Thanks to all. June 26, 2009
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Barack Obama and Blazing Saddles: An Experiment in Viral Videomaking October 11, 2008
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I set this up largely because the xenophobic ranting and raving of John McCain and Sarah Palin’s less educated supporters was beginning to sound awfully familiar. Great comedy is somehow illustrative of real live events; the very best comedy is prescient as to real live events to come. Hats off to Mel Brooks, and to the makers of Apple’s iMovie software.
So now I wonder: Is this the sort of video that could become a one or two million-hit wonder? I think it could, and in relatively short order. I’ll start pushing the marketing of this thing on Monday, and we’ll see how far it goes. I think it just might be even bigger than the drunk Met fan with the cups on his head. We shall see soon enough.
An Unexpected Distinction October 5, 2008
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I googled the SASHSG today (you’ll get an idea of why tomorrow) and I found something totally unexpected. We’ve been mentioned in Wikipedia! Not in our own entry (we’re not that bigtime) but, curiously and delightfully, in the entry for “heckler“. Observe:
At the NBA Drafts of recent years, many fans have gone with heckling ESPN NBA analyst and host of, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Stephen A. Smith. Most notably, The Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen heckles him with a sock puppet dubbed as Stephen A. himself.
How crazy is that? I have no idea who did this — it literally could’ve been anyone — but thanks to whoever it was.
An Appropriately Tearful Farewell to the Friggin’ Cathedral of Baseball September 22, 2008
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Childish? Yes. Immature? Yes.
Howard Stern, some Andrea Peyser wannabe and a short film of a sleeping Met fan. September 20, 2008
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Only in America. A few days ago, I post this video I took during the fourth inning of the Mets-Braves game at Shea last Saturday. It involves a sleeping, probably quite drunk Met fan falling victim to a prank by some of his friends — a prank that turns into something truly special somewhere around the seven minute mark. I send the link to a few places — Fanhouse, Always Amazin — and it catches on. Eventually Deadspin gets a hold of it (I’ve decided to give them a bit of a vacation from getting things directly until Bert Blyleven makes the Hall of Fame.) And by Thursday morning, the video has 33,000 hits.
The next day, my friend Scott tells me that he just heard the video mentioned on Howard Stern… for a good two or three minutes. And that Stern really, really talked it up. And sure enough, it’s all true:
And then the Daily News got involved. And then by Friday, we’re over 150,000 hits.
What a country!
Meanwhile, a rather unfortunate wannabe opinion journalist condemns the video in amNY, which — as my friend Brian observes — is a newspaper so good, they literally cannot give it away for free. Here is a taste of future Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Barker:
The video is both mesmerizing and sick: The whole time I’m watching this, I kept asking myself why are they doing this, why am I watching this and where is the Shea Stadium security? (In all fairness, a Shea usher does show up at the end of the video to put an end to the shenanigans.) …I’m not sure what exactly this video means, other then that the Mets bullpen has been so dreadful to watch lately that it’s much more entertaining to torment an inebriated fan. What it also means is that, for now, Mets fans are in major contention for the biggest sickos in New York, although they don’t have a lock on the honor.
Of course, the article demonstrates no effort to learn what actually happened. I took some time to e-mail Ms. Barker, and her editors. From that missive:
I am a big believer in constructive criticism. To that end, I only offer this: Either a quick query to the person who posted the video, or a perusal of the posts to the video by commenters, including friends AND relatives of the sleeping fellow who have checked in, would have revealed that a) the people stacking the cups were his friends, b) the guy was fine and c) the guy found it absolutely hilarious upon waking up, joking with fans around him as they explained what happened and signing autographs for the people who had posed with him. I am generally suspicious of articles that do not quote a single individual, as all readers should be. This is why. The further absence of perspective displayed by you was striking — I tend to think that stacking a cup on a sleeping friend’s head is not akin to Jets fans literally sexually assaulting female fans in Gate D. Perhaps my view is skewed by my stubborn reluctance to trivialize sexual assault. (I also, given still recent world events in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, would be loathe to trivialize terms like “torment”, particularly in newspapers. This is, perhaps, a character flaw on my part.)
