One of the most insightful and thought provoking segments on the Daily Show involved stock market expert Jim Cramer and the host of the show Jon Stewart. Please Google/You Tube those names for a reference if you are not familiar.
The crux of the interaction was due to the fact that Cramer spouted incessantly about being a stock market expert and he was proven to be incredibly wrong over and over and over again. (Most notably about Bear Stearns and the Mortgage/Bank collapses, among others).
Finally, Stewart had a ton of evidence, and decided that enough was enough and he took Cramer to task. It was epic and it was beautiful, and it was incredibly good TV.
At this time it's important to note that Stewart didn't mismanage his bankroll. Stewart didn't invest beyond his means and get burned. Stewart didn't take a flier one weekend and lose his mortgage and car payment money. Stewart saw something that was egregious and decided to take a stand. Some people would call that noble.
Is that much different than what is going on lately here at Pregame? This past weekend was arguably the worst weekend ever at Pregame for the pros. (It's the worst weekend I've ever seen in my time here for sure)
Are we not able to ask the same type questions of Pregame Pros that Stewart asked of Cramer?
How can an expert in their chosen field be so wrong? How can an entire group of experts be so certain they are right and be so far off from what actually occurred? Is it not appropriate in some manner to question this situation and to do so in a way that sparks the interest of the parties involved?
If this was just a little bitty website with a tiny following, not much would probably be said. If this was a few guys on the radio or TV, it may not garner much attention. But hey, RJ and Pregame have done a great job of getting out there in the sports media. The website probably generates 1000's of hits an hour at least, RJ is all over the radio dial speaking about handicapping sports, and there are a ton of Twitter posts, You Tube videos and a bunch of other media streams populated with Pregame information and insights.
Well, with that much exposure, there will inevitably be at least that much, if not more, scrutiny. That's just part of the game, a lesson Jim Cramer found out from The Daily Show and Jon Stewart.
Make no mistake, Pregame has gotten to the point of reaching a great many people who are investing a great deal of money on their collective expertise. This isn't about one or two guys who lost their rent money and vented on some forum about Games of the Year or SEC Games of the month. Pregame has gotten much bigger than that. This is about 1000's of people investing a huge amount of $$ on the investment advice of a collection of people who claim to be professional sports handicappers. This is about that collection of experts giving out a great deal of awful advice that cost a lot of people a great deal of money.
Sure, frustration makes people say the wrong things at the wrong time. But now, it's Monday morning, the dust has settled somewhat, a few people got banned and/or reprimanded and now it's time to evaluate and process information.
What's going to be different going forward? It's hard not to notice the pros that have jumped ship over the last year. And it's hard not to notice Pregame all over the sports media in a variety of forms. It's also not hard to notice the lack of winning picks being put out here at Pregame. Coincidence?
And yes, before the inevitable comparisons start..........stocks, talk shows, comedians, long term value, short term value.......we all get it. The analogy was to make a point, not start another tired and irrelevant tangent about the media, etc.....The focus is about buying winning plays and being able to have a reasonable discourse about making it a much better and more profitable experience.
639 rewards points -
Joe D