Although, lately I have been trying to cut back on a lot of the over-the-top language (happy mom?), so perhaps Tom's observation is merely a reflection of the stodgy college graduate that I've become.
I understand that there are far different expectations for someone blogging for the C-J then there are for someone blogging for SBN. I'm pretty confident that Tom couldn't get away with consistently spewing unprovoked ill-will in the direction of poor Jay Cardosi.
Part of my obligation as an SBN blogger is to find and post links to the best stories on the web that have to do with Cardinal sports. I'm aware that I'm not the only person who does this, and that for someone who reads lots of sports blogs, trudging through some of these posts could end up being a bit of a monotonous task.
Still, I'd hate to think of myself as a vanilla writer unable to form intelligent opinions on my own.
Perhaps trying to make up for his recent "Omobi Okoye" and "Henry Douglas" faux pas, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mark Story subjected himself to a bevy of death threats by lauding the University of Louisville's athletic program in his Sunday column.
The opening:
But, figuratively speaking, this was the year his software patent made him a multi-millionaire, he married a beauty queen and he bought that mansion with the indoor pool.
If you haven't noticed -- or have been trying not to -- the University of Louisville is putting the finishing touches on a banner sports year.
Also singing the praises of Tom Jurich and company this week is ESPN's Pat Forde, who again marvels at just how much Jurich has been able to do in ten years.
One is obvious: Florida, which last week extended its winning streak over the rest of mankind when basketball coach Billy Donovan never-minded the NBA and returned to Gainesville. The Gators made the CWS championship series in 2005, the Final Four in '06 and '07, and the BCS in '07 as well.
The other school completed the trifecta Sunday -- and in the process completed arguably the most remarkable decade of all-around progress in the modern era of college sports. That would be Louisville, which has followed a Final Four trip in 2005 with the first BCS game in school history in January and now the first CWS berth after pummeling Oklahoma State in the super regional.
Quarterback Zack Frazer has announced that he intends to transfer from Notre Dame because he wasn't being considered for the starting QB job. The redshirt freshman, who was one of the top recruits in the country two years ago, is reportedly considering Rutgers, Miami, Louisville, Connecticut, East Carolina and several MAC schools at this time.
U of L freshmen pitcher Justin Marks was named to the inaugural Ping!Baseball Freshman Team while third baseman Chris Dominguez earned an honorable mention. Earlier in the season Marks was named the Big East's Freshman of the Year, while Dominguez took home Most Outstanding Player honors at the Columbia Regional.
Cardinal left fielder Isaiah Howes was named the "Courtney Paris Player of the Week" in SI on Campus' weekly "The Monday Awards."
Good news out of Atlanta, as a judge ruled yesterday to void the ten-year sentence of Genarlow Wilson (the 17-year-old who got a decade for getting a BJ from a 15-year-old) in favor of 12-month misdemeanor sentence with credit for time he's already served. Biggest d-bag in the world, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker announced that the state would appeal the decision.
Lastly, there will be a send-off party for the baseball team at 4:30 this afternoon at Fourth Street Live. I'm hoping I can make it down there, but if I can't I'd love to hear a summary of the event or see some of the pictures taken by those of you who could.
This is so cool.