Boring, Meaningless, and On Notice

Elsewhere in the Blog O Sphere, the proprietor of Fire George Karl.com has possibly received a threatening letter from Karl's lawyer. Here's the money quote:

Is your life really this boring and meaningless that you would spend the hours necessary to create such a website?

As Coach Karl's counsel I am putting you on notice that I will sue you into bankruptcy should you cross the boundaries of permissible speech.

Now that we've had the wind-up, here's the gist...

Of course our lives as sports bloggers are boring and meaningless. We are people who spend too much time thinking about sports, then writing about it. The most popular among us get to do it for a living, while the others make little or nothing from it. We provide content about a huge business that milks its customers dry, moves its franchises in a never-ending search for taxpayer arena paydays, makes us endure braying jackassery, and has political leanings that do not reflect the vast majority of its audience. If major sports leagues were run without monopolistic protections, we'd all be shopping elsewhere, at least often enough to keep them competitive.

And, more importantly, so what?

Watching sports is a mixed bag, a choice of the lesser of two evils -- evil one being the support of these folks and the time and expense, and evil two being a life without the transcendent moments that sports brings. So, for that matter, is brushing your teeth, going to work, voting, buying gas, doing the dishes or the vast majority of actions that grown-ups get to / have to perform on a daily basis.

And blogging about sports... is just like watching them, really.

So, on the off chance that Mr. Karl's lawyer is actually Mr. Karl's lawyer, and people actually wonder why bloggers exist to do the strange and remarkable activity of calling out a bad coaching job with a URL and posts... um, because we choose to. Plus, hey presto, the remnants of a Constitution allow you to do it and all!

And it's as boring and meaningless as watching reality television, reading a book, playing music or being a hack lawyer. Look into the abyss, and make up your own story. The abyss won't much care.