From our friend Jones

[Bubbler]

I hate to trot out the old coffee machine repairman jibe, but that’s who was going after him — folks who couldn’t write their way out of an open paper bag. Maybe that shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme, but I think it does.

Yeah, but it’s not about who was a better writer.

It’s about weaponizing someone’s vulnerability and honesty and turning it against them. That’s the cowardice.

 

[wicked]

It’s about weaponizing someone’s vulnerability and honesty and turning it against them. That’s the cowardice.

My point was that these people couldn't and still can't do that. They weren't brave enough to cut open that vein. They lived in the relative comfort of their 9-to-5s. Who knows why they were on a journalism message board in the first place if they weren't going to be constructive members of the community, like Neutral Corner is.

Edit: There is more to “writing” than just writing. Opening that vein, like you said, is one of the main things a writer needs to do. Otherwise to quote the noted scholar Brian Orakpo, “what are we even doing out here, man?”

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I'm sure there are thousands of stories of finding emails or texts revealing affairs. I just find it convenient he logged in during an incriminating text exchange.

My ***** ex-wife called her side piece from the passenger seat of my car after I picked her drunk ass up from a “benefit” at some downtown hotel.

She must’ve also forgotten that she had logged into her work email account from our home computer, and after that was the first time I even thought about checking it. Sure enough, there were months of emails between them that I could probably still recite from heart almost 20 years later.

Sounds like you've got a couple chapters for your book, sir!

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Wright Thompson blurbed Jonesy’s book.

“The truest book about sports fandom that has been or ever will be written.”

 

[Slacker]

Those who ridiculed Jones and the like were cowards of the highest order. They could never be so honest, never be so self-aware. It’s cruel to pick at someone when bar soul … and that happened a lot.

I hate to trot out the old coffee machine repairman jibe, but that’s who was going after him — folks who couldn’t write their way out of an open paper bag. Maybe that shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme, but I think it does.

Christ, that other place was bashing Wright Thompson the other day, too.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

That was an incredibly gripping read.

It’s a helluva thing to achieve something that’s hard to read, yet impossible to stop reading.

 

[UNCGrad]

Per usual, an excellent and brutally honest piece from Jones.

And it’s not that I can’t imagine what it would feel like to make that discovery, I absolutely CAN imagine it. Being reduced to an unflattering emoji is a particularly modern version of human cruelty, but not surprising in the wake of a relationship gone sour.

I don’t care how much you love your significant other, familiarity will eventually breed contempt. So reading that is a but the grace of God go I moment and I’m sure I’m not alone feeling that.

It’s funny. I think on an intellectual level, we can all understand that we slip in and out of our own bull****. I think on an intellectual level we understand others do the same. But we often only barely tolerate it from our partners. It’s a strange phenomenon.

As for Jones’ open his veins style of writing? I’ve always had a lot of respect for it. I’ve always felt that if you’re not brutally honest with what you write, what’s the point? Lay it all out there. I’ve done it here and elsewhere … though nowhere near as artfully as Jones typically does. My grammar alone is laughable in comparison.

For all of the nostalgia I have for the so-called glory days of SJ, one thing I hated about this place at its peak or otherwise, was how the dickhead trolls would take the very honest and vulnerable missives of Jones, Double Down and others and ridicule them with it.

It takes balls to cut open a vein and open yourself up and lay it out there. Those who ridiculed Jones and the like were cowards of the highest order. They could never be so honest, never be so self-aware. It’s cruel to pick at someone when baring their soul … and that happened a lot.

I’d love for Jones to show up, but I get it if he doesn’t. I spent a long time away and it was needed. I hope he’s found some peace. (Burnley getting relegated aside.)

I respect the hell out of him … as I do for so many others who bare their souls without any discernible reward.

Every line of the above is so utterly perfect. That it came in a thread about Chris Jones is truly apropos.

 

[Songbird]

“The truest book about sports fandom that has been or ever will be written.”

Thanks for the gift link, wicked. Read and enjoyed it. I’ll even buy the book with money I don’t have to support the cause.

That blurb however is over the top. Wright is far too talented with words to offer bland and hyperbolic clichés.

 

[lakefront]

I'm sure there are thousands of stories of finding emails or texts revealing affairs. I just find it convenient he logged in during an incriminating text exchange.


Sounds like you've got a couple chapters for your book, sir!

She had just gone up to bed, he decides to check out something on the nearby laptop, bingo. Perfect timing.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

She had just gone up to bed, he decides to check out something on the nearby laptop, bingo. Perfect timing.

Exactly.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Christ, that other place was bashing Wright Thompson the other day, too.

The lesson here is never go to The Bad Place.

 

[outofplace]

Reading Jones, I understand what it's like to be a ballplayer who peaked at Double-A. I like to think I've always been amongst the best writers in any group. This guy is on an entirely different level.

Wait. You think you're a good writer?

In all seriousness, difficult as it was, that's a well-crafted piece of writing by Jones.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Wait. You think you're a good writer?

In all seriousness, difficult as it was, that's a well-crafted piece of writing by Jones.

Bro I used to be able to throw this football over that mountain. In a writing sense, of course. Not actually WITH a football.

 

[outofplace]

Bro I used to be able to throw this football over that mountain. In a writing sense, of course. Not actually WITH a football.

Damn. I thought you were just going to laugh and call me an asshole. I was feeling nostalgic.

The thing to remember about writing is unlike football, the arm doesn't go away. You can still throw it as far as you ever did.

 

[wicked]

A week late and a Jackson short.

I’ll have to subscribe to Tommy Tomlinson’s substack.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Damn. I thought you were just going to laugh and call me an asshole. I was feeling nostalgic.

The thing to remember about writing is unlike football, the arm doesn't go away. You can still throw it as far as you ever did.

Asshole!!!!!

 

[FileNotFound]

Asshole!!!!!

Both of you stop being ****ing dickheads!

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Both of you stop being ****ing dickheads!

Hold up, let ‘em cook.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I’ll have to subscribe to Tommy Tomlinson’s substack.

That's always a good idea.

 

[outofplace]

Asshole!!!!!

See? Now doesn't that feel better?