Dr. V's magical putter

[Songbird]

The last 4 posts are why I love your presence here, YF.

 

[YankeeFan]

Good piece by Mahler. I've had many of those same concerns/reservations of late. The SI Tebow story is another good example of praise just because something exists, I think.

Guess who agrees with you, and recognized it at the time? Caleb Hannan!

When future historians seek to explain the #Longform Civil War, they'll point to that Tebow piece as the one that finally broke the union.

https://twitter.com/calebhannan/status/405746504725323776

Funny that it was his own future piece that resulted in a New York Times article.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The last 4 posts are why I love your presence here, YF.

You're the one!

 

[YankeeFan]

No. Where we're headed is much worse than you suspected.

Caleb Hannan ‏@calebhannan Dec 18

It's Wednesday, which means a new @longformpodcast, which I love. But I'm starting to wonder: HAVE WE ALREADY REACHED PEAK LONGFORM? Like...

December 18, 2017: Having finally exhausted all other options, @longformpodcast reluctantly interviews @theawl's UPS delivery guy.

We're headed in that direction, right?

 

[old_tony]

One last episode of young Caleb lectures on ethics:

Michael Wilbon is hosting a Nike event to introduce Kevin Durant's new shoe. Can't wait for the lengthy ESPN disclaimer! /crickets

https://twitter.com/calebhannan/status/350313116862652417

We clearly see Hannan is not afraid to call out ethical lapses when he sees them. Why is he afraid to defend his own?

Because his story didn't have any?

 

[YankeeFan]

Because his story didn't have any?

Then he should defend it.

 

[old_tony]

Why defend that which doesn't need defending? You just give credibility to your critics that they don't deserve.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Why do people act like Chris Jones is the inventor and sole practitioner of "long-form" journalism? Because he's accessible? The New Yorker has been doing this for a century. It runs four long pieces a week, like clockwork.

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

I'm not a golfer.

But can someone explain this: The putting coach who praised the Yar putter (i linked it earlier) quoted Vanderbilt as saying this: "That's just the way of designing things that fly."

If it was a DRIVER, yeah, sure. But it's a PUTTER. The ball should never leave the ground.

What does a putter, science wise (since that's what she wanted to talk about) have to do with a stealth bomber and things that fly?

 

[Songbird]

Jordan Spieth had the placebo effect going on big-time yesterday.

I'm paired with Tiger, therefore I *am* Tiger.

Spieth -- 9 under yesterday.

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

And what else did we learn from the Arizona paper article?

- It had three months to have the story to itself -- in its own freaking backyard, no less -- but waited until grantland came along.

- No mention in story if author tried to contact McCord (after Jordan said McCord was informed about Vanderbilt's past). Or Vanderbilt's sons (who Jordan claimed were burly men crying at a funeral home who previously wanted nothing to do with her). Or Vanderbilt's daughter (who apparently had stayed in touch with Vanderbilt, again according to Jordan).

- Jordan said Vanderbilt tried to commit suicide in 2007 and 2008

- Jordan said Vanderbilt lied about her family perishing in a tragic car accident

- Jordan then says Vanderbilt stayed in touch with her daughters, but not her two sons

- Jordan said Vanderbilt's sons cried at funeral home (even though there is little, if any, proof a service, visitation or even burial happened). No obit I've seen mentions any of those three things (visitation, service, burial). Not even the Falconer Funeral Home itself.

- Jordan expected Vanderbilt to try to commit suicide again, but the grantland report sped up the process

- Jordan knew Vanderbilt lied about her name (kind of a big deal) and her family (kind of a big deal), but completely trusted her academic credentials

- Jordan said Vanderbilt thought story would die down if Vanderbilt resigned (um, no)

 

[YankeeFan]

And what else did we learn from the Arizona paper article?

...

- No mention in story if author tried to contact Hannan. Or McCord (after Jordan said McCord was informed about Vanderbilt's past).

Hannan responded to an Arizona Republic request for comment Tuesday. In a telephone conversation, he said he couldn’t go on the record because he was working on a fuller response to be published when he is ready. But he wanted to know what Jordan had to say.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s vice president of communications Josh Krulewitz responded to an email requesting additional comment from Simmons. Krulewitz said Simmons respectfully declined. Simmons had said everything he wanted to in Monday’s letter.

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

And what else did we learn from the Arizona paper article?

...

- No mention in story if author tried to contact Hannan. Or McCord (after Jordan said McCord was informed about Vanderbilt's past).

Hannan responded to an Arizona Republic request for comment Tuesday. In a telephone conversation, he said he couldn’t go on the record because he was working on a fuller response to be published when he is ready. But he wanted to know what Jordan had to say.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s vice president of communications Josh Krulewitz responded to an email requesting additional comment from Simmons. Krulewitz said Simmons respectfully declined. Simmons had said everything he wanted to in Monday’s letter.

YF,

I completely missed that.

I was incorrect.

Good catch.

My bad.

 

[YankeeFan]

Remember when Drew Magary wrote about the Duck Dynasty folks for GQ?

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson?printable=true

Young Caleb participated in a conversation where the idea of treating southerners as freaks or anthropological subjects was discussed:

J.R. Lind ‏@jrlind Dec 18

@calebhannan i typically hate that kind of stuff, because i don't like southerners-as-anthropological-subjects journalism

@jrlind yeah, the 1st-person served to leaven the southerners-as-freaks bit bc he admitted he wasn't like them but might want to be.

Too bad Caleb's article didn't do anything to "leaven" the trans* as freaks bit.