Bouncing Rhetorical Checks
By Mitch Berg
Listening to “Morning Edition” this morning.
Diana Naiad – “Marketplace”‘s sports-biz commentator – talking about the National Football League and its “best of times/worst of times” year to date:
“…and Brett Favre is as well-known an athlete as Mohammed Ali at his peak”.
!!!
At his peak, Mohammed Ali was better-known than any world leader, everywhere on the planet; he was more identifiable around the globe than Richard Nixon, at their respective peaks. Does Ms. Naiad honestly think that kids in Lagos and Rangoon know Brett Favre better than they know, say, George W. Bush?
Don’t get me wrong – I love the Favre story. But let’s not get too carried away.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Agreed. Plus Favre has a French name, which means he hates freedom.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
No, he has a French name which means he loves cheese.
Duh.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
He has a Cajun name, which means he hates clowns.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
He has a French name which means he doesn’t believe the NIE report either.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
He has a french name, which means he has a better chance of nailing Audrey Tatou than any of the rest of us do.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
You post that without a link? HCF is Universal, Berg!
December 14th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
He has a French name, which means he has a better chance of nailing Adrienne Barbeau than any of the rest of us do.
http://anti-strib.blogspot.com/2006/08/hcf-adrienne-barbeau.html
December 14th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Audrey Tatou not Adrienne Barbeau you douche.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
You go where you want to go, I’ll go where I want to go you douche.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Adrienne Barbeau had a nice set of cans once upon a time, but she’s 62. Audrey Tatou is 31, cute as a button and talks with an adorable accent.
Angryclown agrees that it’s Badda, not Kerm, who leaves ladies with a feeling of spring rain freshness.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Um, Thanks?
December 15th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
AC probably doesn’t think Sophia Loren or Isobela Rosalini are attractive now that they are over 40.
Some folks, namely guys who claim they have ignored me, just have no taste.
😀
December 15th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Audrey:
http://kino.lvmail.lv/uploads/img/5/1187793664_kinopoisk.ru-Audrey-Tautou-581×800-395385.jpg
Adrienne:
http://broadwayworld.com/columnpic/nobodycaresaboutmeanymore_thumb.jpg
Angryclown trusts the collective wisdom of the SITD Mitchketeers to determine whether Badda is correct and Adrienne is the greater hottie.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I love Tony Parker, he was born in freedom, used to play Basketball in freedom growing up, and speaks the mother tongue of freedom.
Get carried away?! Boy that never happens in neo-nutsie land.. I mean, like holy pro-war, pro-terror, pro-death Mitch, it’s almost like someone forgotting to put con at the front of conservative .. h ic. pardon me I had to much egg-nog, and thought Mohammad Ali was more recognizable than Richard Nixon during his Presidency. From what load of crap-pile do you pull this schock? Ali was certainly more well known in the 80’s than Nixon IN THE 80’s, but while he was President? Let’s just say maybe you’ve gotten just a little carried away with yoruself.
AC, wasting air on Badda is like wasting words of compassion on moral majority (sorry “Focus on the (white) Family”) Evangelicals, it’s the kind of thing they THINK they understand, but when they try to grasp it, it just seems to slips through their hypermoralistic fingers. Ethnocentrism is the province of the supremely insecure which is good, cause at least they have that going for them. Badda – I don’t need to ignore you, you just don’t have anything useful to say. There are dozens of women over 40 who are beautiful, my wife of 22 years being one you sanctimonious pain.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
From what load of crap-pile do you pull this schock?
A bio of Ali that I read in high school, which cited a Gallup poll carried out all over the world – literally ALL OVER THE WORLD – that showed that Muhammed Ali was in fact the best-known personality in the world. No contest. Period, end of sentence.
Ali, at his peak, was the most well-known personality on earth.
Was it true or was it not? Ask Gallup.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
it’s the kind of thing they THINK they understand, but when they try to grasp it,
Not to generalize or anything.
December 16th, 2007 at 1:45 am
my wife of 22 years being one
Stockholm syndrome in action.
Oh, I’m kidding.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Ali was huge, gotta agree with Mitch on that one. Back in those days, heavyweight championship fights were carried on network TV and watched by almost everybody. Beginning with his gold medal in Rome and defeat of Sonny Liston four years later, Clay/Ali was big news, certainly through the end of the Nixon adminstration. I bet Mitch is right about that poll.
Remeber that Ali had fights all over the world, in places like Zaire and the Philippines. Not to mention his conversion to Nation of Islam and stand against the Vietnam War – his draft case went to the Supreme Court.
