There’s an ugly, vitriolic messageboard brawl going on at Daily Kos and the USS Mariner sports blog over a $10,000 college scholarship for bloggers.
Dave Cameron—of the USS Mariner sports blog—and Kos’s David Mauro are both up for the same scholarship and things have gotten nasty.
Kos bloggers have been pimping the living shit out of Mauro—there’s something like 30 entries urging Kos readers to vote for him—and posting crap like this:
See also: here, here and here.
Cameron’s currently down 1,000 votes and it’s going to take quite a bit for him to get back on top. Voting ends tomorrow (I think) so if you’re a local sports fan—or just want to stick it to Kos—throw a bone to a guy who does a fantastic job of covering our soul-crushingly awful baseball team.
done.
The world is going to hell in a handbag, and you’re favoring a baseball blogger over a serious blogger for a $10,000 college scholarship? I just don’t get it. If you want to blog about baseball and you’re good at it, then go for it. But you don’t need a college education to do it, and you don’t deserve a $10,000 scholarship. Baseball isn’t going to save us.
Absolutely. Because when bloggers make those “vote for me or my friend” posts it screams obnoxious.
Professional sports is just another opiate of the masses.
so is Daily Kos
David Mauro as a lead writer for a blog that was founded and continued to be owned by GLBT bloggers. Even more of a reason to find this post rather silly given the context of this site.
I’ve never even heard of the USS Mariner blog, and I don’t understand why a college scholarship would be awarded by online voting, but I voted for Dave Cameron because the Koskyites can suck it, and I want to hear them stamp their little feet.
Uh, Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com was a stupid baseball blogger until this year. Now he’s probably the most insightful and original progressive blogger on the planet. I don’t even like baseball but I’ve been following Cameron and Silver for years because they’re a couple of the best thinkers I’ve ever read.
I’m not even a baseball fan and I think USS Mariner has been doing great work for years! Maybe it’s not about the subject so much as the dedication to what makes a talented blogger/journalist.
Is there never an ugly, vitriolic messageboard brawl on Daily Kos? They are the fox news of the dems.
Carmon it is, with a statement like that I would have voted for Hitler
If you just ignore the content of the two blogs (for a sec) and consider what the two have accomplished, you have to go with Cameron. His analysis of the product the Mariners sell to their fans has made the very stubborn (and sometimes woefully dumb) franchise to change their ways (see Cameron’s report on the coaching of Felix Hernandez a couple seasons back). In a way, he’s somewhat like Ralph Nader leading a consumer’s movement to install protective dashboards in cars(somewhat. don’t go crazy). I can’t think of anything the Daily Kos has been directly involved in any change towards what it writes about.
@ 6 – What blog would that be?
Well, Mauro blogs and blogged about things relevant to GLBT causes but Cameron is all for baseball. You don’t want people to think you’re gay, right?
keith olbermann is also a stupid baseball journalist.
I don’t read either, but I voted for Mauro because I hate baseball and I hate posts like this.
I voted for Cameron because I support the local guy. If it was between Mauro and Charles Mudede, as much as Charles’ work annoys the hell out of me, Id vote for Charles.
is anyone else fucking furious at the concept of a piece of shit BLOGGER getting a 10K scholarship?
and tell your friends to vote too, please!! USSM is an invaluable baseball resource for the intelligent, discerning fan. read the comments to any of Dave’s 3,500+ posts over the last few years and you’ll find smart, on-topic, robust dialogue among fans and authors. it’s not your typical TEH YANKEES SUKC!!!!1!!1! baseball blog… and really, it’s not even close. I’m a reader of both Kos and USSM… and there’s no comparison. Kos, quality-wise, just can’t compete with what USSM is about (regardless of content).
The thing is, Dave Cameron is a really, really good baseball blogger, one of the best in the entire field, while David Mauro is an extremely pedestrian blogger on local Texas politics. Cameron has a much greater impact on the community at large; his readership is extraordinarily high, and (unlike Mauro) his entries generate hundreds of insightful comments. Mauro’s entries typically get two or five comments.
It also deeply annoys me that the Kossacks have taken a stupid joke about getting the Freepers and other right-wingers to vote en masse for Cameron as if it was a serious expression of Cameron’s true fan base. That’s ridiculous. I honestly have no idea where Cameron fits on the political scale, because he zealously avoids even passing mention of it — and he’s deleted comments of mine at USSM that inappropriately brought it up. He was right to do so.
Cameron is actually advancing the state of the art at USSM, and making advanced ideas of analyzing baseball comprehensible to many, many people. He’s made something like six thousand posts there, and with few exceptions they’ve been brilliant.
So, yeah: vote Cameron.
Any time Kos needs a thumb in the eye, I’m all thumbs.
Quotes like this “It would be a crime against humanity for an excellent progressive blogger to lose to a guy who blogs about the damn Mariners” remind me why, tho I poured money into Obama and cried during his victory, hate liberals so damn much. Ick. I need to go read NRO for awhile (ok, 5 seconds ought do it) to remind myself why I support the Democrats.
fnarf @ 20 pretty much made the case.
I just want to add that David Cameron blogs about Seattle. David Mauro doesn’t.
