So...basically old people don't matter, eh? Only young people are relevant. Ok, fair enough. That's how the mass media has been portraying it for over 50 years now.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Ask advertisers their opinion on the matter.

But that's not exactly what I'm saying.

I'm saying that Smizik's audience is very small and it's not exactly diverse.

His impact on the Pittsburgh media is non-existent for these reasons. That's why he's irrelevant.

I'm sure outside of Mark Madden the audience for most writers/radio hosts in Pittsburgh tend to skew older. That's certainly the case with the nightly tv call-in shows, Stan Savran's show, most of the shows on The Fan.

The young sports fans in Pittsburgh probably don't know who Smizik is let alone care about what he has to say. That's what makes him irrelevant. Because if only a small, non-diverse, portion of an already small audience cares...you essentially have what Smizik's blog already is. Bob writing for six guys on the internet.

_________________
And then you take a good look around and they stole your rock n roll
And once it's gone you'll never get it back

I know what advertisers think. They've thought that for over 50 years now.

I could care less about that.

I don't think you're right about how many people read Smizik's blog, 43, but have no data to back it up. A lot of different ID's post responses, but it's possible some use multiple ID's, I don't know.

Really, what does it matter? People will read what they want. Young, old and in between. No need to judge it. Agree or disagree with what is stated, not who states it.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

I'm sure there are actually more than six people who read his blog. But it's still not a large number.

I think discussing the relevance and importance of someone in the media is absolutely worthy of discussion. In fact it's a discussion that has taken place numerous times over the years on this very board. See the backlash about posting articles from Bleacher Report and/or pansylawyertalk as examples.

I'm not saying Smizik is in that same ballpark because he's not. But he's not exactly someone whose opinion matters all that much and he's not someone whom I think should be looked at as a media trendsetter or what ever the phrase is that's escaping me at the moment.

_________________
And then you take a good look around and they stole your rock n roll
And once it's gone you'll never get it back

43 sez:



I'm pretty sure that no one is claiming Smizik is a trendsetter. Some of his posts are interesting fodder for discussion--agree or disagree. Some of his links to other article are actually excellent. I don't read his blog as much as I used to due to changes at the PPG site. I'm sure you are happy about that outcome, I really don't care about it one way or the other.

I hesitated continuing to post here because I'm not a defender of Smizik the person, but of anyone's ability and freedom to express their opinion in a free society. I know this board is run by someone and moderated by a group, and they have every right to control what content appears on their site, but I would encourage them to refrain from restricting links to various blogs or sources of information just because they are perceived in a certain light by the owners or any of us. I feel privileged to be able to express myself on this board, however, and would abide by the wishes of the moderators, of course.

You seem, rightly or wrongly, to have a vendetta against Smizik the person. Which is odd considering you mentioned that you never met the man. Who cares what someone says. Refute it, as you have, and be done with it. Are you threatened by what he says so much that it must be censored before it can even be heard?

Anyway...I don't really care too much about it, despite my posting about it yet again. I'm mainly concerned about what lineup we're fielding tonight and if AJ can lead us to victory and end this losing skid.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

No vendetta. I just don't understand why he's consistently mentioned and discussed on here.

I'm not trying to censor the guy. As long as the PPG is going to pay him to blog, he has every right to do so and I wish him the best at it. I just don't think it's worthy of the space it gets here at SteelerFury.

_________________
And then you take a good look around and they stole your rock n roll
And once it's gone you'll never get it back

43 saying smizik sucks and isn't relevant enough to merit much discussion here is an affront to the first amendment and an attempt at censorship and restriction of the free flow of ideas here at steelerfury?

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This post consists solely of the opinions of the author, and should in no way, shape or form be interpreted as an assertion of fact.

43 is right on the money about Smizik.....old,out-of-touch, dick, etc. I never did like Smizik, but like some others have said, I still would read his shit on occasion...not because I value his opinions but just because I could count on the opposite of Smizik's opinion being correct. He always was a mis-informed dolt.

As far as age goes, baseball's demographics are terrible: this is anecdotal, but I think it's relevant.....I coached baseball for 9 years here in NC. I had so much trouble getting kids to be interested. Of the kids that came out to the team, many had never played baseball before. Their parents would have them excused so they could go fishing or go to the local racetrack. At the end of the baseball season, I would keep the team together for camaraderie. We went to minor league baseball games (Kinston Indians). We went to high school football games. When we played pickup football, they went nuts. I had kids coming out of the woodwork to play. They actually knew football players even though they didn't know any baseball players. (They sure as hell knew who #88 and #24 were).

Baseball just attracts an older crowd.....sad to say.

43 and I were having a discussion. He's stated his position. He thinks Smizik's full of shit. I won't disagree with him on that, only that we should not necessarily cause a ruckus just because someone is bringing up one of Smizik's posts. Disagree with points, with positions, not with people who bring them up.

That's the only point I was making. You can make out of it what you want, Rhino43grr.

Have any thoughts about the Bucs?

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

On another subject I was a huge fan of Phil Musick. Didn't always agree with him, but the guy could write. Damn could he write about sports.