SJ – you’ve made it!!

If you unscramble and rearrange the letters in “Stephen H Webb Soccer is Ruining America” you get “Rebecca Wilson is a She Devil”.

In fact, the article was really written by Rebecca Wilson, who of course always gets America mixed up with Australia – they both start and end with the letter ‘a’.

In the “Sports” section of today’s Sunday Telegraph – the dumb big brother of Daily Telegraph, there were 11 full pages on Rugby League and not one sentence, one word, one letter, one byte or one bit on Football – not a cracker.

And then there was Rebecca Wilson’s “Sports Gossip” half page and guess which sport had all the gossip – you guessed it – Rugby League.

I like this quote from the authors page in wikipedia: “[Stephen H. Webb] was removed from his position as co-chairman [of the Christian Vegetarian Association, which he co-founded] in 2006 after writing several articles in which he admitted to eating meat occasionally, while promoting vegetarianism.”

Did you eventually patch things up with Mike Salter?

You know that I only found out about the likes of The Football Tragic and Round Ball Analyst due to your mentioning in your blogs.

So I find it strange that you and Salter had a falling out.

LOL article whats wrong with the US ..it’s SOCCER…. Maybe one of Jes’s or SJ best could come from this… but can you imagine having this guy in the lecture room with his powerpoint and overhead…. enjoy…but he made time so he must be clever..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680101041299201.html

By STEPHEN H. WEBB

Soccer is running America into the ground, and there is very little anyone can do about it. Social critics have long observed that we live in a therapeutic society that treats young people as if they can do no wrong. Every kid is a winner, and nobody is ever left behind, no matter how many times they watch the ball going the other way. Whether the dumbing down of America or soccer came first is hard to say, but soccer is clearly an important means by which American energy, drive and competitiveness are being undermined to the point of no return.

Jes, I accept what you say about their being no one harder on you than yourself if a mistake is made … I am no different…

Jes & Zac, what I need / wish / to get out there is how important as I see it this site is … a client of mine is employed by an Australian Icon company that spends a lot of coin on sports advertising and sponsorships..he is in the sports marketing department and is a very senior manager there… some weeks ago they did an in depth analysis of the Roar … it was not that good TBH seen as to much of a RU site … I was chating to him on Thursday after the Mariners lost .. it started out as a business conversation but like always when we speak sport gets a lot of talk … he tells me a few people are looking at the Roar like it is not there yet and is still perceived as a RU site but that is starting to change…

Meaning I guess, this site could potentially become much bigger than it currently is… but it has a lot of media people looking at it now and some in sports management as well… Meaning quality is very important and a quality stable of writers is important and balanced articles essential for the sites success..

Jes I hear what you say about the round ball analysis & I have his site on my favorites , but like Football in the Capital by Eammon, & Kickoff by Northern Spirit, the MV fans site (BTW IMO the best in Australia), The Football Tragic , the SBS site, … all excellent but all football sites… The Roar is a general sports site and has a wider audience in terms of many non football people read and learn about football this separates the Roar from the rest…

I have no idea if the Roar is going to be successful in the long haul of time… but there is no other independent general sports that gives football equal space and staff numbers as the Roar …. So Jes as the led writer you have a lot of responsibility as if this site continues to grow it will help football…

Anonymity prevails in Blog-world, I do not envy journo’s who “work” in the shadowy world of cyberspace. Probably not that different to paper journo’s to be perfectly honest.

BTW, very gracious Fink. Happy Ishtar to all the Pagans, and Easter to the rest of youse.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/paper-links-liverpool-to-player-who-doesnt-exist-738961.html

Apparently they printed an article that a player named Didier Baptiste was about to sign for Liverpool, when in fact he was a fictional character on a football-themed TV soap on pay tv, and was obviously never with Monaco as reported!

No worries, i recognized it’s just a minor mistake and I’m certainly not comparing you to the hacks that done the Viduka stories or the Masal Bugduv. However like SJ pointed out it was certainly alarm bells was ringing when it seemed like you were using forum post as a source and the shear irony of it is that your article was only day after you wrote this one bemoaning the standard of football journalism. However I’m certainly going to give you the benefit of doubt.