What Fnarf said. Objectively speaking, Dave’s writing on USSM has had a bigger real-world impact than Mauro’s writing at Kos. I voted Cameron.
However, may I also say that I think it’s a horrible waste of money to put a $10,000 scholarship up for a public internet vote. That just turns it in to a popularity contest.
Fnarf is entirely right. Dave’s stuff at USS Mariner is simply outstanding. It is original, persuasive, and compellingly written. And, sure, it’s about baseball – but I, for one, have found that Cameron’s insights into baseball have helped me look at politics, journalism, and public opinion in new and better ways.
Go Dave!
@ 2 – the dude wants to get an econ degree, not get a baseball blogging degree.
What @8 said.
Cameron is a knowledgeable baseball writer and analyst. While his claims of 100% accuracy on his opinions are laughably false, he does offer some insights that are not found everywhere. He does have an extremely one-sided viewpoint on matters where he has rendered an opinion, and his comments threads are snake-pits where no moderation of regulars takes place, so long as they agree with the boss. Take an opposing view, and prepare to have all sorts of insults hurled in your direction. And this has nothing to do with bringing an intelligent argument, like they claim, just a different perspective.
I voted for Cameron because the Slog told me to. In return the Slog also promised Cameron dishing out hand jobs…It’s in there trust me…When should we voters expect our prize?
Baseball and all professional sports are a huge motherfucking waste of taxpayer money. So is politics. Fuck all y’all, I’m voting for the engineering blogger.
“serious blogger” – HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
That’s a good one. Thanks #2!
You know what else is a complete waste of time and energy?
I read Daily Kos every day. I posted on there that I voted for David Cameron and why.
I have been following his work since he was in high school. It was excellent then and it’s better now. He has been consistently thoughtful and high-level in his approach. He is a serious, dedicated blogger, and he raises the bar for bloggers everywhere. When I see any post of his, I want to read it.
Mauro might be deserving, but I’m not as familiar with his work. For me, this one was a no-brainer.
Baseball is a game. Who gives a fuck.
When I was in the third grade, this girl in the row next to me in my class drew a picture of a horse. An Appaloosa, I think, and she kinda copied it from the encyclopedia. This other girl, who also liked to draw horses, didn’t think the picture was so great, and made some snide comments about it to a bunch of other kids on the other side of the classroom. All sorts of drama erupted, and the two girls had a fight on the playground. Jonah, I gotta tell you, I care more about the outcome of that fight in third grade that already happened than I could ever possibly care about the outcome of anything that happens between the complete and utter douchebags mentioned in your post. Also, I will be sending you a bill for the electricity used while I read your post and wrote this comment.
I really thought this whole thing was beyond silly, till you pointed out that a stoopid sports blogger had a chance at winning. I PROMPTLY WENT AND VOTED FOR THE KOS GUY. THANKS FOR THE MOTIVATION.
Cameron is a good baseball blogger, but to say that he generates insightful comments is overly generous. The comment threads at USS Mariner are unreadable fan wank. In fact everybody at USS Mariner, including Cameron, takes baseball way too seriously. Which means I’ll probably be banished from Safeco Field next year.
Living in a world of virtual make-believe is just what people with more money to lend for further education is all about…????
given the fact that franchise rights and soft drink picture cup logos end up in the trash and on the street or in someones hand waiting for change before most consumers realize the advertising costs involved in lucrative and (not so lucrative endorsements deals are only the lead in to habitualized return sales would give anybody but the most “uptight” the get up and use your friends to fake the plug… after all.. isn’t that what friends are for?
viruses survive…
agent smith implied this by binding together enough anti what-evers….
( imagine a horde of viruses in waiting like cars backed up in rush hour traffic…)
…so as to confuse the defending aminos or nutrinos or what-ever it is your “come on chemist ” want’s to put in your pretty little mouth…
given the fact of course, that your get a lucrative photo cup endorsement deal and not a small time teaser amount gauranteed to get you into the hackers super-bowl of intel spammers and homeland security wonks.
On the other hand, you could hang around the park and listen for incoming amounts of social security to try and share and everyone would go kwaaayzzee with jealousy.
then again… you could try to write an amazingly new movie script from an idea that never existed.
What fnarf said. If you like Nate Silver, there’s no reason you shouldn’t like Dave Cameron. They come from virtually the same background. Frankly, if one of ’em can get a scholarship in econ because of his work on baseball stats, etc., I’m all for it. The more Nate Silvers, the better.
Support the local blogger, Dave Cameron. While baseball statistics may not seem like a very educated topic, with research you will see how Sabermetrics and the study of baseball statistics can be an extremely fascinating subject. His blogs are well researched, poignant and fun to read.
Yeah well Cameron a cheating sack of BS and his fans are just a bunch of whiners. Cameron pimped his on all the sports sites. Mauro pimped his on Daily K to bad Daily Kos got a better movement.
😀
well – to be absolutely honest i think it’s sorta shameful to see bloggers putting up posts asking people to vote for them. and it’s a very concerted effort by both bloggers. Instead of people looking at bloggers in the contest and determining who is the best blogger, they’re arriving with the decision already made up.
Its turned into a popularity contest.
And just to be absolutely clear – Dave on the USS Mariner blog is now running a donation drive to raise 10K for himself. That’s pretty pathetic.