Detroit native Laura Demanski is getting tired of the Chicago White Sox announcing crew:
These guys I'm suffering now cloy in (admittedly unfair) comparison to [Ernie] Harwell
Archive for June, 2005
June 30th, 2005
Windy City Windbags
June 30th, 2005
Closed Captioning And Unintended Consequences
Just got a short note from my father I thought I'd share. Just as a reference point, he works for a company that sells closed captioning equipment:
One of the biggest advantages of Closed Captions is that you can mute the TV program and still follow the dialogue. Am watching Wimbledon, gratefully you can turn off the stupid grunts and screams coming from the two players and still get the commentators' comments. It sounds like a bad wrestling match between two wounded animals -- Williams and Sharapova.
Here's an technological advance I'm looking for: selective muting for sporting events. Hit the button, Tim McCarver's voice disappears, and all you hear are the stylings of Joe Buck. I think there would be a market for that.
UPDATE: Venus Williams wins. She'll get either Lindsay Davenport or Amelie Mauresmo in the final.
June 30th, 2005
Trouble At The Turnstiles For The Nats
This morning, the Washington Post fronted a story recognizing that while the Washington Nationals have been a success at the gate so far in terms of tickets sold, team revenue is being curtailed due to the fact that the Nats have a slightly higher percentage of fans who buy tickets but fail to show for the games:
The Nationals sold an average of 32,019 tickets for their first 33 games, from their home opener in April through June 12, a pace that puts them on track to meet their preseason projection of about 2.5 million tickets for the season.But the average number of people who attended those games was 24,679, according to data provided by the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission, which operates RFK. This figure, known as the turnstile count, is rarely divulged by professional teams but is closely monitored in the sports industry.
The rate of unused tickets at RFK was 23 percent, slightly higher than the 15 to 20 percent that a professional team should expect, industry analysts said. And the difference means less money for the city in taxes from parking spaces, hot dogs and all the other things fans buy at RFK.
So far, the higher no-show rate is being attributed to the large percentage of corporate season ticket holders who bought ticket packages, but aren't using them. Further . . .
The unpredictable aspect of how many fans use their tickets might make Wall Street leery of giving the city a good rate on bonds that are financed by tax revenue from the stadium sales, said Natwar M. Gandhi, the District's chief financial officer. He used this argument when he recommended that the city accept a private financing plan from Deutsche Bank. No decision has been made.
Which of course, would drive up the price of the new stadium before you can say, "eminent domain". How much more, of course, would be up to the folks on Wall Street.
Left unsaid in the article is one bitter truth that I mentioned last October: If the revenue collected from the stadium taxes doesn't cover the debt service, then the balance will have to come out of the District's general revenues.
I don't take any joy in this news. Now that the Nats are here, I want to see them succeed. I've already been to four games this season, and will probably be going to a lot more. But it's still sobering to see that the warnings we heard in the run-up to approval of the stadium may very well come to pass after all.
UPDATE: A few days ago, Ryan at Distinguished Senators was wondering out loud why the first place Nationals couldn't draw more than 40,000 fans to their last weekend series.
June 30th, 2005
Housekeeping Note
What once occupied this space was a report, that quite frankly, didn't have any credibility at all. I shouldn't have linked to it in the first place. In short, I was had, probably too willing to be had. It won't happen again.
My apologies to my readers, and to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who have enough garbage to put up with without me peddling somebody else's trash.
June 30th, 2005
Colby Cosh’s Unassisted Triple Play
Lots of good stuff over at Colby's place for you to peruse. First, take a look at this NHL Draft Analysis, and who really has the best chance of snagging Sidney Crosby. And Colby, those of us from the Island think four straight Stanley Cups and 19 straight playoff series victories were well worth the antics of Billy Smith. As far as I'm concerned, we all paid the piper at Game Five of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton.
It's been 16 years since Field of Dreams was in theaters around North America, but we're only now getting the inside story behind how the book it was based on, W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe. Be sure to visit the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to see what I mean.
And finally, if you're a fan of hockey, you can't really avoid picking up some knowledge of Quebecker seperatism. And for many Americans, that movement is embodied in the slogan we occassionally see on the license plates of La Belle Provence: Je me souviens. As it turns out, time and tide have changed the meaning a bit. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as others have appropriated it for their own purposes from time to time.
