Another sports journalist bangs on SW fans...

[JMK]

http://www.dailyhome.com/columnists/2003/dh-scottadamson-0126-sadamson-3a25v4253.htm

Email your thoughts to him here: sadamson@dailyhome.com


Here's what I wrote to him:

Your Star Wars Geek Article was truly useless and literally a waste of time and space. What, did you read Mitch Albom's column from a few years back that got on Star Wars fans' cases and thought you would jump in too?
Maybe you were a fan of this article: http://www.freep.com/sports/albom/qmitch111.htm
Did you think bringing it up again would skyrocket your sports editing career? Well maybe the joke is on me, because I did click the link, so your site did get one extra hit that it would probably have never gotten otherwise. Congratulations plagiarist, you're the best in the world. Actually, 2nd best. Albom beat you by almost 4 years. Passing off others work as your own? Literary theft? You would think an editor would have more journalistic integrity than that. Stick to what you know Mr. Adamson, "sports editor".

God some people just drive me nutsies.....

[Figrin D'an]

Does this man have nothing else to write about? I mean, jesus, it's Super Bowl Sunday, the guy is a sports writer, and you can't figure out something more worth while to put into a editorial column?

Good God, man... get this guy a jackhammer to rid him of his seriously large mental bock.

[Marcus Telcontar]

A sports editor sayign that?

WTF?

[JonathanLB]

In some parts his article is just so funny. He shows what an idiot he is.

I flamed him intelligently, i.e. I did not swear at him or anything obviously, I just gave him a good-natured trashing.

I felt it was necessary to mention that I never did take sports writers seriously and that us REAL writers consider them the lowest possible members of the writing group -- the rest of us write using facts and analytical thinking, then the sports writers just rant about idiotic B.S. that is not REAL at all.

Star Wars not real? Umm, yeah, and sports aren't real either. At all. It's just a GAME you IDIOT.

My god, I truly have zero respect for most sports writers, they are so stupid and they cannot write worth a damn. The AP sports writers are pitiful. ESPN sports writers are mostly pitiful. There are a few good ones. I like a few guys at ESPN, but the one who keeps writing about movies on Page 2 is SUCH a loser. He knows NOTHING ABOUT FILM! Leave film to experts, you idiot, stick to sports.

The only guy I truly like is Mike Celznic for MSNBC and many other sources (he's freelance).

[Sejah Haversh]

Not only can this man not come up with an original topic, but he also has a problem with concise sentences and making a paragraph. One would think he is incapable of stringing more than three sentences together.

Read "The Pyrates", you'll be happier. That is, presuming you can find a copy of this out of print masterpiece of comedy my Mr. Groege MacDonald Fraser.... *grumbles that his dad LOST his copy and how has to pay $45 for a new one*

[Jedi Master Carr]

I saw that on theforce.net I agree Sports Writers should stick to writing about sports, it would be like a paper's film critic talking about the Super Bowl now you don't see that do you. The guys just a moron he deserves all the hate mail he gets.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Actually, the dictionary defines a geek as a carnival performer who bites off the heads of chickens and/or snakes.

o_O

riiight.

[Jedi Master Carr]

He said that what dictionary was he reading???

[Diego Van Derveld]

That is a correct definition.

And yeah...what a lame cash-in.

[JonathanLB]

My film horror book was mentioning a star who actually started as a geek, lol.

I told him the exact same thing in my hate mail, haha, that he should stick to sports because he knows nothing about film evidently.

Also, to prove that I feel this way with any writer, I got EXTREMELY ticked off when I saw Ebert wrote a political editorial in support of Gore about 2 years ago. Ugg, the guy is a film critic and he needs to stick to what he is PAID to write and not try to get into the political commentary arena.

It would be one thing if Ebert majored in Political Science at college and just decided to be a film critic, because then I would be ok with him making political comments in the paper, too, but the fact is, he needs to keep his political opinions to himself and stick to film reviews. If he wants to talk politics in his personal life, more power to him, but the rest of us do not want to see his opinions published in a paper.

I'm major in philosophy, so if I write a philosophy book at some point (which I will...), then it should not seem particularly unusual or out of place because that is my area of study, too. Film is what I do on the side, for now.

[Hadrian Invicta]

Actually Ebert got his degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois (A top 5 journalism program) and was the editor-in-chief of the Daily Illini, the most widely respected university newspaper in the United States. I'd say that his political opinion is as equally valid as any other journalist. I'd say his opinion is more valid than that of Bono's from U2.

(sorry a fellow alum of the university needed my support.) lol

[JonathanLB]

What does that have to do with anything? You just proved my point exactly.

