Without much to say, you're left to turn on your own....

We here over at NTP quite readily admit that we don’t have sh*t to say right now. Nothing that hasn't been said a half dozen other places anyway.

Really. Truly. Not a damn thing to add to the world. What are you supposed to say when your entire blog is based around the concept of “our conversations at baseball games are kinda funny, what would happen if we wrote this stupidity down.” Since it’s like 20 degrees outside, no one in the Northern Hemisphere plays baseball when it’s a frozen tundra, and we’re not sitting at a stadium much right now, there isn’t a whole lot of funny. At least not baseball funny. At least not ha ha funny, instead of painfully ironic funny.

I’ve been quiet since the season ended because I don’t have a damn thing to say. (Last year I played with incendiary devices around this time, and while the concept of lighting things on fire is always intriguing, I admit I don’t have a good topic.)

Ryan over at the Distinguished Senators is very fired up about Bill Ladson, and the Beltway Boys interview with him. More power to him – Ryan’s on the list of people that write really good stuff. The constant struggle between “new” media and “old” media never ceases to amaze or amuse me.

I think it a fair rule that if you’re getting mad because of what someone wrote about you in a blog, you have a pretty good life. You’re not hungry, you’re not homeless, you’re not cold… you have the time to worry about what others think of you. You have time to worry about whether a fan with a computer and a writer with a computer need to see eye to eye. One gets paid for his opinion, one doesn’t. They’re still just opinions – kinda like a certain body part we all have. Everybody’s got one. And the opinion (and body part) are worth what you paid for it.

There is an important distinction between Bill and bloggers – Bill gets paid to write his stuff. He does it professionally, and he’s not only putting his name on his work, he’s putting his employer and his reputation on the line. Those of us blogging are not necessarily (although sometimes can be) professionals, in that none of us are paid for this. As a blogger, any of our paycheck(s) are not tied to our opinion.

That’s also not to say that any of our opinions are not just as valid as Bill’s. Bill likely has a different perspective, partly from having done it for significantly longer, with a professional editing system (review process, editors, etc), and with significantly different audiences. (Frankly, if only Watson and Nate read my crap, that’s sometimes the only target audience. Not that I’m not a media whore, but our publishing concept is different from mlb.com or the Post). Chris Needham or Basil put together some good opinion pieces, just as Bill has his opinions. A paycheck does not necessarily a professional make – in any context. Remember, just cause it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it's true, and it’s possible to trade the word “internet” for many other sources of media.

I feel it important to point out the byline on our very own blog – we readily admit that we are a group of idiots. We know our place in the world. Our job in the Natosphere, generally, is to try and be funny. Nate’s generally pretty good at it, Watson is a great sports fan and provides color commentary, and me… well, if you haven’t caught on to the character I play, you haven’t been paying attention.

I’m off to go squash the dreams of the working class. I think we’ll wake up over here when the weather warms and we crawl out of hibernation to go drink beer and be stupid again.