Buzz Bissinger: One angry man

[Small Town Guy]

Just finished this piece in Philadelphia magazine about Buzz Bissinger. The story's mostly about his Philly column, though it also gives a good look at the whole Buzz public persona, which never quite seems to go with his nonfiction pieces.

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/a_savior_for_the_city/

Found it while looking for other stuff on his Twitter account, which I enjoy but is always...interesting. Loves the phrase douche juice. Some recent tweets:

# Morning juice douches. In Valaparaiso Indiana. Don't ask. Send all personal effects to wife no. 3. Make sure my dog is taken cate of. about 16 hours ago via Twitterrific

# @aaronm59 then we're cool. Source on LeBron going to where he wins is excellent. Cleveland behind 8 ball. Just a smaller Milwaukee anyway. about 16 hours ago via Twitterrific in reply to aaronm59

# @aaronm59 plus LeBron doesn't owe Cleveland-Akron a god damn thing. Has done a ton for the area. So stop whining like a pig douche juice. about 24 hours ago via Twitterrific in reply to aaronm59

# @PhillySmurfette then stop reading the column. I'll survive. I was exactly right. 9:26 PM May 31st via Twitterrific in reply to PhillySmurfette

# @aaronm59 because I just heard it from an unimpeachable source ****nuts. 9:17 PM May 31st via Twitterrific in reply to aaronm59

# @PhilliesDoll Of course I'm sensitive. Oversensitive. Hyper sensitive. Any kind of sensitive. But I ask for it. Clear death wish. 9:58 AM May 30th via web in reply to PhilliesDoll

# @PhilliesDoll Much too clever to respond to. You got me there. Should be writing jokes for Conan. He will be delighted to hear from you 9:51 AM May 30th via web in reply to PhilliesDoll

# Remember, you will be working for peanuts with virtually no benefits.... 9:06 AM May 30th via web

# @Eaglesfan710 Goal of new Philly owners will be to break newspaper guild and get rid of seniority. 9:05 AM May 30th via web in reply to Eaglesfan710

# @Eaglesfan710 Papers will still need reporters. Hire as cheaply as they can after cleaning out newsrooms of anyone with seniority. 9:04 AM May 30th via web in reply to Eaglesfan710

# @Eaglesfan710 ....and hire young journalists for half the salary and virtually no benefits. 8:59 AM May 30th via web in reply to Eaglesfan710

http://twitter.com/buzzbissinger

 

[TheHacker]

I think it dawned on me how angry Bissinger after I saw that roundtable discussion show on sports media that Bob Costas did on HBO about two years ago. Remember that? Costas had Bissinger on a panel with Will Leitch, and Old Man Buzz was there to tell everyone how old-school journos think blogging is destroying the industry:

http://deadspin.com/385770/bissinger-vs-leitch

The funny thing is that while Bissinger hammered Leitch for dumbing down and dirtying up the realm of sports discourse, it was Leitch who managed not to use any profanity. Meanwhile, Bissinger, uh, took full advantage of the fact that he was on HBO. His hostility made him the loser in the exchange, though he did deliver the best line of the segment when he called Leitch "Jimmy Olsen on Percoset." I laughed at that for days.

 

[21]

Anyone past college age should get over the need to say things like 'douche juice.'

Use your big boy words, Buzz.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I heard Buzz referred to as "a miserable *******" more than a decade ago.

 

[Double J]

Anyone past college age should get over the need to say things like 'douche juice.'

Use your big boy words, Buzz.

Well, what do you expect from a guy who goes by "Buzz"?

 

[The Big Ragu]

Say what you want about Buzz Bissinger. The guy won a Pulitzer Prize exposing corruption in the courts, wrote a killer expose about Stephen Glass and wrote one of the finest sports books of the last 50 years. His work stacks up quite favorably with several writers who often get slurped over on this board and his personality probably isn't much worse than theirs.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Buddy turned me onto his Twitter feed late last month. As long as you look at it as entertainment, it's funny as hell.
Every time I think of him, I wonder who he's going to refer to as a "douche juice" that day.

 

[slappy4428]

I heard Buzz referred to as "a miserable *******" more than a decade ago.

buzz killer...

 

[Sly]

Say what you want about Buzz Bissinger. The guy won a Pulitzer Prize exposing corruption in the courts, wrote a killer expose about Stephen Glass and wrote one of the finest sports books of the last 50 years. His work stacks up quite favorably with several writers who often get slurped over on this board and his personality probably isn't much worse than theirs.

Then why act the way he does in public? I've always been a great admirer of his work, but his consistent use of the term "douche juice" has pretty much spoiled my view of him. Grow up, Buzz.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I don't think anybody is doubting his brilliance.

I just don't think the social media is doing any favors to the older sportswriters. Stuff that was only apparent to people who worked with or alongside them is now known to anyone who is friends with them on Facebook or who follows them on Twitter.

 

[ucacm]

The guy is dropping curse words left and right while complaining that Deadspin is going to force his child to grow up in a world with "crude" journalism.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Say what you want about Buzz Bissinger. The guy won a Pulitzer Prize exposing corruption in the courts, wrote a killer expose about Stephen Glass and wrote one of the finest sports books of the last 50 years. His work stacks up quite favorably with several writers who often get slurped over on this board and his personality probably isn't much worse than theirs.

I don't think anybody is doubting his brilliance.

I just don't think the social media is doing any favors to the older sportswriters. Stuff that was only apparent to people who worked with or alongside them is now known to anyone who is friends with them on Facebook or who follows them on Twitter.

I'm with Mizzou on Bissinger's brilliance. With that said, he's putting some tarnish on his reputation by being a petulant gnat. Ripping Leitch over Deadspin and the internet, and now he's on Twitter trying to be Gregg Doyel?

He couldn't wear Doyel's jockstrap if he tried. Doyel would clown him on Twitter. ;D

 

[NBrom]

he told me that I wrote for an "endless blog"

I still don't know what that means

 

[D-3 Fan]

he told me that I wrote for an "endless blog"

I still don't know what that means

I think it means that you're writing a novel. Or something like that. No need to worry, rookie.

John Feinstein writes an "endless" blog himself and I have yet to see Buzz take a shot at John.

 

[JackS]

he told me that I wrote for an "endless blog"

I still don't know what that means

I think it means that he can see the end for newspapers, magazines, television networks, etc., but not blogs.

Take it as a compliment.

 

[D-3 Fan]

I wonder if that includes the book biz as well. That's in his wheelhouse.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

he told me that I wrote for an "endless blog"

I still don't know what that means

I think it means that you're writing a novel. Or something like that. No need to worry, rookie.

John Feinstein writes an "endless" blog himself and I have yet to see Buzz take a shot at John.

That's Norman Chad's job.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Buzz's own account of his trip to Twitter and beyond ...

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/75671/why-buzz-bissinger-tweets

 

[leo1]

i agree that his book is easily the finest sports book of the last 50 years.

that said, since his tiff with leitch i've always thought he fancied himself as a modern day charles bukowski, which is just wrong. how great would that be if bukowski was still alive and tweeting today.

 

[Sic semper tyrannis]

i agree that his book is easily the finest sports book of the last 50 years.

let's not get carried away. Twas a good book, but here have been many great sports books over the past 50 years.