Fine analysis, Chris, with chronology of the massive shift in how sport enthusiasts interact with news. Brought me back to the days of reading Mike Lupica in the NY Daily News each week. Later he moved to writing books. The Athletic was doomed from the start. Dana O’Neil was a writer I enjoyed on ESPN that was an early entry into their staff. Behind a paywall she lost me. Along the lines of political coverage, outlets find their audience and write for them creating a silo for their group think. Barstool has done this well. They get into the different markets and write specifically for them. ESPN tried this but was not successful. What I find the best is to connect with various markets or college programs and follow their writers. Villanova, Duke, Yankees, Celtics all have staff who follow behind the scenes, attend pressers, react to rumors and gossip. So far, this has worked for me. Twitter lists customize our playlist. Wishing you and your family well!
While I was reading it, I assumed it was the initiating point of your excellent piece.
Don't know the solution. As a society, we are digressing from Fact - Meaning - Values to just Facts. Many people are hungry for meaning and can't find it....
This is also bearing on our political situation. If it's all about facts, then presenting a firehose of "alternative facts" leaves the material mind confused and overloaded. Add the politics of resentment and the material mind is hijacked by the emotions, unable to use reason to navigate to truth or meaning. ChatGPT and other AI, which has no values or awareness of meaning, may add gasoline to the fire if not used properly.
Yes, "fact-checking" and so on. Paradoxically, however, many acknowledge that we're also in a "post-truth" age. Thus a puzzling question: how did we become obsessed with facts while simultaneously jettisoning truth?!
I'm really struck with the power of these sentences: "However, what tends to be missing from the discussion is that such closures, much like the decline of sports journalism, are symptoms of a rapidly metastasizing disease: our society no longer puts a premium on reading and writing. It is said in the Bible: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). So it is here. Institutions are investing less in the liberal arts curriculum (“where your treasure is”) because people’s hearts just aren’t in it."
Fine analysis, Chris, with chronology of the massive shift in how sport enthusiasts interact with news. Brought me back to the days of reading Mike Lupica in the NY Daily News each week. Later he moved to writing books. The Athletic was doomed from the start. Dana O’Neil was a writer I enjoyed on ESPN that was an early entry into their staff. Behind a paywall she lost me. Along the lines of political coverage, outlets find their audience and write for them creating a silo for their group think. Barstool has done this well. They get into the different markets and write specifically for them. ESPN tried this but was not successful. What I find the best is to connect with various markets or college programs and follow their writers. Villanova, Duke, Yankees, Celtics all have staff who follow behind the scenes, attend pressers, react to rumors and gossip. So far, this has worked for me. Twitter lists customize our playlist. Wishing you and your family well!
Excellent analysis of a profoundly problematic trend toward materialism and mechanistic thinking. Don't know if you saw this yesterday from NYT (no paywall for this link): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/business/media/the-new-york-times-sports-department.html?unlocked_article_code=PLPWSQSVvz6C2s4Z35S-msdfIqV3rJEbIVGu_PjMRvqvwwbpcRIPfpJkYODHlqYXIdCldYPUsojr_z3oTVEvcgUuRW_qq6MUpk3rWuUM_5O6MLq592kFBLOwikIMdVvvMxqRIhy3GnVJ5RABKuTJxEATA7aiz423T5fsSTE0KDpSXttz-MdRKi2U3xYH1IYoGZH1ty4gkaQpxgCAYHWdWDzK_Ja6GNOkT6rALcvGBc0CAWJheoj0rYLOUjMTLUJkPk_FdYNR4FJdQEFzuNxOkiBj9bf2MWXF6jVJdZ4VIiwl7AYGwQ1ShbdEo__ov0wZdyTbVVQvBH0rhEUo__ja9j6aBr9WuQNQt14m-vK2-wDT2n0kffA&smid=url-share
Wow, no, didn't see that! But obviously not surprising...
Charles McLafferty <chasmc@gmail.com>
8:38 AM (0 minutes ago)
While I was reading it, I assumed it was the initiating point of your excellent piece.
Don't know the solution. As a society, we are digressing from Fact - Meaning - Values to just Facts. Many people are hungry for meaning and can't find it....
This is also bearing on our political situation. If it's all about facts, then presenting a firehose of "alternative facts" leaves the material mind confused and overloaded. Add the politics of resentment and the material mind is hijacked by the emotions, unable to use reason to navigate to truth or meaning. ChatGPT and other AI, which has no values or awareness of meaning, may add gasoline to the fire if not used properly.
Yes, "fact-checking" and so on. Paradoxically, however, many acknowledge that we're also in a "post-truth" age. Thus a puzzling question: how did we become obsessed with facts while simultaneously jettisoning truth?!
I just bought “A Season on the Brink”. Better get some good sport’s writing while I can!
Haha, that book will still be floating around after the apocalypse...
I'm really struck with the power of these sentences: "However, what tends to be missing from the discussion is that such closures, much like the decline of sports journalism, are symptoms of a rapidly metastasizing disease: our society no longer puts a premium on reading and writing. It is said in the Bible: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). So it is here. Institutions are investing less in the liberal arts curriculum (“where your treasure is”) because people’s hearts just aren’t in it."
Also! I appreciated the references to the work of preachers in this piece!