Costas: Blogs a 'High-Tech Place for Idiots'

Bob Costas, apparently, is not a fan of the whole new media revolution. He makes plenty of generalizations about the online sportswriting in this discussion with the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson (ostensibly regarding Mark Cuban's locker room ban of bloggers), so we'll just quote a few of the ~~best~~ worst.

"But it's one thing if somebody just sets up a blog from their mother's basement in Albuquerque and they are who they are, and they're a pathetic get-a-life loser, but now that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard's column or Bernie Miklasz' column in St. Louis. That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility. Most of it is a combination of ignorance or invective." ...

"It's just a high-tech place for idiots to do what they used to do on bar stools or in school yards, if they were school yard bullies, or on men's room walls in gas stations. That doesn't mean that anyone with half a brain should respect it."

Costas usually doesn't seem like such a crusty old curmudgeon so clueless to the ways of the world. And honestly, if you cannot discern between 'shocker6969' commenting on an ESPN message board from the myriad talented bloggers and online columnists out there, you should stick to your dead trees and boob tubes, where "authorities" can funnel acceptable content straight into your craw.

The rest of us, who seek out the best in web writing? We were dissatisfied with the old media, which often "grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility" and is often "a combination of ignorance or invective." And thanks to the magic of technology and that crazy American thing called "freedom of ideas," we don't need your approval.

Furthermore, to fact-check Costas a bit: There are apparently no sports blogs based in Albuquerque.