Message Boards

Pearl Jam!

I have been blessed this holiday season with the use of my Mom's car. In the Chevy Malibu (that's right, Michiganders buy American made cars) exists a wonderful little XM radio player. The move to XM was a great one by my Mom. It allows for a lot of Jamming out and singing along in long car rides or quick jaunts to the video store (of which I frequent when in Bath). It has definitely been a perk to the car on my quick trips back home. This vacation, however, there has been an even greater surprise: The addition of a PEARL JAM RADIO STATION.

Up until today this thing has been awesome. It plays rarities, full concerts, even anything that's related to Pearl Jam (which led to the amazing "I'm The Ocean" by Neil Young listening before a workout (to which I had to have an amazing workout)). While only about 1/3rd of Eddie's lyrics are understandable, I sing along to 4/3rds of it.

Everything was great and the Xmas vacation was going off without a hitch. THEN, Pearl Jam Radio did something terrible. They invited in hosts to talk. And these guys didn't stop talking. I thought I would listen to it for a while and eventually they'd play some music. I was wrong. It was like watching ESPN where instead of showing sports they just talk about it...it sucked. I was still playing it out hoping for the best when I heard one of the speakers say this:

"Now on the message boards..."

I changed the channel immediately. If there's one thing I've learned in my 25 years here, it is to never believe anything you read on a message board. The things are stupid. They are a bunch of anonymous people spouting off rumors. They actually get me upset.

The things don't make much sense. For a band's message board, it is people speculating when the next album will come out or what songs they will play at their next concert. How about you just wait and see or let the band announce it instead of trusting some dude who lives in his mom's basement and scours the Internet looking for info about Phish on WikiLeaks?

Or message boards for sports teams. If I have to hear how awesome some recruit that Duke, Miami, or Michigan is getting in two years, I expect him to be the greatest person in the world. And let me tell you, every Duke basketball player is awful.

And while the reason I wrote this entry was to complain about the Pearl Jam Radio Station, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Let'sRun.Com "World Famous Message Board." I hate that thing. The front page of Let'sRun is pretty much invaluable, and I go there for all of the running related news I am looking for. But the Message Board itself is stupid. As Sam Bair, Jr. (the father of the father/son combo that broke four minutes for the mile) said in a piece I was writing about him and his son: "They're [the message board posters] a bunch of guys who haven't done it. Probably a bunch of 5-minute milers." Yikes, that 5-minute-miler reference is like the kid in "Sandlot" telling the other that he plays ball like a girl. While I know a few people that are definitely not 5-minute-milers who post on the message board, the thing that upsets me the most about Let'sRun Message Board is how highly they themselves think of it.

Say there is a coaching opening at Oregon. Most likely, the message boards will be humming with rumors about who the next coach will be. Probably ten names will be thrown out there (along with about 30 names that have absolutely no shot of getting the job). They will be big coaching names and logical heirs to the Oregon coaching job. Then, one of those names will be hired. Instead of just announcing who the new coach is on the front page of the site, Let'sRun praises their message board, saying, "As previously reported on Let'sRun.Com's World Famous Message Board". They ignore the fact that about 30 other names were thrown out there.

The message board can be good for gathering a quick bit of information, but using it as an actual news source like Let'sRun sometimes does is a joke.

In conclusion, I don't really like message boards. I can live with the running ones because they get a little talk going about our sport. But when it messes with my Pearl Jam listening that's when it's enough.

So make it a new year's resolution to stop looking at message boards. Happy 2010, here's to a better 2011.