One-Liner: Say hey
May 7, 2009 by William K. Wolfrum
Watching the New York Times stumble through its final days as a print powerhouse has been somewhat eerie in its similarity to the end of Willie Mays’ career in New York. Both were giants of the game, but the game ultimately passed them by, even though they took a long time to realize it and flailed away with increasing impotence on each swing.
–WKW
Have you ever heard the speculation that if Mays had not spent so much of his career in Candlestick Park with the strong inbound breeze, he would have hit 10 million homeruns?
I like to think it’s the truth.
Of course his fielding, that was the really awesome part of his game.
Willie’s achievements went full circle without technological enhancements, the Times because of.
Continuing the “journalistic entity as famous athlete” metaphor:
* USA Today = Jose Conseco [Once dismissed as little more than colorful sideshow, now showing remarkable prescience & staying power, though questions about continued survival persist.]
* FOX News = Dennis Rodman [Once promising alternative to staid status quo devolves into "style" over substance sideshow, complete with debauchery, glitzy graphics, & nipple rings.]
* ESPN = Brett Favre [Once all about the game, now apparently consumed with shameless self-promotion, with occasional pauses to talk about the game.]
* W.K. Wolfrum Chronicles = Alex Rodriguez (Mad skillz, historic impact on the industry, but plagued by accusations of performance-enhancing substances [see: gun,d] and questionable photo ops [see: mirror, kissing of; and speedo, Bill on beach in]
No offense, of course.
Why is the NYT sinking? I is confused and confounded. I is. I loved reading fabricated Whitewater scandals. Who didn’t! I love being hectored by the elite. Who doesn’t! I loved, loved, Judith Miller lying to me about WMDs and acting as a conveyor belt for Bush Administration lies. Who didn’t! Waaaah! I want my NYTs!