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Media
September 16, 2008
Stat-heads and Scouts of the World, Unite!
The way baseball writers like to tell it, they are the brave mediators of an ongoing war for the soul of the sport between the old-school scouts and the new-school sabermetricians. According to the scribes, their skills are necessary to parse out the nuggets of truth among the spin emanating from these two diametrically opposed interest groups. In reality, though, writers fervently fan the flames of this supposed feud simply to give themselves something to write about. Nowhere is this more apparent than when they're discussing the career of Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Adam Dunn.
Full article » | by Jake Rake
Non-Motivational
September 14, 2008
The Non-Motivational Speaker Series Returns September 25
The Election is the subject of this month's Non-Motivational Speaker Series event, returning to the Lower East Side on Thursday, September 25, at 8 p.m. Weighing in on America's future are Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette and Radar fame, NYC Log Cabin Republican chairman Gregory J. Wright, a card-carrying member of the US Communist Party, and disengaged twentysomething Jake Rake.
Full article » | by Adam Rosen
Sports
September 12, 2008
Golf is a Republican
As you might've figured out, we at Gelf appreciate sports and politics (among other things). So in this election year, we could not help but ask the obvious question: Are some of our favorite sports Republicans or Democrats? We thought about it and ran our thoughts by progressive sportswriter Dave Zirin for some perspective (Zirin, for his part, went beyond simply Republicans and Democrats).
Sports
September 12, 2008
Who's Right on Hawk-Eye?
Hawk-Eye, the sophisticated instant-replay system used in Grand Slam tennis matches on show courts, uses cameras and computer simulations to show where tennis balls land. It's used as the final word on accepted calls, and the New York Times says it has "won over players, fans and officials." Maybe so, but it hasn't won over Salon tech writer Farhad Manjoo.
Sports
September 12, 2008
We Are a Part of a Raider Nation
No one is writing the real story of what happened last Monday night in Oakland Coliseum. Yes, the Raiders lost on national television, 41-14, against their oldest, most-bitter rivals in the season opener at home before a capacity crowd of 63,000. Yes, their 23-year-old quarterback JaMarcus Russell was coddled by management, never getting a chance to let fly with his $60-million arm. Yes, it will be another losing season with the youngest coach in the NFL, who went 4-12 last year. But no, this was not a defeat. Because you cannot defeat congenital losers. Even in defeat, losers don't lose; their identity is only reaffirmed. Let it be said loud and clear that, now more than ever, America is a Raider Nation, and we are all Raiders!
World
September 11, 2008
Alabama: The Next Promised Land?
Are you Jewish? Need cash? Like Peanuts (the nut, not the comic strip)? You could get $50,000 just for relocating to Dothan, Alabama. A group in Dothan, a town of 58,000 in southeastern Alabama is offering Jews $50K to come on down, provided they stay for five years and get involved in the Temple Emanu-El. Larry Blumberg, the head of the program, has taken out ads in Jewish newspapers in Boston, Miami, Washington and Providence to try to entice the Chosen People of Israel to make their home in the buckle of the Bible Belt.
Politics
September 11, 2008
Lipstick on an Elephant
The Republican camp has done an excellent job recently of being offended. It is, of course, not a genuine kind of outrage, but more the type of shocked-shocked!-I-tell-you indignity that is now a staple of this election season. McCain first broke out the outrage defense early last month when Obama warned that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” The McCain camp was deeply disappointed that Obama had "played the race card" and "from the bottom of the deck," no less, as if the extension of that metaphor alluded to some kind of ultimate party foul on the old Oregon Trail.
Full article » | by Max Lakin
Media
September 10, 2008
Taking SpinSpotter for a Spin
The SpinSpotter, a new toolbar currently available in beta for Firefox, claims to be able to detect bias and bullshit in the media by highlighting phrases indicative of spin and explaining them. A worthy concept, sure, but can it be done? Gelf put on the spinoculars and took a look around.
Media
September 7, 2008
WSJ: The Magazine's Inaugural Issue
The Wall Street Journal debuted its magazine section this weekend (or, here in Chicago, a bit earlier than that). Gelf took a gander at a copy of the glossy insert—our verdict? It's Parade for superrich investment bankers, rife with coverage of the rich and stylish and consumer goods you can't afford. If you were expecting, say, a rightward-leaning New York Times Magazine, look elsewhere.
Media
September 4, 2008
Lean Times at The New York Sun
They've always done things differently at the New York Sun. The very act of opening a print-centric newspaper in the new millennium is anachronistic, not unlike designing a new horse carriage at the dawn of the automotive age—albeit one that has a tendency to veer to the right. Now, in its most desperate hour, the paper may have to consider its non-traditional roots and try something drastic to help keep it afloat.
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