Tuesday, November 22, 2005

How about them Apples?

Slate's Jack Shafer takes on the press's glowing, un-critical coverage of Steve Jobs, Apple, and products that have often been failures.

6 Comments:

At 11:28 PM, Blogger Ben said...

If you look at the last 15 years or so, the Red Sox have indeed been well over .500. And their budget (I guess one refers to 'payroll') is like the 2nd or 3rd highest in the league. So in that sense, compared to all teams, they shouldn't be considered the underdog.

But I think the context is specifically of the Sox/Yankees battle. And in that sense, for almost forevor, they were indeed the underdog.

But I suppose in some sense this reeks of crying over getting the bronze medal, or whatever.

 
At 7:45 PM, Blogger amanda said...

Apple is the underdog mostly because (I believe) they made their operating system only compatible with their computers. While you can buy a Dell, a Gateway, an IBM, a Sony, a Toshiba... you get the idea, and use Windows on it (Microsoft made some kind of deal with these companies), you have to buy the more expensive Apple machines to use the superior Apple operating system.

Also, it was in the timing.

Apple does indeed have a superior operating system to Microsoft. It's not perfect, but I've never had a blue-screened Apple.

As for the Red Sox, they too are superior to their rivals. And to all other teams. Including the Bears. The Mets are pretty underdog-tastic these days, and have filled that void in my life since the 2004 World Series. But just like anyone from the GBA (Greater Boston Area, in case that's not a real acronym), I'll always be a Red Sox fan. Because they rule. Go Sox!

The Red Sox are the David to the Yankees' Goliath. Hating the Yankees means, at least a little bit, liking the Red Sox. And since everyone who isn't a Yankees fan hates the Yankees, everyone has a small place in their heart for the Red Sox. Well, everyone besides football fans who get angry about the Patriots not getting the respect they deserve whenever the Sox are in or post season.

What I like is that the New York Post's top sports story was the Red Sox's acquisition of Josh Beckett. And they claim it's a one-way rivalry. HA!

GO RED SOX!

 
At 11:46 AM, Blogger Matt said...

The White Sox are bigger underdogs than the lesser-Sox (seriously, red socks are so dumb) because they have sucked more for longer AND no one gives a crap about them...not even in their own city.

I was so sick of Chris Berman whining so hard on TV when the White Sox beat the Red Sox. It's like the only story there was that the Red Sox era was coming to an end. Also, how is it that even after the White Sox kick super ass in the playoffs and win an exciting world series (every game was really close. certainly more exciting than last year's), the biggest story in baseball this year is still Theo Epstein quitting the Red Sox. Seriously!?!?!?!?

ESPN=EASTCOAST Sports Programming Network.

The Onion had a funny article:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/42131

Not that i wasn't rooting for the Red Sox last year...

 
At 5:08 PM, Blogger KPd. said...

Dude, everyone is missing the point. He didn't say that the point is trying to tell why people think that Apple is an underdog. He's saying, why doesn't anyone just come out and say WHY a team might be a perpetual underdog instead of winning. Answer: the team sucks. The overdog is a better team.
Also, really no new computers blue screen anymore. Until the laptop's unfortunate smashing, it never crashed. The fan gave me issues.... but that was Toshiba's fault, not a factor of the operating system.
Also also, the round apple mouses are dumb. Form before function is annoying.

 
At 3:30 PM, Blogger KPd. said...

We really are quite dorky.
When can we all be in the same room at the same time again, eh? =D

 
At 9:02 AM, Blogger amanda said...

As far as the Red Sox go, at least 20-30 of the 86 years were because their management was racist and didn't want to sign the superior black players, or hire black coaches, or anything. You saw it again when they went for Grady Little over Alou. So, in that sense they weren't an underdog at all, just a jerk.

But, while windows machines may blue-screen less (one did just do it to me this past summer; unrecoverably), they're still an inferior product, lacking both form and function. But the real underdog in the OS world is probably Unix, poor bastard.

 

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