June 29th, 2005
More Cuban On MGM-Grokster
GELF managed to get hold of Mark Cuban for a short interview on the MGM-Grokster case:
Gelf Magazine: Is this a major victory for the entertainment and recording industries?Mark Cuban: No. It's a major victory for lawyers everywhere. The entertainment industries didn't stop anyone or anything. The amount of illegal file-sharing didn't change a bit because of the ruling, nor will the industry be able to change anything as a result of the ruling. They just got the right to sue some people
June 29th, 2005
Picture Of The Day
Courtesy of Dan McLaughlin.
Thanks Dan, this arrived by email when I really needed it.
June 29th, 2005
Putin And The Super Bowl Ring
Now that the Cold War has been over for better than a decade, it's sometimes hard to remember just how high the tension could be racheted between the U.S. and Russia back then. By comparison, the latest international incident involving the former Soviet Union seems strange, and rather trivial:
Russian President Vladimir Putin walked off with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring, but was it a generous gift or a very expensive international misunderstanding?Following a meeting of American business executives and Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg on Saturday, Kraft showed the ring to Putin -- who tried it on, put it in his pocket and left, said Russian news reports.
Kraft, who's on travel, couldn't be reached for comment. As for Putin, a Kremlin spokesman insists that the ring was a gift, sort of like Eastern Poland in 1939.
June 28th, 2005
Currently In Development: Beer League
Thanks to Peter Leveque of Calgary for passing along the link to a proposal for a television "mockumentary" following the travails of a beer league hockey team.
Apparently, the producer is looking to attract the interest of a producer in Canada, and I'm not chary about pointing everyone in their direction. Be forewarned, the language on the trailer is NSFW.
June 28th, 2005
Props To Reemer
One of the folks I've been fortunate enough to come across while sports blogging is Karim Mayan, aka Reemer. After a couple of years at ESPN, Karim now has "Bristol in his rear-view mirror," and has joined the crew over at Fox Sports Interactive in Los Angeles.
Safe to say, ESPN's loss is Fox's gain. Congratulations to Karim, and best of luck out on the left coast.
June 27th, 2005
Eric And The Book Meme
When Skip Sauer asks a question, how can I refuse to answer? So here are my answers to the book meme that's been rocketing around for a couple of weeks. Like Skip, I'll focus on sports titles, but I'll also be sure to toss in odd titles from other genres when necessary.
1. How many books?
Sports titles, probably around 150. Overall, it's pretty hard to know, as most of my library has been boxed up since my last move because I only have one bookcase. So I guess 500 altogether.
2. Most recent purchase
Boys Of Winter by Wayne Coffey, where the former New York Daily News sportswriter recounts the story of the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Team. I enjoyed it, but for some reason, I found the HBO documentary Do You Believe In Miracles, as well as the Kurt Russell vehicle, Miracle, to be far more compelling than Coffey's book.
3. Currently reading
Just inhaled Drama City, the latest from George Pelecanos, producer of The Wire. The most recent sports titles were The Punch by John Feinstein; The Devil Wears Pinstripes (painful to read, even for a confirmed Yankee hater like me) by Jim Caple; The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman; The Game by Ken Dryden and Juiced by Jose Canseco (Canseco recounting how he brought his agent along on a date with Madonna is a classic. He thinks he's Rico Suave, but he's really Pobre Gauche.)
4a. Five books that "meant the most"
Bums by Peter Golenbock. No, I have not read Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn. Yes, I know this book is near heretical because Golenbock is a self-described Yankees fan. Still, Bums was my first detailed introduction to the team my father grew up rooting for, and has provided grist for endless hours of baseball conversation between us. Read Bums and you'll never forget Pete Reiser.
Hockey Sur Glace by Peter LaSalle. Even though this slim collection of poetry and short stories came and went without much fanfare, it will always have an honored place on my shelf. If you're a hockey fan, try to find a used copy for sale, as the story of Le Rocket Negre is worth the price alone.
