NYMag reports that Chris Christie welches on his fantasy-football bets… assuming, they are careful to point out, you believe the NYPost, neither a reliable nor an unbiased source.
Speaking of aging desk jockey has-beens retreating to fantasy, remember Frank Luntz? Looks like it only took him six weeks to overcome his existential agony and find the perfect niche, according to Travis Waldron at Think Progress:
Fox Sports 1, the upstart 24-7 sports network hellbent on challenging ESPN’s throne in the sports world, announced Thursday evening that it had hired veteran Republican communications strategist Frank Luntz as an on-air personality… Luntz will anchor a segment called “Sound Off,” in which he’ll host pre-recorded focus groups polling fans on issues in the sports world. The panels seem to be an offshoot of the political focus groups Luntz conducted on Fox News as part of that network’s coverage of the 2012 elections (those segments were regular features after Republican primary debates)…
Luntz debuted “Sound Off” on Thursday night’s edition of Fox Sports Live with segment asking his focus group participants if they would draft Michael Sam, the University of Missouri player who came out as gay this month, if they were an NFL general manager…
Watch that segment, and it’s hard to see much value for viewers. None of these fans are going to be in charge of drafting Mike Sam. Fans in general aren’t going to be in charge of drafting Mike Sam. Their opinions aren’t unique or particularly illuminating and they are largely irrelevant…unless, of course, you’re an NFL owner or general manager who might be interested in selecting Sam but have concerns about how your fans would react to an openly gay player…. [G]iven Luntz’s client history, it’s almost impossible to see it as anything else but as easy product placement for Luntz — who plugged his own firm at the end of the segment — and a free look for NFL general managers into what fans are thinking…
(Hat tip to Mr. Charles P. Pierce.) More detail, and a video clip, at the link.
NotMax
Luntz? Can picture it now.
“America’s pastime: What should we change the terms strikes* and balls** to?”
*them socialist unions, don’tcha know
**think of the children!
Punchy
Quite certain an NFL GM in, say, Jax doesnt give a shit what some chuckleheads in a focus group in Southern Cali think about Mike Sam.
dr. bloor
Focus groups for sports stuff? The only thing worse than listening to idiots calling into sports radio shows one at a time would be exposure to their collective “wisdom.”
Pogonip
I was studying Steve’s most recent picture. He does look awfully fluffy; is some of that fluff fat? I don’t know enough about Maine coons to be sure. Is he getting Tunchified?
Welching on bets? In New Jersey? Doesn’t that result in a visit from Guido and the boys?
proterozoic
God, as long as it keeps him away from politics
Mike in NC
Frank Luntz vs. Dennis Miller time?
NotMax
@Mike in NC
The Yawnah From California.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike in NC: Two douchecanoes enter! One douchecanoe leaves!
muricafukyea
Why hasn’t anyone been able to explain to me why wr0ng way Cole has not been blowing wet kisses to fat bastard KhristieKreme lately?
It’s almost like a faux news sort of reality with this guy. When gas prices go up, blame Obama, when they go down talk about Benghazi.
Only with Cole it’s about he dream boat greek god heros KhristieKreme and Griftwald and when they have some new shit storm going on he talks about his fucking cat which nobody gives a shit about.
Btw, looking forward to him pissing and moaning come spring when that fur ball starts shedding like crazy.
Chris
Rule # 1 about the rich, powerful and conservative: they’re petty.
Very, very, very, very petty.
ulee
@muricafukyea: You are ignorant and stupid. Congratulations.
PsiFighter37
Watching Jason Collins play on my teevee and re-watching Deval Patrick’s 2012 DNC speech.
Oh, and drinking Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ from Lagunitas. Good times.
PF37 +6
Steeplejack
@dr. bloor:
Yeah, this. Most sports talk shows are all about nitwits calling in and giving their opinion anyway. They need Frank Luntz to “curate” that somehow?
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris: My understanding is that the proper way to do this kind of thing is to pay one’s gambling debts on time and remember one’s tailor in one’s will.
Kay
The thing is, Frank Luntz’s focus groups were often unfavorable for Republicans. It was fun to watch the Fox News anchors versus the focus groups when they disagreed. “McCain won the debate!” and then the thumbs down from the focus group.
