Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and special guest Gab to overthink St. Patrick’s Day and the NFL Lockout.
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Two special guests in as many weeks? The podcast is turning into the final days of a sitcom.
I certainly hope so… I totally sent an e-mail last week volunteering to be a podcast-listener turned podcaster… and it’s going to be cool to hear Gab once I actually download this and listen.
And cooler to hear about the ‘official’ qualifications!
Re: the slang of different groups.
There’s a great book called The Big Con by David Maurer. Mr. Maurer was a linguist who studied slang and wrote slang dictionaries, including things like journalist slang (think lede, byline, etc.) He wanted to write a slang study of con-men, and instead was basically adopted by the con men community of the 30s and wrote the book on which pretty much every con-man show is based. It’s a great read, by the way.
Hm… I came across as somewhat of an alcoholic. I’m really not as bad as that. :/
And by “Cleveland” I meant Chicago… Fail.
Thanks for having me, though.
Aw, man, did my turn on the podcast inspire you to e-mail and volunteer your services? I’m going to assume it did, and apologize for pre-empting you or potentially making you go, “Hey, why aren’t I on there, I’m a bigger fan than this Maddy person that I’ve never heard of!!” I honestly assumed you had no interest in appearing, because I figured that if you had ever expressed interest, you’d be an automatic in because you’re such a hardcore OTI commenter. I’m more of a lurker, really, although I still think I’m pretty hardcore …
So, wink wink, nudge nudge, OTI: invite Gab back. Or maybe even have more than one woman AT ONCE!?!! (Almost all of my podcasts are just groups of white straight men talking. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when a smart person who doesn’t fall under all of those categories also shows up.)
“Almost all of my podcasts are just groups of white straight men talking. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when a smart person who doesn’t fall under all of those categories also shows up.”
Having listened to every single podcast, Maddy, you of all people should know that I’m Asian. I think I’ve brought it up on the podcast…at least once or twice. ;-)
Yeah, I know. I thought about including a sentence about your being the exception, but it seemed kinda excessive. I know, and you know I know. :)
Actually, the timing was purely coincidental- DON’T FEEL BAD!!!
I had been really nervous about doing it, and had made up excuses like, oh, I only have a crappy mic built into my laptop, oh, well, I’ve never used Skype before, I have a really mousy voice and sound like I’m twelve no matter HOW good the mic is, etc. Then when I felt like I had built up the cahones… I started grad school. ACK! But I had told myself I’d inquire about it over my spring break, so when I figured yes, I had the time, I emailed the Powers That Be. It just happened to be right around when you were on. But no, I promise, I wasn’t jealous or anything. I, too, am always excited when a woman joins in.
I’d totally do it again, though- I only had to quit working a little early, after all (because, naturally, “break” really means “a**-loads of extra work to do in that spare time you’re given institutionally). I dunno, do you think the sausages could handle two, uh, not sausages at once? ;p
I vote for Cat being on, too! Or Meghan from Lombard!
Crap, I messed up the HTML. Sigh. “Not” was the only word meant to be bold. FAIL.
Cat should probably be on the TFT podcast, if anything — isn’t she the one who keeps writing reading responses to them, or am I getting my female OTI fans mixed up?
Also, you do not sound 12 years old. Fear not.
Yeah, Cat writes into TFT a lot. She also comments sporadically about the website, though, so I’m sure she could hold her own anywhere.
I think you gave everyone who wished they could have a go a bit of a kick into action. For which we are no doubt thankful, especially those of us who can remember the fun of OTI Idol… (the podcast auditions).
It’s interesting to talk about cultural holidays again as the government here want to move from a saint’s day to a military holiday, for tourism reasons, although those tourism reasons are unclear to basically everyone. This was from the same people saying we should use our weather as a selling point – which we shouldn’t.
But then as I said the last time this was discussed, we don’t seem to have the ‘representative’ holidays in the same way. There were some pipers and drummers in Birmingham for St. Patrick’s and that’s about all I saw for it.
Actually, you reminded me of something: I have a friend teaching in Japan right now, and after long reassurances that he and his town are fine, he had to leave to help throw a St. Patrick’s Day party. He and another American were doing it to help “demonstrate American culture.” When probed about how St. Patrick’s Day isn’t originally American, he said, “Well, that’s how we do it, right?” Yup.
I’m still listening to the podcast, but your conversation on the NFL lockout has so much misinformation I can’t wait any longer to discuss the situation.
