« Take It On The Run | Main | Welcome to OppositeLand »
March 23, 2007
We Represent the Underpants Gnomes
Oh, so Scott Stantis is a collector of back issues of Sports Illustrated now. He must be. He must have the issue in question -- February 2, 1970 -- and he must have personally vetted it to make sure it was an article about global cooling. Because, you know, he wouldn't just rely on the word of anonymous bloggers, would he? Or, worse yet, he wouldn't make up shit about an issue from 37 years ago, would he?
Now, I don't know for sure what the article form 2/2/70 says, and, frankly, I don't really care. I'm not the one publishing a comic strip proclaiming the contents of a 37-year-old magazine that would be almost impossible for the average comic strip reader to verify.
All I can do is rely on the description of an eBay seller who had the issue up for sale:
"This is the Sports Illustrated magazine from February 2, 1970. It concentrates on pullution [sic]. There are 56 pages and just a little wear on the spine. Some articles are Neat Feet With a Kenya Beat, Into the Winner's Circle, It's More Fun Without Lew, Golfing's Pro of 52nd Street and much more."
It seems to me the SI article was about pollution. Might they have mentioned the concept of "global cooling"? Possibly. But I don't give a shit about the crazy rantings of Stantis anymore to check it out beyond that.
And his rantings ARE increasingly crazy. Stantis spends too much time listening to the Kooky Conservative chatter in cyberspace.
I spent a couple minutes sifting through the lunatic fringe that is the Free Republic looking for comments regarding Sports Illustrated's take on global warming. And here are some choice cuts:
"I posted about SI being a liberal rag a year or two ago, and got ridiculed big time by a few people for saying that. Hmmmm, who was right about that one?"
"I dumped my subscription last year because of the leftward tilt inserted wherever they could. I will let my Scientific American subscription lapse for the same reason this year."
"BAAAARRRRFFF!"
"These lefty assclowns who have taken over Time/Life cannot be abused enough."
"The Envirowackos are getting desperate. They see the writing on the wall. More and more real scientist are coming forward to say this is a scam. More and more economist are coming forward to say how this will destroy our economy as well. If they don't grab total control in the next year or two GW is over. Then they will have to find a new issue. Just like they did after global cooling, acid rain, DDT, Rain Forest, over population, ........."
"SI columnists have been pushing the homosexual agenda for years."
And my personal favorite:
"The underpants gnomes designed this hellhole we're in.
Step 1) Take over education and remove all critical thinking skills from the children.
Step 2) TBD.
Step 3) GLOBAL WARMING."
This, my friends, is the stuff that fuels Stantis.
It's scary. He's scary.
Comments
I like how funnies writers stick to funny stuff, unless of course the "funny" they write is "Prickly City".
Posted by: Annie at March 23, 2007 10:39 AM
The editors of Sports Illustrated are known flip-floppers!
In 1970, they predicted that with 2 consecutive National League batting titles, Pete Rose was on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Now all they want to talk about is his lying and gambling!
Also in 1970 they proclaimed that Michael Jordan, at 4 feet tall, was too short and lacked the skills to make it in the NBA. Then the flip-floppers went on to put him on their cover 49 times after that!
And they rejected Elle MacPherson for their 1970 swimsuit issue, calling her "flat."
Of course, they fared even worse when they strayed from the areas of expertise, sports and swimsuits. They declared the AMC Gremlin their Car of the Year in 1970, but then changed their opinion in 1979.
In a 1970 book review, they trashed Judy Blume's "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret", but later went on to praise it in their "Best Young Adult Fiction of the Century" issue in 2000.
And in 1970 politics, they printed an editorial critical of an obscure staffer under director Donald Rumsfeld in the Nixon administration's Office of Economic Opportunity. That man was later named SI's Quail Hunter of the Year, 2006!
Posted by: John S at March 23, 2007 12:18 PM
I'm not really convinced that Sports Illustrated supposedly taking inconsistent positions 37 years apart is any more significant than President Bush in 2007 holding different positions than President Nixon in 1970. There can't be all that many people working at Sports Illustrated now that were also there in 1970, can there?
The comment about Sports Illustrated needing to stick to sports begs the question: What qualifies Scott Stantis to write about politics? Or anything else, for that matter?
Posted by: Fred at March 23, 2007 02:13 PM
Fred, I'm sure Stantis is a college graduate who majored in political science and American history.
Wait, what? He got kicked out of college? Nevermind.
Posted by: The Furnace at March 23, 2007 02:47 PM