Football Against The Enemy by Simon Kuper. I guess I could have dropped Hornby's Fever Pitch in this slot, but Kuper provides a more ecumenical experience. In the years running up to the 1994 World Cup, he planned a trip around the world on a shoestring budget and managed to get anywhere and everywhere that Football (Soccer) really matters. You'll meet a former East German man whose love for his football team led him to be followed by the Stasi. You'll meet mobsters in post-Soviet Russia who control professional sports in that country. And there's even time for dive into the sectarian ugliness of the Celtic-Rangers rivalry. If you're an American who would like a breezy, but substantive, introduction to the international game, Football Against The Enemy is for you.
A Civil War by John Feinstein. One year in the life of the Army-Navy football rivalry. America is lucky to have men such as these.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. Sure, everybody has read it by now, but it was a real revelation for me (Always be open to new sources of information). It profoundly affected the way I work and blog, and continues to every day of the week.
4b. The Worst Sports Book Of All Time.
Oh Baby I Love It! by Tim McCarver. Like being stuck in an airport bar with the Fox broadcaster during the blizzard of the century. Now some books, like Canseco's Juiced, are so bad they can actually be entertaining on a certain level. Not so with McCarver. Rushed into print in the wake of the Mets victory in the 1986 World Series, everything about this book is slapdash, right down to cover photo of McCarver leaning on a bat on the first baseline at Shea Stadium wearing a sport coat and tie. What's wrong, couldn't get the rights to even one photo of McCarver on the mound with either Bob Gibson or Steve Carlton?
5. Who gets next? Baseball Crank, Chris Lynch, Tom Benjamin, Chris Neddham and Steve MacLaughlin.
June 27th, 2005
“They’re always rip-offs.”
Thanks to Colby Cosh for unearthing an old interview with John Lennon on the real deal when it comes to charity concerts.
June 27th, 2005
More Bad News From The Supreme Court
You have to admit they've been on something of a roll lately:
Internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for their customers to use software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting warnings that the lawsuits will stunt growth of cool tech gadgets such as the next iPod.The unanimous decision sends the case back to lower court, which had ruled in favor of file-sharing services Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. on the grounds that the companies couldn't be sued. The justices said there was enough evidence of unlawful intent for the case to go to trial.
File-sharing services shouldn't get a free pass on bad behavior, justices said.
"We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties," Justice David H. Souter wrote for the court.
I'm not going to do much else other than link to something that Mark Cuban wrote over at Blog Maverick back in January:
With all the home movies we are creating and saving on our computers. All the digital pictures of our families and friends. All the personal music created at home. All the corporate data and presentations. All the books, software, newsletters, newspapers, discussion forums, blogs, websites and emails that are created and saved digitally. How big a percentage could music and movies be ? 1/10 of 1 percent? At most ?Every single one of these items can benefit from the distribution efficiencies created by Peer to Peer networks. Every person and company in this country that wants to exchange digital data can benefit from peer to peer technologies. Just because the uses aren
June 27th, 2005
More On George Soros And The Nationals
Just moved on Drudge:
Despite the Washington Nationals' successful start to the season, to some Capitol Hill Republicans there is a dark cloud on the Nats' horizon: the potential that their newly adopted home team could be purchased by billionaire financier George Soros!Soros has joined an ownership bid being led by entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky that is angling to take over the Nats, who are currently owned by Major League Baseball.
ROLL CALL reports: Soros pumped more than $20 million in the last cycle into groups seeking to unseat President Bush and elect Democrats and relates that the very prospect that Soros could have a stake in the team is enough to irritate Congressional Republicans.
I posted about this earlier this month, and I can't say I'm terribly surprised.
UPDATE: Radley Balko is outraged. Jeff Cooper too.
June 27th, 2005
NHL Carnival Update
I'm happy to report that Steve Ovadia of Puck Update has agreed to host the third edition of "The Carnival of the NHL" -- the periodic tour of the latest and greatest from all of the hockey blogs on the Web.
But given the relative dearth of news these days, Steve and I have agreed to hold off for about three weeks in hopes we might launch the next carnival somewhere in the vicinity of aresolution of the labor situation. So sit tight, and we'll be fixing a specific date sometime soon.
In the meantime, I'm not sure "Carnival of the NHL" is a terribly compelling name. So, if you have a suugestion for an alternative title, send it to me here at Off Wing. As an added bonus, I've got a cache of "Quit Puckin' With Our Game" magnets to give away. Just send your entry to me ASAP, and I'll give every entrant a free magnet as a prize until I run out of stock. Thanks to our friends at "Quit Puckin'" for the swag.
