Author Topic: Richard Roeper Column (Read 4499 times)

clemon79 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 28, 2004, 01:15:59 AM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jul 27 2004, 08:54 PM\'] Let's see, what else...oh, I'm an actuary, in case anybody's really interested. It's been a good living for 25+ years now. Well, studying for the tests wasn't fun but I lived to tell the story.
[/quote]
Congratulations. I'm sure it's a wonderful and rewarding occupation.

Personally, I'd rather work for a company that sends me to the Super Bowl on their dime and only expects a few columns in return. But I guess that's what losers do for a living.

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #16 on:** July 28, 2004, 08:35:22 AM »

Not much of football fan. Can't remember the last time I watched a complete game on television. I only watch the Super Bowl a few minutes at a time on teevee. Now if they want to send me to the World Series...

Kinda funny, but one of those "jobs almanac" books has occasionally rated actuary as the number one job in the country. Wouldn't you know, actuaries have dissected and criticized the methodology used for the rankings.

To give this discussion a thin veneer of relevance, actuaries have a strange tendency to show up on game shows. Several occupied the hot seat opposite Regis, for instance. (I'm happy to report that all reached at least 32K.) Even little old moi appeared on It's Academic in the Mesozoic era.

Maybe that's because the actuarial exams form the hardest, longest, trickiest quizzer anybody could ever want to play. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman wrote that the actuarial exams were by far the toughest tests he ever faced. They haven't gotten any easier since. So if you can confront those hyper-quizzers, why not try a game show?

And I have to give Sammons his due. I actually agreed with some of a previous column that he wrote about Pyramid and Match Game. I even agreed when he criticized Dick Clark for his unbearable post mortems on Pyramid.

But here's the thing. Clark's been in the public eye for centuries, er, decades. He's very used to small-bore sniping from obscurities like Sammons (or me). Even if he read Sammons' (or my) criticism, which I very seriously doubt, he would just let the water roll off his back.

Ken Jennings is different. He's a civvie not at all used to the kind of public, childish, really out-of-line bashing administered by Sammons. I mean, what is Sammons' problem that he has to pick on Ken in such an obnoxious, adolescent way? Sammons himself comes off as a tinpot-dictator, hall-monitor type that you'd want to avoid at a Christmas party or any other kind of party.

I'm not without sin here, of course. I'm bashing Sammons pretty good myself. But at least he posted a nasty column that warranted the bashing, right down to the "Mormon assassin" stinker. What has Ken done to deserve Sammons' venom? Nothing except win a lot of Jeopardy games.

The Ol' Guy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 28, 2004, 11:39:55 AM »

The Ken Jennings story has so many similarities to something we discussed a long time ago. Just like guys like Van Doren were a boost to an American spirit suffering from Cold War fears, some people need Jennings' win streak as a pill to get out of the "all we hear is everything about America is rotten" blues. He's a reminder we have a few good things going for us here, too, even if our politicians have messed us up in the eyes of most the world. Remember - we're smart, we're strong, and our world can lick your world! Where's YOUR Ken Jennings? Misplaced priorities, to be sure..as someone pointed out, there are no "Great Disease Curers of the World" collectible action figure sets, and they've done more for us than any athlete. Probably another reason his religion is brought up - both good and bad - is the image that having a religion is part of being a good American. Having been a Christian radio DJ for many, many years, I've seen and heard both good and ugly things done with the name Jesus Christ tacked on them. A religion/denomination is somebody's road map that is supposed to lead you to a relationship with God. The relationship is supposed to be the goal, but too often religious doctrine becomes the substitution of the goal. As a former Mormon, I know. No one religion has God 100% figured out - if we were that smart, we wouldn't need Him. What we can't control, we hate. What we try to understand, we accept, even if we don't always agree. Religion will always be a hot topic for those reasons. If you'll forgive my saying so, it's because we are free to share our thoughts here as long as we're civil and try to help each other out, this board is a great place to be.

clemon79 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 28, 2004, 11:40:54 AM »

If you're going to continue this ridiculous blathering (especially going to the well with the "Mormon assassin" bit again...if you STILL think that's anything but a comment on his dominance over his opponents, then you're simply cracked in the head), you should at least pay him the courtesy of spelling his name right. His name is Bill SIMMONS.