I’m not sure there’s been a sports figure ever that had as high a profile as Ali. Babe Ruth would be the only contender. Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods far behind – simply because they didn’t have Ali’s outsize personality and didn’t generate the controversy that followed Ali wherever he went.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Badda has some pretty, uh, rarefied tastes I think, Peev. Let’s not judge.
Just to show there’s no hard feelings, Badda, here’s a link to a hottie I think you’ll find very appealing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/06/iraq_your_pictures/img/big/17_nm_old220.jpg
December 16th, 2007 at 10:22 am
I’m not sure there’s been a sports figure ever that had as high a profile as Ali.
…they didn’t have Ali’s outsize personality and didn’t generate the controversy that followed Ali wherever he went.
And the beauty of it, AC, was that nobody could shut him up.
December 16th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Because he was, as he claimed, the greatest. A marked contrast to you wingnuts who talk tough but don’t deliver.
December 16th, 2007 at 11:23 am
I think Paulie Wingnuts must have been a Jerry Quarry fan.
December 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
“And the beauty of it, AC, was that nobody could shut him up.”
We can well see that this is one aspect of Ali which the clown emulates faithfully.
December 16th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I think Paulie Wingnuts must have been a Jerry Quarry fan.
Just couldn’t restrain yourself, could you? Even when I back you up.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:39 am
Angryclown is sorry, Paul. He’s not used to getting support from these precincts.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Did Peev just miss my point again?!?!?! lol (Not only that, AC put words in my mouth… must be a habit.)
AC, that BBC picture of your mom is sweet. I can see where you get your looks from.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Hey Mitch,
Your joke about my mairraige, low class all the way.. nice work. My wife’s got more class in her little finger than everyone you’ve ever known, combined – excepting your parents and maybe AC..oh, I’m kidding.
I mean, I COULD ask if you about.. nevermind – but that would have been hypocritical and God knows that never happens here – the comment wasn’t even directed at you, yet in you leapt with your getter level conduct – perhaps we should inquire about your sychophants when we talk about Stockholm.
Yeah, just kidding. What a classy guy you are, I love how you remain so civil. I offered Mitch, remember that sometime as you right your self-justifying memoirs. I offered to be civil, apologized several times, you couldn’t bring yourself to it, that’s your choice. Insult my wife some more, that’s pretty classy stuff, wanna try my kids next? Just proves out yet again who the nut is in this discussion – which didn’t need any more proof, but I appreciate your validation.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:27 am
“Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
December 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Your joke about my mairraige, low class all the way.. nice work.
It wasn’t a joke about your marriage, it was a joke about you. And, above all, it was a joke. There was no offense intended, and if you took it that way, I am sorry. I have nothing but regard for people who can keep a marriage working for 22 years.
So good lord, Peev, drink a cup of warm milk or something. You don’t have to take everything as a mortal attack, for crying out loud.
Relax.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Mitch,
The “if” apology doesn’t really work. Even if it’s for Peev. See Soucheray on the non-apology apologies.
That said, the joke was 1) funny, and 2) clearly had the “Oh, I’m kidding,” at the end.
Duh.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Nothing “if” about the apology; I never meant it as an insult. If he insists on continuing to find some injury in it, it’s kinda his problem.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
“…if you took it that way, I am sorry”
I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I know it isn’t much… but other folks end up giving insincere apologies like that and I usually say something about it. At the risk of getting called what-ever-it-is-that-Peev-and-AC-spit-out, I know you’re sincere on that, but if anything it encourages the more angry and peevish commentors to do the same.
If they ever apologize for something.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
when that Stockholm joke is told at a bar it would be funny. in an anonymous comment section it’s hilarious. When it is taken offense at in either place with Peev’s comments above it is HILARIOUS. What’s the point of defending your wife as an ANONYMOUS troll in a comment section? Is there something I’m not getting?
December 21st, 2007 at 5:48 am
So good lord, Peev, drink a cup of warm milk or something. You don’t have to take everything as a mortal attack, for crying out loud.
Relax.
That’s a two way street Mitch. My comments about your understanding of charity weren’t a mortal attack and I never thought your comment was a mortal attack, I said it was classless – that’s all. Hyperbole isn’t needed.
Anyway, I appreciate your apology – it takes class to hold out an olive branch – it’s not easy, but I appreciate it. Nuff said.. turn a leaf, ok, I’ll try – anyway, as you said, if I couldn’t after you apologize, it would be MY problem, while I have many, that’s not one.