I read a article posted weekly on ESPN.com called TMQ or the Tuesday Morning Quarterback. In it the author breaks down his take on that weeks interesting football stories. But that is not all he does. One of the most interesting things is he always has a section breaking down current political drama. In my history of following his articles I find his humor and writing style give me a fresh perspective on current events.
Scroll down to the Republicans, Democrats, Lemmings Meet at Fiscal Cliff: section about midway down the page and tell me what you think. Does this guy know what he is talking about? Is it appropriate for a sports columnist to be covering politics?
He also includes this at the end, which goes along with the different newspaper positions we were talking about in class:
ReplyDeleteDueling Headlines: JOBS REPORT BUILDS HOPE -- Washington Post lead headline. TEPID JOB GROWTH FUELS WORRY -- Wall Street Journal lead headline, same day!
I don't think he understand what he is writing. He knows a bunch of facts and he is just listing them as they come to his head. There is nothing wrong with him talking about politics but he should the economics and analysis of it to those who know how to. #justsaying
ReplyDeleteIt was random how he switched from covering the AFC wildcard game to talking about the fiscal cliff. He has a very interesting opinion about Congress's latest decisions and also gave good perspective of how much revenue that was collected but immediately spent. However, I think that his opinions were very one sided. Rather from seeing the situation from both sides this columnist was very pessimistic about our current government and condition of our economy. And with a quote like the one below, personally, I wouldn't take his political sub-story seriously.
ReplyDelete"Last week every difficult decision about revenue and spending was kicked down the road. What's being depicted as a great bipartisan achievement really was a mutual Republican-Democratic decision to pretend something happened. "
As far as Russell Wilson goes, he is the best rookie this season. As good as the rookies were, he plays with a chip on his shoulder that RGIII or Luck were unable to match. Can't wait till he beats Peyton in the superbowl.
I personally like hearing someone else besides the "experts" talk about politics. The author may not understand politics as well as the pros but I think its refreshing to read about politics from a fellow commoner. That being said, I think that there is no one good answer to tackling our growing amount of debt. I think the best solution is all the solutions. If our government is going to be serious about tackling our massive amount of debt, everyone is going to have to take one for the team. Taxes should go up on not just the rich but the middle class as well. Also, spending should be cut as well. I know that tax hikes and spending cuts will pretty much piss everyone off in some way, but i don't really see any other option.
ReplyDeleteLike Travis, I found this article to be refreshing instead of reading columns by experts. He doesn't provide much analysis, and mostly just provides facts that are already out there. Regardless, it was a good read and helped freshen up the news for me.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is not a harmful thing for politics to be brought into the conversation of sports. Many times the people that are visiting espn are teenagers and I believe that by even mentioning politics it helps to inform our younger generation. Many times kids will skip over politics to read about sports and this is a good way to combat that problem. That being said, I do believe it should be done carefully other wise espn might get into a political war that they do not want to fight.
ReplyDeleteI also like hearing someone else's perspective on current events like the fiscal cliff. It just goes to show people that not just the experts talk about what goes on in our economy. Sports is a big part of my life. I like reading and following them daily. I've never seen someone talk about politics on ESPN. I love the article.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Clay. This was a refreshing change of pace from the other articles i have read. It seems like he knows whats going on and keeps current on the issues but he may not have the best analysis of what these things mean for our economy. Also it gets poeple who may not normaly read a political article to brush up on whats going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with everyone else that mixing sports with politics is not a bad thing. I love reading about sports, but you would probably rarely catch me reading an article just about politics so to mix it in like he has in this article was a great combo.
ReplyDeleteMixing sports makes this article more interesting. It is kind of hard for me to read because at the beginning, it is just about sports. However, I think sports make economy less scary.
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