And if you knew the first thing about him (and it's clear you're not at all a regular reader, which is probably just as well), you would realize that he's actually paying Ken about the highest compliment he can when he refers to him in the same "breath" as Michael Jordan, Joe Dimaggio, and Sandy Koufax. But, you know, let's not let context get in the way of a good rant, right?

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2004, 12:55:09 PM »

Sorry about the misspelled name. But a thought experiment...

Ken Jennings wins his 40th game. He turns to one of his hapless opponents and says: "You're a smarmy know-it-all with the personality of a hall monitor. That's why everybody hides from you at the Christmas party."

Ken wins his 45th game. He tells one of the vanquished: "I can't even look at you any more. Your face is just so punchable. I have this fantasy about another contestant pummeling you to death."

Ken hits the big 5-0. He tells the poor sap alongside him: "It would be nice if a tiger ate you."

Ken score his century. He calls one of the defeated, whose name is Epstein and who's wearing a yarmulke: "The Jewish assassin."

You'd be the first on this board to post about that jerk Jennings and what an obnoxious twit he is to think these kinds of comments are funny or even acceptable. And you'd be right.

Back to the real world. SIMMONS (again, sorry for the misspelling) says exactly these same things about Jennings. You defend him, even though Jennings hasn't said anything the least bit objectionable in any of his Jeopardy appearances, and he's done nothing to deserve Simmons' insults. I don't care if Simmons compares him to every sports legend who's ever produced a drop of sweat. It doesn't make the insults any funnier or more acceptable.

This thread is closed as far as I'm concerned. I'll let you have the last blast.

clemon79 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 28, 2004, 04:39:18 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jul 28 2004, 09:55 AM\'] Ken score his century. He calls one of the defeated, whose name is Epstein and who's wearing a yarmulke: "The Jewish assassin."
This thread is closed as far as I'm concerned. I'll let you have the last blast. [/quote]
No need. Your continued delusion and insistence on playing the "religious slur" card prove, as usual, that you refuse to engage in this discussion with anything remotely approaching rational thought.

Believe me when I tell you I have no problems leaving this at an "agree to disagree" standpoint. In fact, I think a few of the planets just realigned a little bit.

Rastaub · « **Reply #21 on:** July 28, 2004, 05:07:05 PM »

In response to Casey's many posts in this thread, anyone who would bother to spell Bill Simmons name as Sammons as many times as you did and refer to him as the Sports Jerk, is obviously doing it to get a rise out of the Sports Guy's Fans.

I am one of his loyal readers and I think your bashing of him is a little uncalled for. While Mormon Assassin might not have been the best wording, Im sure no ill will was meant by it. Steering this back on topic, the Sports Guy (as you did mention) has made numerous references to game shows over the years and this is no different. The guy is writing his column to get laughs, not to comment on Ken's religion.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 28, 2004, 05:21:44 PM »

[quote name=\'Rastaub\' date=\'Jul 28 2004, 04:07 PM\'] I am one of his loyal readers and I think your bashing of him is a little uncalled for. While Mormon Assassin might not have been the best wording, Im sure no ill will was meant by it. Steering this back on topic, the Sports Guy (as you did mention) has made numerous references to game shows over the years and this is no different. The guy is writing his column to get laughs, not to comment on Ken's religion. [/quote]
To dovetail Robert's point--back in the days when I actually watched the NBA (like when Chicago actually had an NBA team), I seem to recall a number of instances where erstwhile TNT studio host Ernie Johnson Jr. (himself from what I understand a very devout religious man) would refer to then-Philadelphia 76er Shawn Bradley as the "Stormin' Mormon" (Bradley, like Ken Jennings, a BYU alumnus). I always chuckled at the reference and moved on with my life, as I always had the sense that Johnson was using it for humor (granted I'm not a Mormon). I never saw anything derogatory in either Johnson's studio babble or Simmons' columns that would indicate otherwise. As always, YMMV.

Doug