Gold Star Awards, December, 2010

This is a day later than I'd expected, mainly because I've spent about 42 of the last 44 hours in bed, sick as a dog.  (The other two hours were spent visiting Doctor Obvious who told me to "get lots of rest" and "stay hydrated.")  And on a different note, modeling these personal  "Hall of Fame" inductees after the MLB Hall of Fame Election has taken on an increasing somber feeling these past couple of weeks, first with the passing of former Cubs Third Basemen, Ron Santo (who's not in the Hall of Fame, but should be!) and then last week with the passing of former Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame Pitcher, Bob Feller.  I'm actually going to do a piece on Feller before signing off for the year, but BOTH of these men were not only fine ballplayers, but fine gentlemen, citizens, human beings and heroes.  Too often in our society, we put athletes on pedestals who don't belong there.  Part of that, however, is due to the fact that they just don't make 'em like Santo and Feller any more.

Now without further ado, here's thins month's HoF inductees.  In accordance with the 1956 HoF election, there will be two Gold Stars.


The Joe Cronin Gold Star #33: FAIR

I want to thank ClassicLiberal for turning me on to these guys.  Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting has been in the media watchdog biz since 1986.  And despite the rapid growth of rabidly Right Wing media in that time, they have not allowed that to cause them to narrow their focus and start giving mainstream media a pass (a trap that a certain other media watchdog has unfortunately fallen into.)  While the individual piece do not have the same depth as the average MMFA piece, and the comment sections are not nearly as interesting (which means that haven't attracted a high enough class of partisan troll) FAIR gets full credit for staying true to its original mission, and not being distracted by the loudest clown vying for their attention.


The Hank Greenberg Gold Star #34: The Democratic Underground

Putting aside the reams of great content and ironic humor, can you really come up with a cooler site-name that this one?  I mean... who doesn't want to be part of an "underground?" (Sorry, I'm tapped. Just like with the last blog I nominated, not much I can say that I haven't said a dozen before. Great stuff, though. Check it out.)