Andy Rooney, 60 Minutes, on sports nicknames

[Rusty Shackleford]

I don't think this is a DB, but did anyone see Andy Rooney's piece at the end of 60 Minutes last night? I never watch that show, but I was interested in the Duke LAX thing they advertised during football... Anyway, Rooney's rant was on his own inability to distinguish what sport he's reading about in certain sports roundups in newspapers. As 'Exhibit A' as it were, he had an NHL roundup story from the AP with a headline mentioning the Predators and the Thrashers. He said he couldn't figure out what sport it was since he's never heard of either team, and only figured out it was hockey because the score was 5-4 and it's not baseball or soccer season.

The kicker: Right above the headline was the phrase "NHL ROUNDUP" perfectly visible in the newspaper clip they showed.

Not that I had any respect for Rooney or ever watch his show, but from now on, if I ever see his name attached to something, I'll be hard pressed to take it seriously. I know he's older than Jesus Christ himself, but seriously, the words "NHL ROUNDUP" were right there above the headline -- how the hell do you not see that?

 

[alleyallen]

Not to threadjack, but since when did LAX become the acceptable way to abbreviate lacrosse? Seriously. Every time I see LAX it makes me wonder if the person is referring to an inbound or outbound flight from Los Angeles International Airport. Lacrosse is the last thing about which I think.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

The saddest thing is that he's done this topic before. About 20 years ago.

"Oakland Athletics. I know what an athlete is. But what's an Athletic?"

 

[Oz]

The saddest thing is that he's done this topic before. About 20 years ago.

"Oakland Athletics. I know what an athlete is. But what's an Athletic?"

Guess it must have been a slow, uninspired week in the Rooney house, huh?

 

[alleyallen]

"Don't you just hate paperclips?"

 

[spnited]

Not to threadjack, but since when did LAX become the acceptable way to abbreviate lacrosse? Seriously. Every time I see LAX it makes me wonder if the person is referring to an inbound or outbound flight from Los Angeles International Airport. Lacrosse is the last thing about which I think.

LAX has been used for lacrosse at least for as long as I've been in the business... which basically means forever.

 

[JR]

LAX has been used for lacrosse at least for as long as I've been in the business... which basically means forever.

Longer than forever, spinited. :)

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Hell, lacrosse players even say they're going to "lax practice" sometimes. There's no confusion at all in the lacrosse hotbeds.

 

[Double J]

Strangely, box lacrosse has never been known as "box lax." Guess they figured that would've sounded too much like a laxative. They call it "boxla" instead.

As for Andy Rooney, he's like the network version of Larry King -- not relevant now, barely relevant ever, but let's just keep humouring him and someday he'll die. Then we'll all shed crocodile tears and mourn him as "a great journalist," yada-yada-yada, forever and ever, amen.

 

[Ace]

I think the Bushy Eyebrows would be a good nickname.

 

[spnited]

LAX has been used for lacrosse at least for as long as I've been in the business... which basically means forever.

Longer than forever, spinited. :)

Well, if anyone would know about longer than forever...old man!

 

[alleyallen]

Hell, lacrosse players even say they're going to "lax practice" sometimes. There's no confusion at all in the lacrosse hotbeds.

East Texas isn't exactly a lacrosse hotbed. I don't even know of a high school in the state (maybe in the Dallas Metroplex) which plays lacrosse, especially at the UIL level.

 

[playthrough]

How Rooney still has that job is beyond me...this was a pretty good 60 Min episode, with the Bush interview plus the Duke parents. Then they close the hour with that drivel. It just doesn't make sense.

Of course it's my fault for watching. I need to consider that show 56 Minutes and move on to something else.

 

[Starman]

The saddest thing is that he's done this topic before. About 20 years ago.

"Oakland Athletics. I know what an athlete is. But what's an Athletic?"

Guess it must have been a slow, uninspired week in the Rooney house, huh?

Like most all the others. ::)

I used to like Rooney, and once in a while he's still OK, but the huge, huge majority of the time it's like he's doing an unintentional Roseanne Roseannadanna imitation.

 

[John]

I think he's like a lot of older columnists -- older readers (or viewers) love to see that they're still at it, but nobody really pays any attention to the actual work.

 

[lone star scribe]

When covering lacrosse, don't call them lax men, because when they give up the sport, they would be exlax men. ;)

 

[Gold]

On the other hand, Frank Caliendo's imitation of Andy Rooney was pretty good.

 

[friend of a friend]

They'll keep him on until he's dead. Yes, he sucks, but I'm guessing he's enjoyed by the oldtimers who would freak if he was taken off the show.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

He's familiar. People like that.

 

[Ace]

Andy Rooney would have jumped the shark 20 years ago but he was too old to even then.