June 24th, 2005
Larry Brown’s Wanderlust
Via TMFTML, I found this hysterical take on Larry Brown's propensity to change jobs.
Sure it's a few days old, but it's still funny.
June 24th, 2005
Carnival Of The NHL #2
With no end in sight for the NHL's labor pains, we embark on the second edition of the Carnival of the NHL. I'm sure I'm not the only hockey fan still smarting over the news that the NBA has managed to avoid a labor meltdown while the NHL has immolated itself. But in some mirror dimension, Steve Ovadia is looking at what would happen if the NHL ran the NBA.
With some details on the new salary cap leaking out of the labor negotiations, a number of fans have started doing the math, and like Charlton Heston in The Planet Of The Apes, they aren't sure they like what they've found. Down in Tampa, John Fontana believes the Bolts are going to get hollowed out, and forced to sacrifice many of the role players that proved so critical to 2004's Stanley Cup run. And be sure to check out John's look at how players continue to put their health, and their careers on the line when they don't wear facemasks.
Others are getting prepared for an ugly auction, as teams take advantage of a window to buy veterans out of big ticket contracts. JZ Kumar who concludes that the Leafs have gotten nothing out of most of their trade deadline deals for aging talent other than playoff victories over Ottawa, suggests there might be a bright side to the situation.
One new blogger I found, Carol Lee Sussman of Long Island, took a look at what the cap might mean for the Rangers and the most expensive checking center in the league, Bobby Holik. And in Detroit, Brian List is looking forward to a bloodletting when it comes to the roster.
One spot where the outlook seems to be a bit brighter is in Anaheim, where Brain Burke is taking the reins under new ownership, and according to James Mirtle, maybe even new togs and a new name. For Jim, all indicators are pointing in the right direction in the OC:
Well, in my opinion, Burke is one of the top handful of GMs in the NHL, so this is going to mean nothing but great things for the Ducks. With Burke at the helm, I have no doubt Anaheim will be a playoff team next season and will win their division in the next three to four years.He
June 24th, 2005
“Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation”
I know I don't normally post about politics anymore, but this George Will column distills exactly what I think about yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Kelo.
Yesterday was a bad day for liberty. And we will be suffering from the consequencees for decades to come.
As a sports aside, I suspect that this will make it that much easier for politicians to seize land and property that gets in the way when your favorite local sports owner wants a new arena or stadium. And that's bad for everybody.
June 23rd, 2005
The Frozen Four Headed For Washington In 2009
Good hockey news is so rare these days (well, unless you make it up), that it was great to read this announcement:
Four, not three, bidding committees came away happy when the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee announced the awarding of Frozen Four bids.Washington, D.C., Detroit, St. Paul and Tampa all came away happy, as they were awarded the Frozen Fours between 2009-2012.
The committee was supposed to award through 2011, but instead added a fourth site in 2012 due to the quality of the bids.
Sure, it's four years away, but it's still nice to have something to look forward to. Maybe the NHL will even be back by then?
Thanks to reader Chris Kelaher for the pointer.
June 23rd, 2005
The Unkindest Cut Of All For Brandi
Brandi Chastain, heroine of Team USA's victory in the 1999 Women's World Cup, got some bad news yesterday, as head coach Greg Ryan told the 36-year old defender that she didn't fit into the team's plans any longer -- a move that effectively ends her career in international soccer.
Last November, I got a chance to interview Brandi while she was promoting her book, "It's Not About The Bra." At the time, she conceded that her playing career might be over, but that she would never be too far from the game she loves the most:
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day, and she said, "Can you believe it's already been five years since the 1999 World Cup?""I'm a very spontaneous person, and I can't look five years into the future . . . I'd like to say I'll be playing, but all I know for sure is I'll be a part of it . . . I'm looking forward to having the kids in the stadiums again."
She also mentioned she wanted to pursue a career in television, and she's done a good job as a sideline reporter for ESPN's coverage of MLS. But something tells me that if and when a revived professional league for women returns, that Brandi will be right smack in the middle of it.
June 23rd, 2005
Saying Goodbye To A Member Of The Frat
It's with much sadness that I pass along news of the death of Charlie Tuttle, Jason Kirk's co-blogger over at Predators' Den.