As an opinion writer, you are still a journalist. As such, some exercise of journalistic ethics would be appropriate in the future. Make a call. Write an e-mail. Ask a question. Do the research. Find out what actually happened. You strike me as a not-incapable writer who could blossom into something not putrid, rather than an even more journalistically bankrupt version of Andrea Peyser. Keep working on it.
No response yet.
Who knows how far this video will go. But I’m just glad that thousands have gotten to share in what was, honestly, a very funny (and harmless) moment involving a guy who proved to be a very good sport.
Update: Apparently, the video was also featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday night, and in the LA Times. Unreal.
In which we record a drunk fan subject to the inhumanity and beer cups of his fellow man at Shea Stadium September 14, 2008
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Bald, drunk and in the orange seats is no way to go through life, son.
All I can say is I felt privileged to be there. Well, that and assure you that the guy was alive (for a while, I myself wasn’t so sure — then I noticed his chest rising and falling, indicating either breathing or a fantastically active state of death).
Public Service Alert: A Warning to US Open Ticket Buyers August 27, 2008
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Yesterday morning, my father bought tickets to the Evening Session of Friday’s US Open action. Or so he thought.
Rather than scalping or purchasing from an illegal site, he went to the US Open website and used their official vendor, Tickets Now, the designated online retailer and reseller of US Open tickets. He purchased four tickets for $17 each for his family, thinking he was getting a great short-term deal. The total, with shipping, was more than $100.
As it turns out, what he got were something called “Restaurant Passes.” Restaurant Passes entitle you to visit certain eateries at the US Open. Unfortunately, restaurant passes are useless unless you have tickets to an event: something my father thought he had purchased.
How did this happen?
A call to the US Open Tennis Center revealed that the Open has previously told its vendors, including Tickets Now, NOT to allow the sales of restaurant passes on its own. Meanwhile, Tickets Now — a subsidiary of the generally reputable Ticketmaster — disclaims all liability, citing the “All Sales Final” component of its agreement. The person who I spoke to there, Joanne informed me that they aren’t legally on the hook because of this clause.
As it happens, I’ve had some legal training. The All Sales Final agreement stands assuming that the ticket sale was valid to begin with. It is a matter of basic contract law that in order for such a clause to be honored, the sale must have been valid and understood by both parties, not a farce like this one. Moreover, legal question aside, the manner in which these tickets made their way to the public seems an example of poor business practices and poorer ethics. Meanwhile, Joanne and Tickets Now will not provide my father access to the vendor who put these tickets up to begin with, leaving him with no further recourse.
Now, Tickets Now is disclaiming responsibility. The US Open is as well, saying that once the tickets leave their hands, they are now responsible. Which would make sense, except that the vendor is THEIR authorized vendor. My father is essentially being penalized for not scalping. This seems counterintuitive.
Don’t let this happen to you. Know that, apparently, “US OPEN CLUB” means the tickets you’re buying won’t even get you into the complex. Know that it’s probably not worth using an official reseller like Tickets Now if they’re so eager to watch you get screwed over. And know that the U.S. Open similarly doesn’t give a crap.
In which I try to invent and take credit for something else… August 23, 2008
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Am I the first blogger to use the phrase “O and Joe” for the Barack Obama / Joe Biden Democratic ticket?
How Fragile We Are March 28, 2008
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Realize that the Seattle SuperSonics are likely to leave Seattle soon for Oklahoma City. And realize the reasonably high probability that once they do, they will change their name.
Hence, March 21, 2008 may have been the last day upon which one could truthfully report that I had the brew, she had the chronic, the Lakers beat the SuperSonics.
Food for thought. Big fat fannies will be around forever, felt up into infinity. But the rest of Ice Cube’s utopian vision of a perfect–nay, even good–day, beginning with the obsolescence of beepers some years ago, crumbles into the dust of the past with ever-increasing rapidity.
Someday, we will lose the Goodyear Blimp, too.
Savor every day,
The Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen
Vince Carter’s Dunk of Death Now Has a Baseball Equivalent March 27, 2008
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Kinda.
