Personally, and I’m totally biased, but I think we deliver exactly what we always promised on this blog — straight-forward, honest commentary on the Green Bay Packers.
We do that from a perspective that’s based on passion… and knowledge. So, yeah, when some people proclaim Donald Driver the greatest receiver in Green Bay Packers history, we’re gonna tell them why he isn’t.
We understand that pisses people off. And that’s fine. Not everyone is going to agree and not everyone is going to take the time to educate themselves. Does this point of view make us elitist snobs?
Maybe. I really have no idea how to define that. Someone with more knowledge than us? Or is it someone with less, who just feels inferior?
What we know is this — those people who read us regularly do so for a reason. Because they’re as invested as we are. They know who Don Hutson is, they hate the fucking Queens and all of their shitbag fans and they have intelligent comments that add to the discussion (even when we don’t agree).
Then there are the “journalists” who like to hate on what we do.
To be honest, we wouldn’t have this blog if it weren’t for them. Know why? Because the Packers only give press passes to “established media outlets.”
We’ve asked. So until we start a television network, launch a radio station or start to produce a newspaper (because everyone reads the newspaper!), we won’t be able to get the access these other clowns get. As someone who used to write for the Appleton Post-Crescent and the Oshkosh Northwestern, I find that to be complete and utter bullshit.
It’s also reality. So we rely on the work of all those local Packers beat writers.
Turns out, sometimes those local beat writers aren’t happy with what we present.
Do we care what they think? Nope. If they were better than us, you’d be reading their websites instead of this one. And frankly, if we had the access they’re allowed, they’d probably be looking at Craigslist right now.
So, do you want to know who carries a badge as a member of the Internet Police?
Of course you do.
We posted something about the Packers’ expectations for Nick Perry the other day. The information for that post came from Kevin Seifert’s blog at ESPN.
And then there came a comment from Kevin Seifert (or someone pretending to be him) that said this.
I love when you copy posts from ESPN
How ironic. The one place that has been slammed for “reporting” things as fact and not giving credit. I mean, for example, anything they report about the NFL they may as well say, “as first reported by Fox Sports Jay Glazer.” Do they do that?
You watch the scroll and tell me.
Anyway, my reply was something like this — I love when you steal ideas from us and then pretend that they’re your own and don’t link back.
Honestly, we can’t prove anyone is stealing our ideas, but shit gets fishy when we write something and then this assclown or the Journal-Sentinel or the Press-Gazette has the same story or “column” a couple days later.
And hey, that’s how it works. Someone writes something that’s intelligent, exciting and is going to get people to react — you take that and offer a slightly different take. In most cases, you might actually mention the original work — like, “I read so-and-so’s column on the Green Bay Packers and…”
In other cases — on the Internet, where some of us know about traffic — you might even link to that original article/post, as we always do.
Then again, if your fucking vagina hurts, you might just leave a comment on someone’s blog complaining about them copying your work. And that seems totally appropriate, doesn’t it?
So, that guy. Who else is guilty here?
You’ll never guess.
Jason Wilde is also a member of the Internet Police.
While we don’t have evidence that Jason himself is monitoring the site and then getting all butt hurt when he sees something he doesn’t like, we do know two things.
First, he reads the site. We know this because he’s mentioned it on his weekly radio show.
Second, someone consistently comments on posts that reference Wilde activity. In those instances, it’s always something like, “as told to Jason Wilde, where’s the reference?”
Well, the reference is in the link that we provide to that article. If you knew jack shit about how the Internet works, that would probably be satisfactory to you.
Instead, someone needs the glory. Sometimes we reference Jason Wilde articles, people! Did you get that? Jason Wilde! There’s no way anyone could have said those words to anyone other than Jason Wilde because no one can ask the probing, informed questions that he can!
Did I mention that Wilde writes for ESPN Wisconsin… or Milwaukee… or whatever the fuck?
At least when the Urinal-Sentinel and Press-Gazette copy our shit they have the decency to not comment on our site and make stupid accusations. Just like we don’t comment on their obviously copied articles.
They’re good to not out-and-out plagiarize shit, which we appreciate.
Anyway, it happens. We get it and after our initial anger wears off, we feel a certain sense of pride. We wrote something that was so good that some journalist agreed, rewrote it and then went and put it in the newspaper.
Awesome.
But ESPN doesn’t play the game. They’re the worldwide leader, you know. And part of being the worldwide leader and maintaining that facade is that you don’t credit anyone. You steal ideas for posts from people who don’t have your visibility and pretend you came up with those ideas. Because most people will never know.
When you, yourself, write a post on information someone else reported first, you credit the source of the information, but you’re sure not to link to them. Because why would you link to someone who did your job better than you? Links are Internet currency, and why would you give that credit to anyone who doesn’t write for ESPN?
You wouldn’t. You don’t. Yet, your pussy starts to hurt and you feel the need to comment when you don’t get what you want.
Guess what.
Suck my fucking balls.
In reality, I love what Wilde does. Good writer. Former newspaper guy like me. Knows his shit. Consistently better than the JS and PG guys. But turn in your Internet Police badge, bro. Or at least call off your minions.
Seifert? I could give a fuck about.
I could write a circle around that motherfucker by myself if he had a team of 20. He’s lucky that his shitty blog got a link from this site to begin with.
So really, if you’re going to leave a comment, make it relevant. If you want to tell me what an asshole I am, call me — [thanks for all the calls and texts] — and say it directly to me.
That’s my cell phone.
If you work at ESPN and want to piss and moan about how we credit you, well, guess what. Fuck yourself. You’re lucky we credit you at all.
For all of you who read and contribute, even when you don’t agree, thank you. This wasn’t meant to be some self-indulgent exercise, but we’ve had enough of people’s stupid bullshit. You’re the heartbeat of this site and everyone else, we’d rather do without.