He was a JOURNALISM major, not a poly sci major, so he has no place commenting on issues that he is not an expert about. Does anyone want to hear some FOOL saying how great Gore is when the guy was a total freakin' moron? No. Nobody cares what a film critic has to say about politics unless this is a special film critic who happens to be both into politics and film, which is not the case.

In my case, I pride myself on being a philosophical film critic, meaning that my reviews are supposed to introduce a philosophy edge into them, not just focus on the film always (though that is true 95% of the time), so when I inject some philosophy reference or whatever, it IS appropriate because that is an area that I want to specialize in. In Ebert's case, he, like everyone else, is entitled to an opinion about politics and political matters, but he needs to stick to writing about film and leave politics to the political WRITERS, because that's what they do.

You wouldn't see me putting up a political essay in support of libertarianism on my MOVIE Website because it would be inappropriate -- I'm a film critic. Now it would be different if in conversation someone asked me about my political views. Then I would have an intelligent response for them and could certainly discuss it, but what would happen if you took every single sports writer, movie writer, fashion magazine writer, and everyone else and had them all writing political pieces? Then you get a bunch of uninformed people writing about issues that they need to stay away from commenting upon. I don't read the newspaper to see a film critic writing about politics. That just pisses me off if anything.

I had more respect for Ebert before knowing he was so stupid as to support AL GORE. My god, I'm no Bush fan either because I cannot stand a lot of the decisions made, and I don't want to get into a political discussion, but Bush was by far the lesser of two idiots/evils. Gore would have really screwed things up. At least Bush has given some taxes back (thanks to that I got almost $3,000 back). Gore wouldn't have done anything. He's a fool and so is Ebert for supporting him.

I respect Ebert as a film critic. Nothing more. He knows nothing about politics and should avoid talking about what he knows nothing about.

[Diego Van Derveld]

This is rare, but I agree with Jon. You have your professional forte', and you stick to that. Forget trying to broaden horizons and dabble into affairs that you aren't qualified to speak of. That's like saying a fashion commentator in Seventeen magazine can write about the Iowa Caucus, because he/she has a journalism major.

It would be another thing entirely for Ebert to make a political remark off-hand, and out of his columns (a la Bono). Its entirely different when you put it into your job.

[Jedi Master Carr]

that is the definition?? I can hardly believe it but I looked it up and it is I wonder why it has been changed since I doubt there is anybody that does any more and especially since the term Geek is now use as a term to describe somebody who is nerdish.

[imported_Eve]

Sticking to what you know is neat and all, but no one here does it. There are threads where we all, most who aren't qualified with a degree (or whatever you want), to talk about some issues. But we do.

I happen to have a degree in Poli Sci, so naturally I like to get involved in political discussions. Doesn't make me any more right to some people here, even if I do happen to know TONS more on many political issues than others do.

It's an opinion, and like it or not, some people think we're weird. So what? There are lots of opinions here, many bashing directors, actors, etc. Want them e-mailing you because you have no idea what being a director or actor is about? They don't because you're expressing an opinion. I think it's overkill to get so mad over someone bashing your enthusiasm for something that IS make-believe. Cmon now.

Besides, he's contradicting himself with his gracious mention of his spiderman love.

[Diego Van Derveld]

Sticking to what you know is neat and all, but no one here does it. There are threads where we all, most who aren't qualified with a degree (or whatever you want), to talk about some issues. But we do.

Conversing about it is entirely different than getting paid to write about it.

[JMK]

Exactly, getting paid and having your views and opinions uploaded and printed is one thing, talking about it and discussing it is another entirely. An article is not a discussion.

[Hadrian Invicta]

No Jon, obviously you missed the part where I said he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Illini, which has more circulation than most news papers. As the editor-in-chief he had to cover political issues such as the Vietnam War and the bombings of Cambodia.

Which means he was expected to write an opinion on such matters. His work reached audiences of well over 50,000 readers daily. I think that's a pretty good resume. Or are you saying that simply because he took a job doing something he was passionate about suddenly his 2-3 years as a member of the Editorial Board and his tenure as the Editor-in-chief of a publication that reaches tens of thousands of readers daily means nothing.

Are you saying that reporters who cover gov't have no write to comment on politics because their major isn't poli sci? Ebert wasn't always a film critic. Read a biography of the man before you bash his creditials (sp?)