What if he doesn’t have the job in politics anymore because they just said “look, the truth is, we don’t want to know”.
Mnemosyne
Waiting for a “True Detective” thread …
Waiting …
Joel
Pisco sour. Delicious.
PurpleGirl
@Steeplejack:
They need Frank Luntz to “curate” that somehow?
No, but Luntz needs a job and that corporate wingnut welfare. Voila, a job in sports announcing.
Yatsuno
@Pogonip: Maine Coons go extra floofy in winter. Tunch was all marshmallowy goodness.
Keith G
Come on…..I want Frank to be wildly successful in this new venture. While his former way of making a buck was not the worst cancer on the body politic, it was rather dangerous. We all need him far away from his recent pursuits.
Omnes Omnibus
Wow, You Can’t Take It With You is some wild anti-1% stuff.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
There’s always been (to me) something unspoken about Mrs. Kirby in that film. No way is someone who looks like Jimmy Stewart the child of Edward Arnold.
Just sayin’.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: I see what you are saying.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus:
Capra was another Good Guy. His only hit after WW 2 was It’s a Wonderful Life. After that his Left-ish views were pretty much Main Street, social-political criticism was out of step with the 1950s “go along, get along, grab all you can” post-war boom, and he never made the jump to star-driven 100% fluffy entertainment cinema.
Jewish Steel
@Kay:
It’s hard to unskew actual living, breathing humans. Ailes will find a way, though.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous: I vastly prefer this to IAWL.
The Other Chuck
@Mike in NC:
An apropos comparison indeed. Washed up, on wingnut welfare, still doing the same shtick that once brought home the bacon but is now a grotesque parody of itself. I imagine Luntz soon to be alone in his apartment, running focus groups with imaginary participants, finding new terms to recast “crushing loneliness” and “bitter self-loathing” into phrases more mellifluous to his ears.
Mnemosyne
G insisted on showing this to me, and now all the rest of you have to see it, too:
“Kitten Mittons” (from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia)
I see a business plan …
Steeplejack
@PurpleGirl:
Usually the sports divisions are separate from the news divisions. And there’s not really that much of a wingnut angle on sports. Some, yeah, but not a lot.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: The sport guys have to try to be accurate – even the narrative must bend to the actual results.
Steeplejack
@Anoniminous:
I don’t even think It’s a Wonderful Life was a hit when it first came out.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Pygmalion next. Yippee.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hard to unskew actual scores.
PsiFighter37
Luntz is doing sports now? He’ll be off the air as quickly as Rush Limbaugh was off the air as an MNF commentator, but because he sucks ass, terrible, poop-smelling ass.
Also, Stuart Scott is a fucking sellout. The current SportsCenter is making me want to erase my childhood. I remember when Olbermann, Chris Bermann (pre-‘I’m the fucking Swami, look at me fail at life/aka NFL predictions on-air!), Dan Patrick, and pre-shitastic Stuart Scott ruled the roost. That was good shit.
Oh, yeah, and before Kenny Mayne sold out like the fucking asshole tool he looks like.
GOODNIGHT, ‘merica
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’re going to let one of them out at the end? Why?
Redshift
Luntz doing sports? For some reason, I’m reminded of an old SNL sketch, “Ruining It For Everyone.”
Fortunately, I don’t care about sports.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: It is canonical.
Roger Moore
@Jewish Steel:
You have to interview them in advance to
filter out the sane onesmake sure they’re truly representative.srv
@NotMax: I’m thinking:
– Has the feminization of sports gone too far?
– Will politicians destroy football with odious regulations over head injuries?
– What does it say about achievement if everyone gets a trophy?
– Are people who hate football/basketball racists because the majority of players are black?
– Why shouldn’t [insert team here] get a new publically funded stadium?
– Do sports team owners pay too much in taxes?
– Why don’t black people watch NASCAR?
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think I’m going to watch Crimes of Passion on MHz.
Interesting, slightly lightweight crime series set in Sweden in the ’50s. Gorgeous cinematography, great scenery, and the actors are easy on the eyes too. I think Tuva Novotny is your kind of woman.