First and foremost, the 18 game schedule is WAY down the list in terms of issues. Honestly, it has barely been mentioned. The main issues come down to this: The owners want a greater portion of the revenue. They feel they aren’t making enough money, and so they want a greater amount of the revenue. In turn, the players have asked to see the books for the league to see what the finances are like. The owners do not want to do that.
Eventually, the 18 game schedule may be dealt with, but right now they are really just focused on revenue sharing and the finances of the owners.
Second, the owners are not “corporations.” In fact, most big football fans could name most owners. More than that, some owners, such as Dallas’ Jerry Jones and Oakland’s Al Davis, have a major say in the building of the team. Owners in the NFL are quite visible.
Third, I’d say for the most part people are siding with the players. They did not threaten to go on strike. They were going to be locked out, which means the owners were saying they couldn’t play anymore. Furthermore, the NFL players had the worst collective bargaining agreement of the four major sports. They are the only major sport without guaranteed contracts, despite being the most physically demanding sport.
Also, if you want to talk “criminal” connotations, the NFL has nothing on the NBA. Tank Williams didn’t have any marijauna, he had guns. You’re thinking of Nate Newton.
The NFLPA decertification Fenzel sort of got right. The NFLPA had to decertify for the players to be able to file antitrust suits. The collective bargaining agreement prevented the owners from being sued. If the union hadn’t decertified, they would have had to wait six months to file suit, which would have cost them the season. These lawsuits, which should be dealt with in about a month, could (and likely will, because they will be presided over by a judge who has been very pro players thus far) render the lockout over, which means the players could go back to work.
Lastly on football, Sergio Kindle is an outside linebacker who did not get injured on the field. He fell down two flights of stairs because he has narcolepsy.
Also, how dare you say the Blackhawks are from Cleveland. That’s a disgrace to the fine legacy of the Cleveland Barons!
More information: The head of the NFLPA is DeMaurice Smith. He’s the “face” of the player’s union in this. The face of the NFL is, of course, commissioner Roger Goodell.
Doug Flutie never played in Arena Football. He was in the Canadian Football League for years, however. Kurt Warner came from the Arena League however. He played for the Iowa Barnstormers.
Chris, this is all fine and good, and we appreciate the corrections…
…but you forgot to say, “WELL ACTUALLY.”
;)
I already admitted I said “Cleveland” instead of “Chicago” in references to the Blackhawks. :( Sorry…
I know. I saw that. I just wanted to drop a reference to the Cleveland Barons, the most beloved hockey team of all time. Not a big deal.
I used to work not far from Cleveland, and was unaware that they had a hockey team. All the hockey debates seemed to be between the Penguins and the Maple Leafs.
The Cleveland Barons only existed from 1976-1978. The California Golden Seals moved to Cleveland after flaming out in Oakland, and after two seasons in Cleveland they were folded and merged with the Minnesota North Stars. They were the last of the big four sports teams to be folded.
I’ve actually heard a lot about the 18 game season, mainly in the context that 2 additional regular season games would bring in more revenue. You’re right that the major issue is revenue sharing, though – I think the 18 game season is probably just a bargaining chip for the owners to give away so that the players can feel like they won something. Even in that context, it doesn’t really seem like a lot of people who are in favor of 18 games. An ESPN columnist wrote about this: http://goo.gl/cbU8s (the poll he references is written up here: goo.gl/KhPvA). And the players are definitely against the extra games.
I guess it’s true that the really big football fans could name most of the owners, but I doubt that’s true of the casual fan. I’m not really hardcore, and I could name my team’s owner (the Yorks in SF), and maybe a couple others (like Al Davis, Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder), but certainly not all of them. For example, I have no idea who owns the Seattle Seahawks, but I could name some players on that team, as well as the head coach. The owners are definitely more removed from the average fan than the players are.
Also, another somewhat sleazy thing the owners have going for them is that the agreements they have with the networks are in place whether or not they actually play any football. They’ll still get money from their broadcast contracts, while not paying any of the players. I believe there was a court ruling saying that money couldn’t be spent, but don’t quote me on that.
I don’t know how the general public thinks about it, but I’m on the players’ side.
The Seahawks are owned by Paul Allen, who also owns the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. Not that I think that’s common knowledge. I just happen to know who most sports owners are, except in the NHL, and I’m a huge hockey fan.
Ah, I probably should have known that. I’m a much bigger NBA fan than I am a football fan.
