Thursday, March 08, 2007

Screw a Bunch of Sports Illustrated

SI now stands for Scientific Integrity--or some such twaddle:

Global warming is not coming; it is here. Greenhouse gases -- most notably carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas -- are trapping solar heat that once escaped from the Earth's atmosphere. As temperatures around the globe increase, oceans are warming, fields are drying up, snow is melting, more rain is falling, and sea levels are rising.

All of which is changing the way we play and the sports we watch.

What the deuce? If I read SI, which I usually don't, although I immensely enjoyed last year's front-cover story on Joe Mauer, I expect to find an analysis of all things sport. This should preclude WNBA coverage, but even that would be preferable to nonsense about global warming from a freaking sports writer.

When I write a column about politics, it's a given that whatever I come up with is only my opinion, and should be treated as such. I happen to have, I think, a fair amount of knowledge on the subject, at least in comparison to all the other commentators--common ignorance perhaps being that which unites us--and thus my ramblings usually have some legitimacy. Moreover, my posts on theology are a bit more credible, given that I know something about the topic.

But most importantly, I don't get paid for this--thank goodness--and I write, not to be read, but to help me organize my thoughts. I plan on keeping up with this thing for as long as I feel I have something interesting to write about, and I'm not particularly concerned with my limited traffic, though regular readers are of course much appreciated. If I did start making money for my writing, I'd have to squeeze out a lot of the unadulterated speculation and concentrate on that which I actually know. There is much bliss is ignorance.

But SI covering global warming? Are they serious? They ought to get back to sports before the only issue that sells is the swimsuit edition, featuring Beyonce this year. And no mother, I didn't buy a copy.

2 comments:

troutsky said...

Just because the poor guy is a sports writer doesn't mean he can't be well informed on other issues in other disciplines. Lets not kill the messenger . Perhaps someone with political and religion knowlege ,such as yourself, should crack a couple books on climate. (look for peer reviewed work, not corporate sponsored "info")You could still abandon your position with minor embarrasment.

A Wiser Man Than I said...

You could still abandon your position with minor embarrasment.

You presume I'm worried about embarrassment. Maybe that comes with age, but for now, if I see a change in facts, I re-examine my position so that I'm right about things.

My point was that SI should be dealing with sports, as the name of their periodical suggests. I guess we'll see if there is any fallout over this one.

Do you have any recommendations on reading material? I don't know who to trust on this one, and maintain skepticism merely as a default fall back argument.