For what it’s worth, I do agree with your general message of your article about the socceroos and recognise the factual errors didn’t change the overall message (although I do believe that it could have done with a less harsh tone. I believe it could have been better written as a discussion about whether we should keep the name rather then a critique on Ben Buckley’s comment who I believe only deserve at best minor criticism for his statement)

The World Game forum is certainly full of purile and irrelevant post. I think most of the credible stuff comes form the Australian Football section of the forum. Even then its get dragged down to name calling and personal attacks. I’m pretty sick of seeing “new dawners” and “bitters” brandish around in that forum.

Anyway I also like the round ball analyst but my favorite blogger so far is Mike Salter from The Football Tragic (although apparently, didn’t you have a stouch with him?)

Ben, you’re right about anonymous posting of information has also resulted in sloppy journalism, for instance in the case of the “Masal Bugduv” story was lifted by the Times journalists directly from unverified anonymous bloggers and wikipedia entries. This appears to have been done deliberately by bloggers posing as different posters. Hence the alarm by people like dasilva when information appears (although I sincerely hope it did not) to have been taken of a forum rather than a creditable source.

You do indeed post under your own name however your reputation also is your career path, whereas for most posters (I sincerely hope) it is not. Hence anonymity does indeed make for a fearless critic however without that genuine discourse would be more difficult to come by as fewer people would be prepared to engage. This very anonymity makes the blog-o-sphere a reality. That said the anonymous posting of information has also resulted in sloppy journalism which your initial article alluded to and, quite interestingly, this thread seems to have expanded upon.

Look on the bright side, your critics are armed with keyboards whilst for some of us the critics are occasionally armed in a far more literal sense.

On a far more serious topic I’ve just, in the last 5 minutes, discovered cold James Boag’s in Phnom Penh. The Tasmania bid is looking better by the minute.

We do our best to write about current sporting issues that will resonate with the readers and sometimes we do get it wrong and sometimes you may not agree with us. We are not pushing an agenda for anyone in particular, we have complete freedom to write what we wish and this does allow us to write about topical and interesting issues in sport that we feel strongly about.

It’s difficult to cater for everyones tastes and opinions but be grateful you are on a site that allows you to debate these points, share your viewpoint and even write your own pieces. Few sites give you that freedom.

The worst is when people who don’t agree with our point of view vilify us personally and that is not acceptable. It doesn’t happen often but it has occasionally. Sadly some hide behind a keyboard computer and username and flame attacks and this is not what we want at the Roar. As Jesse says you develop a thick skin in this business however personal attacks do still hurt. We all make mistakes and are human. Remember for the likes of Jesse and I this is our livelihood so please bare that in mind.

Keep the debates on topic and don’t go into personal judgements.

Surely you can see the delicious irony of writing an article having a good laugh at the Times for their error with the fictional footballer, the Mark Viduka stories etc, and then feeling hard done by when people mention the odd occasions you have put a foot wrong? Or does your sense of humour fail when it comes to yourself? Whether it’s a dodgy article or a dodgy pizza, any consumer has a right to their say. As I have said to many a disgruntled customer “we appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve our service” (which we genuinely do try to do).

Totally agree about Bozza’s commentary, by the way, he is head and shoulders above most of the Foxsports crew…

Megatron, whether on this site or others, every blogger is well within their rights (in keeping with the theme of this very topic from Jesse) to point out errors, misrepresentation or outright fabrication. No one, whether on basis of supposed reputation, entertainment value, or any other reason should be immune to this kind of scrutiny. Unless, of course you would prefer simply to have your ears tickled. Personally, I like to know whats what.

Oh, and none of these writers are charity workers, they take home a paycheck just like anyone else – not that that makes any difference. It’s the roar of the crowd writers who deserve the most kudos for doint it pro bono. So be generous with your cheers!

I did miss your point we all know how bad the ACA and so sites are… Also some realise how important this site is … this is as I understand it an independent media site that has no bias against football and employs some real quality journalist in fact two of the best football journalist in Jes & Mike…

My problem is I cannot help myself I rate the quality of what I read based on my own perception of things, the quality of writing, research and contacts, theme, etc … this site is important for Football as I see it as no other independent general media outlet provides football with equal space and paid journalist … that is why I am hostile at times to the best not living up to my expectations of them. Jessie is my top journalist so I expect a lot from him … it is that simple…

You are my new favorite poster … News Corp… Today Tonight… ACA…. as a source of quality independent information…. and support of football … hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha….. some cheer in a Easter Saturday night …