No respect for the dead

[Matt1735]

I know there is already a Carl Pohlad thread in Sports and News, however, I hoped this topic would be worthy of it's own thread.

Scott Miller, in his blog on CBS Sportsline, just ripped Pohlad for being a miserable human being.

Thoughts on whether this is overboard? Well-deserved? Way out of line?

The natural tendency when a person passes away is to forget the faults and remember the good things.

Regarding the late Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, this is not one of those tributes.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270335/12742055

And I'll let you read the rest...

 

[WaylonJennings]

A lot of the Chicago writers, after Bill Wirtz died, faced the same dilemma. I think, ultimately, they framed it as he was a good man who the business had long since passed by.

 

[PeteyPirate]

I don't believe the dead deserve any more respect than the living. In this life and the next, you get the respect you earn.

(Not a comment on Pohlad. I have no idea if he was a **** or not.)

 

[Ace]

Why should I have respect for the dead? What have they ever done for me?

 

[WaylonJennings]

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The Bob Jelenic thread applauds.

 

[cortez]

I miss the hell out of Jerry.

 

[forever_town]

Scott Miller, in his blog on CBS Sportsline, just ripped Pohlad for being a miserable human being.

Thoughts on whether this is overboard? Well-deserved? Way out of line?

I know the tendencies to be nice to people in death whether they deserve it in life or not. However, I generally take it on a case by case basis.

If you're a good person or even neutral, I'll be respectful. Someone who's ruined lives as wantonly as Bob Jelenic has? I don't think he deserves the kind of deference in death he never provided to people who were paid for their toil, their blood, their sweat and their tears with pink slips.

If that means I'm out of line, so be it.

 

[MTM]

When Richard Nixon died, a lot of people were trying to stay respectful. One columnist in Orange County CA led his piece with "Ding, Dong **** is dead" and ended it with"good riddance."
He got death threats in the heavy GOP community and worried about keeping his job.
Two weeks later, everyone was writing the same thing.
Is the standard to be nice for a short period, then rip the dead?

 

[Ace]

When Richard Nixon died, a lot of people were trying to stay respectful. One columnist in Orange County CA led his piece with "Ding, Dong **** is dead" and ended it with"good riddance."
He got death threats in the heavy GOP community and worried about keeping his job.
Two weeks later, everyone was writing the same thing.
Is the standard to be nice for a short period, then rip the dead?

"Ding, Dong **** is dead" is a terrible, cliche lead and good riddance is a poor ending.

He deserved death threats, methinks.

If you're going to rip a dead guy, bring something to the table.

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

Two weeks later, everyone was writing the same thing.
Is the standard to be nice for a short period, then rip the dead?

That's not really an issue of a grace period for the dead, or anything...just a great example of the reliable pattern of conventional wisdom, followed by backlash (sometimes, if writers are really lucky, followed by counter-backlash.) Much easier than coming up with new ideas, you know.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

You need to be fair.
Obits.... they can say what they want. So too can columnists.
A good columnists can call the guy a insufferable SOB in polite way.
It should be treated as someone pointed out on the preps thread last week; You can write about the guy being a mean, crude, piece of **** and you can do it without going out your way to embarrass the man's family or yourself.

Me,
I take the If you can't say something nice ... approach.
If others are stepping up to the plate to talk about what a great guy someone like Hitler - Hell of a motivational speaker and really organized, that guy - then I think you get to say "Hey, wait a minute!"
Do it with a little bit of class.

 

[cranberry]

I know there is already a Carl Pohlad thread in Sports and News, however, I hoped this topic would be worthy of it's own thread.

Scott Miller, in his blog on CBS Sportsline, just ripped Pohlad for being a miserable human being.

Thoughts on whether this is overboard? Well-deserved? Way out of line?

The natural tendency when a person passes away is to forget the faults and remember the good things.

Regarding the late Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, this is not one of those tributes.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270335/12742055

And I'll let you read the rest...

I applaud Scott's sense of honesty. I question his sense of timing. I'm pretty certain he'll get a call from the Commissioner's office.

In the final analysis, I'd personally rather see something like that which Scott wrote than the ridiculous white-washing of scumbaggery that usually takes place place upon the death of a powerful person.

 

[Ace]

You need to be fair.
Obits.... they can say what they want. So too can columnists.
A good columnists can call the guy a insufferable SOB in polite way.
It should be treated as someone pointed out on the preps thread last week; You can write about the guy being a mean, crude, piece of **** and you can do it without going out your way to embarrass the man's family or yourself.

Me,
I take the If you can't say something nice ... approach.
If others are stepping up to the plate to talk about what a great guy someone like Hitler - Hell of a motivational speaker and really organized, that guy - then I think you get to say "Hey, wait a minute!"
Do it with a little bit of class.

Hitler was pretty bad, but he was no Bob Jelenic.

 

[Girlinthehood]

Why should I have respect for the dead? What have they ever done for me?

Ace, I have to tell you, many of your posts make me laugh out loud. Just thought you should know.

 

[Double J]

I know there is already a Carl Pohlad thread in Sports and News, however, I hoped this topic would be worthy of it's own thread.

Scott Miller, in his blog on CBS Sportsline, just ripped Pohlad for being a miserable human being.

Thoughts on whether this is overboard? Well-deserved? Way out of line?

The natural tendency when a person passes away is to forget the faults and remember the good things.

Regarding the late Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, this is not one of those tributes.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270335/12742055

And I'll let you read the rest...

I applaud Scott's sense of honesty. I question his sense of timing. I'm pretty certain he'll get a call from the Commissioner's office.

Asking where can the commish get hooked up with a new suit now that Pohlad has yacked?

 

[Matt1735]

Why should I have respect for the dead? What have they ever done for me?

They recommended you to work at the Plain-Dealer. So you take it out on them.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

From my first editor.

"You know what you get when a prick dies?
"A dead prick."
Words to live by.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Or die by, in some cases.

 

[lone star scribe]

From my first editor.

"You know what you get when a prick dies?
"A dead prick."
Words to live by.

I think we might have worked for the same guy, FB.