Like many of my fellow hockey bloggers, I didn't know Charlie personally, but I did know him through his work and his love of hockey and the Predators. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.
I bet there's no lockout in Heaven.
June 21st, 2005
Baseball Tonight Spoof Blog
Thanks to Distinguished Senators for pointing me to this blog spoof of ESPN's Baseball Tonight. There's plenty of funny stuff, including this dead solid perfect take on Joe Morgan:
I get asked who will win the AL East almost every day. People like to complain that we focus too much on the Yankees and Red Sox, but I get asked about them all the time when I'm in New York, Boston and even in Connecticut. I always tell people the same thing: don't bet against the Yankees. If the Yankees could, they would go 162-0 every year. I don't think that's true of other teams because other teams don't have the desire that the Yankees do, and baseball is all about desire.
There's plenty more, including a post supposedly from ex-Mets GM Steve Phillips on how Bobby Valentine used to cheat all the time.
June 21st, 2005
NBA Completes Labor Deal
Ah, labor peace reigns in the Association.
In other news, the NHL lockout continues and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
June 20th, 2005
Open Call For Carnival Of The NHL #2
Given the success we enjoyed with the first carnival a couple of weeks back, I'm ready to give it another spin. I'll be hosting the second edition this Friday, June 24. Please get your submissions to me no later than 6:00 p.m. U.S. EDT on Thursday, June 23 at 6:00 p.m. U.S. EDT.
While I'll be hosting this edition, I'll be cutting back to a regular slot in the rotation beginning with Carnival #3. Barring any sudden resolution of the lockout, pencil Carnival #3 into your calendars for Friday July 15.
I figure once every three weeks should be enough until the lockout gets settled, with the frequency pumping up to once a week as we get closer to training camp, and teams start scrambling to sign (or dump) all the best talent.
June 19th, 2005
Formula One To America: Drop Dead
At the 2002 U.S, Grand Prix at Indianapolis, Ferrari spit in the eye of American auto racing fans when uber-driver Michael Schumacher allowed his teammate Reubens Barrichello to pass him on the final straightaway to take the victory. Schumacher's gesture was quid pro quo for an action a few weeks before, when the team had ordered Barrichello to move aside to allow Schumacher to win his hometown Austrian Grand Prix.
Well, if what happened at Indianapolis in 2002 was one maximum loogie, the travesty that was the 2005 U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis was more like a full-on drop kick to the groin.
Via TiVo, I began watching about 45 minutes after Speed Channel began broadcasting what has to be one of the biggest business blunders in sports history. Here's what happened and why.
After a very scary Ralf Schumacher crash in practice last week, French tire manufacturer Michelin determined that the crash was caused by a tire failure that occurred in turn 13. Due to a six degree bank in that turn -- the only bank on the entire F1 circuit -- the vertical G load on the tire rose so high, that the tire actually separated between the edge of the tire and the belt. Here's Josh Katinger from Fast Machines with more:
Michelin supplies all but 3 of the teams that run the F1 circuit with tires. They got their tire compound all wrong this weekend and the tiers were failing in the super high speed corner onto the main straight. Last year Ralf Schumacher broke his back crashing there. This year in practice he crashed again and was not going to participate in the Grand Prix as a result. Long story short it was a potentially life threatening situation for anyone running a Michelin shod car.Michelin fessed up to this foul up and made no bones about the fact that they screwed up and that something had to be done for the safety of the drivers. They wanted to fly new tires in for all the teams on race day. Of course the F1 rules say you must use the same set of tires for qualifying and the race and cannot change the tires unless they are punctured or going flat. So then they tried to have an additional chicane put in to slow the cars on the super high speed turn and front straight. These requests was denied by the FIA. Max Mosely gave his denials from London where he received an official letter from Michelin stating the severity of the safety situation.
What happened next was one of the more bizzare scenes in all of motor racing history. After a run-up to the race where everyone was wondering whether the 14 cars that drive on Michelin would show up on the starting gird, they actually did.
