April 2, 2006
Giants blogs and high drama
Apparently Dan Benton over at Giants 101 is calling it quits. Supposedly this is not an April Fool's joke, but frankly the guy should have waited a few days if he wanted to be taken seriously.
Anyway, lots of people are complaining about his blog. Common arguments include that Giants 101 does nothing but summarize stupid rumors on message boards like BBI. Anyway, rumor has it that poor Dan has received death threats. Again, a little hard to believe, especially on the first day of April...
Interestingly, as Dan steps down in order to be a fan again (he says he wants to be surprised when he hears about new signings) he implies that he has inside information. After all, if the signings don't surprise him, then he already knew about them - even before regualr news outlets.
There's the probelm. The rumors posted on Giants 101 are always wrong, so Dan should be surprised when he hears about a new signing on ESPN. I don't believe for a second that he's quitting in order to be surprised again.
I read on his blog once that he's not an insder but that he has lots of contacts who sometimes pass him good information. Naturally, people would read his blog looking for this "good information." Naturally, they'll be upset when all the information turns out to be crap.
Posted by James Trotta at April 2, 2006 2:22 AMOk so what do you no about LA is he close to coming to the giants?
Posted by: CJ at April 2, 2006 11:15 PMOk, so Dan got rumors that turned out to be wrong, a lot. Ok, so he relayed them to Giants fans, and we all discussed their likelihood and debated the reasoning behind the Giants making rumored moves. Ok, so now we're all better off without those rumors... because... why? They weren't factual? They didn't transition from rumor to fact? Did any of us understand the situation with the Giants 101 blog to be otherwise? Do readers of the National Enquirer get pissed off and call the editors' home with threats when it turns out that aliens didn't really impregnate Queen Elizabeth after all? Well... ok... so some of them do. I would suggest those people share common genes with certain Giants fans who apparently don't understand the difference between facts officially released by the Giants organization or the NFL from the rumors and BS blogged in Giants 101. What Dan provided, and what Giants 101 will hopefully not stop providing, is entertainment content pertaining to the Giants. I for one enjoyed it for nothing else, and never considered it to be anything more. If there are dolts out there who don't get that, but they want to get it, they are invited to spend some time digesting the amusing thoughts of somebody like Arianna Huffington -- the lightbulb will hopefully come on: there's news, and then there's blather peppered with plausible rumor presented by those who must not be mistaken for other than purely entertainment value. When you finally get it, come back and join the rest of us -- and for heaven's sake lighten up!
Posted by: Joe in San Diego at April 3, 2006 1:59 PMHey I like Dan. Maybe you can tell from the link to Giants 101 here on my homepage. However, IMO he has implied that he got inside information - first by saying in his blog that he had contacts who sometimes gave hime good info and second by saying that breaking news no longer held any surprises for him.
Anyway, good luck to Dan and to Giants 101.
Oh and as for what I know. I know that it hasn't been reported yet. As a blogger, my job isn't to break the news - my job is to discuss the news that has already been reported.
Posted by: James Trotta at April 3, 2006 5:01 PM