Redshift
@Kay: Hmm, my impression was that he could usually deliver the results that the people paying him wanted. Which was related to why he got reprimanded by the pollsters’ professional organization. (Technically, iirc, it was because he refused to disclose the numbers behind his claimed results.) But I could never stand to watch Fox, so I admit I based that on second-hand accounts.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Not a channel I have. Ms Novotny is quite lovely.
burnspbesq
Trying to remember the last time I watched an event on Fox Sports 1. I think it was the Duke-Oklahoma women’s basketball game in early December.
Their programming pretty much sucks.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, content yourself with Wendy Hiller.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus:
Looked it up on IMDB. There’s some good lines:
Need to see it again.
@Steeplejack:
I meant, but didn’t say, over the long run.
Wikipedia:
It’s been a money churner since what with second showings, TV showings, on the Art House circuit, and DVD sales.
Yatsuno
@muricafukyea: Herp de Durf. Just shoo, the adults are talking.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
There are iOS and Android apps, and I think it’s available on Roku, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video. Lots of good European crime series.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
I think they carry the odd F.A. cup match and some other soccer. I know I’ve been on there for something recently.
Jewish Steel
@Roger Moore: Maybe a committee interview? Then you could focus group a focus group. Down the rabbit hole!
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous:
Hard to argue against it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I am a late adopter. Didn’t get a cell phone until 2004. Still have a turntable. I will adopt some form of that modern technology, but not yet.
ETA: I didn’t even get cable until 2008.
Wally Ballou
@burnspbesq: I believe they’re going to have part of the baseball postseason beginning this year. That’s more or less the only time I can even see myself bothering to tune in to that channel.
srv
Now that Sochi is wrapped up, the APCs can head for Sevastopol!
NotMax
@srv
LOL.
“Take that, evil empire – The True Grit of The Gipper”
“Buff Ain’t Rough – Why Jesus Would Take Steroids”
Anoniminous
Be darned (Wikipedia):
Wonder when the last time the drama Pulitzer was won by a comedy.
In fact I wonder when the Pulitzer slipped out of public consciousness. Don’t hear much about them anymore.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I’m thinking felted wool with a little fabric paint in the bottom so the kittens can walk.
Omnes Omnibus
I really just don’t see the monster that some others see in Higgins.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus:
Not going to try.
BTW, There’s a craze for releasing on vinyl so having a turntable is now tres chic avant garde Kool Kidz stuff.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Anoniminous:
I was basically agreeing with you. IAWL was his only hit after WWII, and it was a lukewarm one at that, especially in regard to giving him any career momentum going into the ’50s.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous: Steep believes me to be a hipster. I deny it. I just like what I like.
Anoniminous
@Steeplejack (tablet):
I didn’t think you disagreed. I was rambling on, as I often do. :-)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ferlinghetti told a friend of mine knowing what one likes – and why – is the definition of a hipster.
Brain fried. Night all.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous: You’re all bastards.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@muricafukyea:
Herp de derp, eh?
ericblair
@Anoniminous:
My 80+ year old mom will be delighted to know this.
RSR
Sounds like 538-lite.
Howlin Wolfe
@Pogonip:
Lazily read your comment, and thought you were calling Luntz “Steve” and were asking the above quote about him.
Chris
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Wasn’t he investigated by the FBI for potentially being a commie after IAWL? That sort of thing’ll put anybody off making these kinds of movies.
Interesting era, the 1950s; seems to me like it was the start of the modern “I Got Mine, Fuck You” mentality. All these tons of white Southerners, Westerners and urbanites who’d been the building block of the New Deal came out of the decade with a standard of living that they could barely have dreamed of during the Great Depression a couple decades earlier, or even the Roaring Twenties. For a lot of them, that seems to’ve pretty much ended their interests with radical politics… and now that economics wasn’t a major concern anymore, it meant they were free to indulge their pet social issues involving religion and race. Sure, nonwhite people are treated horrifically, women are still second-class citizens, and it’s not like there aren’t still poor people to worry about, even white, male ones… but hey. I got mine. Fuck you.