Tag: commentary

10 Ways a Beard Makes a Man Better

· Leave a comment ·

(From the Archives)

The beard is no more.

While tragedy didn’t strike in the Buffa household in the form of death, illness or serious injury(which is amazing because we hung pictures today), the beard came to an end. The monstrous full friend that has went wherever I went for the past three months. The last time I had this little hair on my face was during the final weeks of Banshee Season 3. Yeah, the little things count when it comes to facial hair memories. We all know where we were when the towers fell or the stadium collapsed. Where the hell were you before you had the great wall of fur, gentlemen? I bet you didn’t think there was going to be a beard postmortem on your must read agenda today, but that’s the way we kick it here at Up All Night. We bring all kinds of stories and don’t just tell you who got traded, which movie is good or how the latest wrestling match changed your life.

Here are 10 ways a beard makes a man look tougher because once the hair fell, I suddenly felt like I couldn’t win any telepathic battles with large groups of men. (more…)

Bernie Miklasz “changed things” at the Post Dispatch

· Leave a comment ·

bernieBack when I was a kid, I appreciated the more simple things in life. For me, it was getting up and sprinting to the nearest St. Louis Post Dispatch machine and getting the paper. I went to the machine near Tholozan and Kingshighway. Most days I actually got fully clothed but others I just ran out in what I was in at the time. If they would have timed me on one of my pursuits, I may have challenged a college draft pick for the 40 yard dash.

I needed the paper because I needed to know what local scribe Bernie Miklasz thought about a game, player or upcoming event. As a St. Louis sports fan and prospective writer, he was the guy I looked up to. Every fan has their selective voice and for me, Miklasz was it.

Bernie Miklasz is leaving the Post Dispatch after 26 years of writing print columns, blogging for their STL Today website and producing many podcasts, including Breakfast With Bernie and Best Podcast in Baseball with Cards reporter Derrick Goold. To me, he is the epitome of “tell it like it is and don’t care what others think”. Bernie doesn’t sip the koolaid(unless you put it next to a fine cigar) and prefers to think against type on certain topics. He is a blunt instrument in a world of talking head sports types that are afraid to challenge the status quo. (more…)

Bill Simmons and HBO: A Match Made in Heaven

· Leave a comment ·

When ESPN decided to part ways with writer/podcast extraordinaire, my instant reaction was plain and simple. The sports network was letting a golden asset loose and it wouldn’t be long before another network scooped up his talents. Well that happened. Wednesday, HBO announced a multi-faceted deal with Simmons and this is a match made in heaven for fans of the writer and the premium cable network. It’s about time Simmons got super sized and put in a classy five star restaurant dinner rotation.

HBO doesn’t mess around, is fearless with its content and so is Simmons. The DNA’s are a match. The acclaimed and notoriously free spirited Simmons is a hardcore Boston sports fan but he can also transition into movies and other teams and sports at will. The best podcasts and columns are the ones that involve movie quotes, comparisons and creative connections around the sports and entertainment industry.

Before he started the award winning documentary series 30 for 30 at ESPN and started the well respected website, Grantland, Simmons was the sports guy. The Grantland staff today is full of Simmons addicts. They write like him and will keep that idea rolling in his absence. Simmons started it over a decade ago writing these epic articles previewing the NFL matchups or compiling a master mailbag session. He was unfiltered and uncanny in cutting to the center of a point without retreating. That turned some people off and in the end was too much for ESPN to handle. (more…)