One other thing I forgot to mention – the collective bargaining agreement didn’t just expire, the owners actually opted out of the CBA. Also, the broadcast agreements the NFL has with the networks pays regardless of whether or not football is actually played. I think that a court ordered that the money from those agreements can’t be spent, so it’s less sleazy than it sounded to me at first, but it still seems fishy.
Re: The Overthinkingit community. I don’t participate in many forums/communities, mainly Topix Evolution forums and the World of Warcraft forums and in that limited sample OTI is definitely the most polite and least likely to flame.
I think ‘Well, actually…’ even helps with that. It creates a built in response that substitutes for traditional flaming.
Re: Jargon and Latin. These conversations always make me think of the RAF Banter sketch from Monty Python (in fact almost any topic reminds me of a Monty Python skit). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmGvDlxIOo
Re: Baseball Strike. I remember general sympathy being against the players, but not towards the owners, just angry at everyone for letting it happen. There was a famous picture of a fan with a sign saying, “One Strike and you’re out!”
I definitely agree. Having drifted from forum to forum over the years (even browsing the dregs of 4chan back in its heyday), this place is a shining beacon of literacy. And I think you’re right, creating catchphrases like “Well, actually…” are an easy form of quality control. It curbs the flamewar before it starts, and the readers are smart enough to only use it when they’re absolutely right.
4chan makes a Klan rally seem like beacon of literacy, but I get your point. I recently was reading articles about Kevin Smith’s activities from his non-feud with Howard Stern to his self distribution of Red State that he announced at Cannes (a topic I’d be interested in hearing the opinions of from OTI).
What struck me was not so much the articles themselves, but the comments afterwards by readers. People get really angry over the stupidest things online. It let me to write my own article on the phenomenon, multipassdiscounts.com/making-it-personal-from-kevin-smith-to-george-lucas
Based on some of the comments I read, calling one of the podcasters an idiot is pale in comparison. It seems anything short of a death threat is typical internet critiques these days.
i too would love to think that Overthinking It is a safe haven in waves of internet trolls and flame storms but in my experience it’s only matter of size – quantity of threads, comments and actual number of people commenting are still really low here. the discussion under female flow chart with mere 198 comments is already not so nice and shiny.
And note the ones making those less-than-stellar comments on the flow chart are people that aren’t frequent fliers, but people that stumbled upon it because of another site linking and such. The regulars (and yourself included, to boot) don’t do that crap.
I drink to gain more adventures.
So I can spend more time farming booze.
So I can gain more adventures.
This makes me wish I’d implemented some kind of +1 system for comments one likes. I’m glad we’re promoting a “Comment of the Week” in the Open Threads now.
Ah, this term “collective bargaining”- the American version is so different from the European model. I didn’t think it was all that related whilst podcasting, but (get ready for a slight rant):
In Europe, you don’t have to be in a union to bargain collectively- which is actually why a lot of countries over there have declining union density. Spain is a perfect example- as their unions get less members, they have less resources, so they can’t provide as much for members, so less people join, meaning they have less resources, etc.; plus, the non-members have little incentive to join, anyway, since whatever wages get set by the bargaining between the workers and the corporate bosses apply to everybody, regardless of union membership. Finland has the highest union density in the EU, I believe, but they’re probably on the same track as Spain. Finland is REALLY unique, though, in that every sector has its own wage- so, for example, all of the teachers get together and bargain for their own wage, while the taxi drivers do it for their wage, the electricians cover themselves, etc.
Granted, European countries still have higher union density than the US, but still.
Sorry, I just did a project on some comparative policy issues. I should stop, since this is 1) prolly uber boring, and 2) dangerously close to political, eh?
Yeah, as Matt said on the podcast, just about as many words as the officials on the site. And I do still have a Star Wars article in the pipeline somewhere…
Maybe I need a life. ;p
Oh, I’d just love to see a Star Wars article from you!
Since I’ve decided to not be a fool. I’ve gone ahead and commented my response instead of emailing it.
I felt inclined to crawl out of my lurker hole and post here in response to the comment about being a lifer for OTI. I’ve had the pleasure of reading and listening to the content of OTI for the past few years and must say that it’s been a remarkable source of entertainment and education. I’ve listened to the podcast since the start (though I think my first episode was episode 9 or 10) and was very much humbled by having my email mocked and ridiculed on these F***’ing teenagers. I do miss the presence of Belinkie and Shechner and wish they were on more. I also particularly enjoyed the podcast during the “Fenzel in his dank basement” era. Anyways, just thought I’d chime in how much I enjoyed the site and to keep up the great work!