Whereafter they completed one lap, filed back onto pit road, and headed into the garage, leaving the six cars running on Bridgestone tires, including the two entries from Ferrari, to finish a race that looked more like an F1 testing session. Here's what the Michelin teams had to say folowing the race:
After final data from Michelin became available at 06.30 on Sunday morning it became clear that Michelin were not able to guarantee the safety of the drivers. Numerous discussions and meetings took place to find a safe solution to the problem. Every possibility for the race to go ahead in a safe manner was explored. The only practical solution was for a chicane to be installed prior to Turn 13 and nine of the teams were prepared to run under these conditions even forgoing championship points or by allowing non-Michelin teams to take top positions on the grid.Unfortunately all proposals were rejected by the FIA.
Safety is always the first concern of any team and the FIA. Regrettably the teams were obliged to follow Michelin's requirements not to race.
You can imagine what the nearly 150,000 race fans in attendance thought of this -- especially as no announcement had been made on the track loudspeakers explaining anything at all about what was happening. But it didn't take long for word to spread, and the boos began cascading down on the track, along with water bottles, beer cans and other debris.
Much to my amazement, despite the fans' obvious ire, most stayed in the stands to watch the rest of the race. Much to my amazement as well, I stayed glued to the couch, unable to look away as the F1 circuit committed suicide in the American marketplace -- and to the credit of the Speed Channel team covering the race, they didn't hesitate to land multiple body blows on everyone involved.
About the only folks talking any sense trackside were Scotsmen Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard. As many international racing fans are aware, 3-time world champion Stewart retired from the sport after seeing too many of his friends die on the circuit. He was very direct in telling the Speed Channel reporter that installing the chicane on Turn 13 (a change the track managment at Indy was more than ready to make) was the only logical solution all around. Click here for an image of what a chicane looks like.
As for current F1 driver Coulthard, he seemed to be the only person involved who immediately understood the magnitude of yesterday's blunder:
June 17th, 2005
NHL Talks Drag On And On And On . . .
We interrupt your regularly scheduled lazy Summer day for an important update from the NHL labor negotiations in New York:
NHLPA STATEMENT FOLLOWING FRIDAY
June 17th, 2005
WSJ: Sports Fines Are An Absolute Fraud
Thanks to Doug Antonelli for passing along an item from today's Wall Street Journal on the fraud and deception involved when big name athletes get fined for anti-social behavior (subscription required):
In the world of pro-athlete punishment, the true price of misbehavior is often negotiable and not paid in full. Unbeknownst to most fans, the fines and suspensions that leagues and teams loudly announce -- for transgressions ranging from starting a brawl to wearing a baggy uniform -- are regularly reduced or forgiven altogether. "Usually, a player only pays a portion of the fine," said attorney Jeffrey Kessler, lead lawyer for the NBA and National Football League players' unions. Leagues and teams "may make a deal to give back half the money, sometimes less, sometimes more," he says.Among the athletes who've enjoyeed relief from a stiff fine: NBA guard Latrell Sprewell -- who actually made money on a $25,000 penalty, because a corporate sponsor stepped in to pay it and the fine was later dropped by his team -- and pitcher John Rocker, who ended up paying just $500 of the $20,000 penalty originally imposed by Major League Baseball for his remarks about minorities and homosexuals.
Amazing. More spiteful and derisive commentary later.
June 17th, 2005
Help Find Tamika Houston
Earlier this month at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr couldn't help but note that most stories concerning missing persons concentrated on young and attractive white women:
At the same time, I am often amazed at how brazen the MSM can be in selecting what types of missing persons reports it selects as leading stories, especially on websites and TV. The missing person is almost always young; always a woman; always white; and always attractive. Right now the CNN.com home page is leading with this missing persons story, featuring (of course) a photograph of the attractive young woman front and center . . .I can't stress enough that I am not saying this story isn't newsworthy. Every missing persons report is potentially newsworthy. Still, a person who followed the MSM uncritically might think that the only missing people in America are young attractive white women.
Which leads us to a post from my friend Steve Ovadia:
I hope everyone with a blog will decide to read this USA Today story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-06-15-missing-minorities_x.htm and then link to this site: www.tamikahuston.com.
Tamika Huston is a young woman from South Carolina who has been missing since May, 2004.
You probably haven't heard of her, even though the national media has reported minute-by-minute accounts of other missing young women.
I won't get into why I suspect that is the case. I'm just asking that anyone with a blog, big or small, consider posting a link to Tamika Huston's site (http://www.tamikahuston.com), with the hope that the blogosphere can succeed where the national (US) media has failed.
If you blog, please link.