Back on topic, who cares what a sports writer thinks, who cares what a film critic thinks. A critic's opinion on a movie has no bearing on whether or not i will go see it or watch it. A sports writers berating of a hobby has no influence whether I continue or discontinue. Humans decide for themselves and those too weak to form their own opinions and stick by them never really had an opinion to start with.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah he is a paid sportswriter, and he should stick to it, you don't see Roger Ebert talking about NBA on his show do you? Also that whole thing is old and besides we aren't the only ones, you have Star Trek fans, LOTR, and Harry Potter fans who all do the same thing so why just pick on us?

[JonathanLB]

You are free to disagree, but my point stands. I think Ebert should stick to film -- he may very well be one of the most knowledgeable film critics/historians in the entire world. I don't know for sure because how could I judge who has seen the most, read the most, and really knows the most, but Ebert seems to me to be at the top.

I think he should stick to film. Also, what you are saying is quite a bit different than what I'm saying. The piece that he wrote, which FoxDVD actually called to my attention several years ago, was not a reasoned piece on politics appealing to greater liberty for the people or less taxes or something worthy like that, it was nothing more than an ad for Al Gore. It was just, "I am Roger Ebert, I am famous, so I can write what I want and I have decided to use up extra space in the newspaper with my opinions about a political matter, even tbough I never write about politics."

Oh he did it in college? Ok that makes it alright now because that was, after all, ONLY about 4 decades ago. My bad. lol.

One other little comment here struck me as something worth commenting on anyway.

Granted, we all feel, myself included, that just because a critic says something about a movie does not make it so ("Star Wars sucks"), but I think that people in general should have greater respect, at least, for what film critics know about their field. Granted, we may very well disagree with them frequently and I may think that Kenneth Turan is a bit of a duffer (I mean that in a good way, not to insult the guy, but we do not share film tastes), but I still have great respect for what he knows.

Let me present just briefly an argument that I've heard other film critics use. Ok, if you wanted to know what constitutes sound engineering in a building, you would not just ask anyone on the street, would you? No, you would find an engineer, hopefully with a degree from an accredited institution and some professional experience, who could tell you what you wanted to know. The same is really true of film criticism. If you want to know who the greatest directors are, would you be more likely to ask some random person on the street or go to a film expert? I may disagree with critics a lot, but overall they know what they're talking about. They know film history from the late 1800's through present and have an appreciation for film that is vastly beyond that of an average moviegoer. If I were to have a film question, anyway, I would ask an expert -- not a random person on a forum or on the streets.

Now I'm not saying, though, that on an individual modern film that I'd rather hear what Ebert thinks about, say, Minority Report than what any of you think. In that case, although I greatly respect Ebert, I don't see any particular reason why I'd value his opinion much more than anyone else. If I wanted to know the history of the French New Wave movement, however, I would more likely ask Ebert than ask anyone here, no offense! :)

The point is, film critics have their place, but the trick is for them to remain somewhat humble about their knowledge, too. Instead of thinking their opinions are automatically more valuable, for instance.

[Diego Van Derveld]

I have no respect for film critics, whatsoever...but if you're going to make your profession off something like that, then I expect you to stick to your niche.

[Jedieb]

I've always wanted to be in the circus! Then I could hang out and perform with all the other geeks. Especially the ones who handed out towels to the football players in HS and then later on devoted their professional careers to glorifying and covering the guys they use to help towel off. Is there anything cooler than a former waterboy who now edits a sports section? WHY CAN'T I HAVE HIS LIFE?!:rolleyes

[JonathanLB]

Now Jedieb shows us what good sarcasm is. That is classic. :)

"I have no respect for film critics, whatsoever...but if you're going to make your profession off something like that, then I expect you to stick to your niche."

Well that is your right and your opinion, I cannot apparently change that despite my reasoned argument.

I do not intend to become a professional film critic at any point in my life, though I do aim to become a professional film expert and historian, or theorist, or whatever words you would like to use. Primarily, though, I want to use my critical abilities and knowledge to enhance my capacity and potential as a director. So I'm not offended by your statement as I do not honestly consider myself a "critic" as much as a scholar of film, and by that I mean someone who is studying film, not someone who literally has the knowledge yet. I'm just a young apprentice of the art :)

[Sene Unty]

What a schmuck.

Doesn't this guy realize he is a nobody? He is writing a sports column for a newspaper in Talladega?!?!?! I mean give me a break! They have an ad on the front page for Mike's Army Surplus. Who the hell is he trying to impress?

[Diego Van Derveld]

SonufaBITCH! I didn't know he was from Alabama till you said that >_<

Dammit to hell, there's always at least one to give us all a bad name.

[Sene Unty]

:lol

Well I didn't mean to insult Alabama. That is funny as hell though.