[Sports Fans] I ain't one, but this is interesting.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
04/05/2019 at 09:35 • Filed to: None

I am no sports fan, but this is very interesting commentary . The Bulwark is a blog/reporting site started by a Never Trump conservative defector and the writing is good and I appreciate the perspective. Also, I detest how professional sports distorts and harms American society. But that’s a rant for another day.

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1. SMOD

Hi there.

How are you this morning? Good? You doing good?

Had a good start to the day? Getting ready to be productive? Enjoy spring? Get ready for the weekend?

I’m so glad.

Stephen A. Smith is about to be making !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a year.

You may remember Stephen A. Smith from such sports entertainment shows and FACTS VERSUS VOLUME and THE BIG SHOUT.

In an industry filled with talentless idiots such as Skip Bayless and Chris Berman and Pam Shriver, Stephen A. Smith stands alone atop the mountain: He is the dumbest, least talented hack in the entire “sports journalism” industrial complex.

And now he’s going to make between $8 million and $10 million per year.

Let me tell you what’s not happening:

Stephen A. Smith is not delivering value in terms of measurable monetary returns for his network.

The next consumer I meet who likes Stephen A. Smith will be the first.

He’s a classic boss pleaser. The guy who gets ahead not by delivering results or product, but by flattering management. He’s been this way since his days at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

So the real question isn’t “How much value does Stephen A. Smith deliver above the replacement sports-entertainment personality?” (Or VoRSEP.)

It’s, “How long will the margins on broadcast sports-entertainment be big enough to support inefficient decisions like the one to throw money at Stephen A. Smith?”

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DISCUSSION (8)

Nibby > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/05/2019 at 09:41

Kinja'd!!!

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/05/2019 at 09:49

So he's mad that someone on TV that he doesn't like gets paid a lot of money?

jimz > Nibby
04/05/2019 at 09:52

you leave my Red Wings out of this.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles
04/05/2019 at 09:56

So you’re mad that you like Stephen A. and this guy does not?

I think his commentary is broader than that, if you give it a good read.

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/05/2019 at 10:05

I'm not mad at all. And I'm not really a fan of Stephen A. Smith, but television networks are bursting at the seams with people who talk loudly and get paid too much.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles
04/05/2019 at 10:31

I was a little bit snarky there.

I heap scorn on television generally and professional sports in particular.

bursting at the seams with people who talk loudly and get paid too much.

...bursting at the seams with *jackasses* who talk loudly... And *fake*... And some of them become POTUS...

EngineerWithTools > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/05/2019 at 12:05

I think the author is mostly right about the B2B / B2C stuff and the direction things are going .

Anyway, I disagree on this point: That Stephen A Smith isn’t delivering value to his employer, over the long term. Someone, likely multiple someone’s, including people good at accounting, think he does even if the author does not . Companies exist to make money. Yes, they make all kinds of mistakes that lose money. S ometimes they take actions they know will lose money , although frequently an underlying calculation shows such action will be financially beneficial in a different way . Companies also tend to be slow to correct serious problems or mistakes, but they will make corrections eventually . If they are subject to market forces, they must. If that contract is a loser in a year , they’ll figure out how to terminate, minimizing the losses.

I guess what I’m saying is that, like cars, diamonds or old bananas, Stephen A Smith is literally worth what someone is willing to pay right now. That might change tomorrow, in a week or year or never, but it’s true right now.

At the risk of approaching the giant stink bomb that is politics, I’ll say one more thing: The idea that someone or something we don’t like must be , therefore, worthless, or worth less, to someone - everyone - else is nasty, brutish and tribal. I don’t know if that’s what the author means to say, but it’s the impression he gives .

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > EngineerWithTools
04/05/2019 at 15:57

I appreciate your thoughtful comment and I agree with you. And if you consider the source, conservative defectors because Donald Trump, then the writer is highlighting her liberal bona fides . And I may be a bit of an elitist snob to say that I do not think television has had much of constructive value to offer in quite a long time. Further, for my own taste, I subscribe to Netflix and find their original content, when it suits my taste, to be much fresher than anything on network television — or Hollywood. I pay Netflix directly so they don’t have to sell commercials and my entire family uses the service from different states and it’s less than $20/mo. Works for me.

So it’s an opinion piece where she opines that Steven A is a lousy commentator. But it’s also broader than that.

I think you and I are on the same page. And I like your adjectives: nasty, brutish, tribal ; I’ll begin using those.

Cheers!