I want to thank the people who read this blog for the comments beneath my last post. Truly meant a lot to me; so much so that I’m going to give this another try and keep the e-mail address down there.

Maybe I do need to thicken my skin. Or just ignore people. Not sure. But the points made here were good ones, and I appreciate them.

Free beers for everyone!

PS: Yes, that’s my Bar Mitzvah. A side note: I wore my San Francisco Giants cap to the event. Obviously had to take it off for the service, so I placed it beneath the lecturn. At one point, while talking about me, Rabbi Trachtenberg pulled it out and said something like, “Just in case you wonder about Jeff’s priorities …” It was a funny moment.

As a columnist with SI.com and ESPN.com, I’ve always insisted that my contact information be placed below my columns. The reason: For some dumb reason, I considered it noble to be accesible; to have genuine feedback with readers who want to support or disagree with your take.

Sadly, I’ve decided to end this practice.

It’s just not worth it. I enjoy the banter with some, but what outweighs any positives are all the negatives. Nonstop, nonstop, nonstop negatives. You’re an ass. You’re a punk. You’re a dick. How the fuck do you get a paycheck? Most of the e-mails aren’t like that, but an increasing number are. And, honestly, I don’t think it’s me. I think it’s the angry nature of the modern sports fan—easily agitated, easily upset and extraordinarily anxious to spew whenever possible.

I understand it. I get it. But the comments go so far beyond civility, it makes me sick. I’m not talking about one e-mail in particular, though I will say the one I posted here the other day might have pushed me over the edge. You hate my take on Barry Bonds … so you throw out shots about my looks? Is that where we are? Is this who we are?

Hence, I’m done. I’ll continue to banter gleefully with blog readers, but no longer will my e-mail address exist below the columns.

No fun.

Jeff Pearlman is a columnist for si.com. He can’t be reached.

Received this e-mail today. He actually included his name, so I looked him up on Facebook. Lotsa photos.

I’ve gotta assume his e-mail was dripping with irony …

Jeff; this is my third time wearing old #25, since the home opener. Watching kruk and kuip, in the 9th tonight, hoping we pull out a win.

That’s my opinion.

Top photo is a young man hugging his brother before he heads off to Iraq.
Bottom photo is a young man saying farewell to his brother.

Inexplicably, I just finished watching another episode of V.

Inexplicably, my brain is still sort of working.

V is, hands down, the worst TV show I have ever watched with any sort of regularity. I was initially interested because, 26 years ago, I loved the original NBC series. But this knock-off version is so horribly, terrifically, unambiguously heinous that I almost can’t stop myself. It’s akin to a decade back, when Russ Bengtson and I sat together in our NYC apartment and watched Chips ‘99 from beginning to end. Couldn’t take our eyes away from the carnage.

But at least that show was ludicrous and sort of self-depricating. V simply sucks in every possible way. Terrible acting+nonsense storylines+Grade-F writing=the worst program on television.

Tune in next week …

PS: For the low price of $22, the above photo will be signed and personalized by the Marc Singer! YES!

… between George Stephanopoulos and Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, RE: President Barack Obama.

MEDVEDEV: He’s very comfortable partner, it’s very interesting to be with him. The most important thing that distinguishes him from many other people — I won’t name anyone by name — he’s a thinker, he thinks when he speaks. Which is already pretty good.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You had somebody in your mind, I think. (LAUGHS)

MEDVEDEV: Obviously I do have someone on my mind. I don’t want to offend anyone.

… is about the invisible man, Mr. Barry Lamar Bonds.

Have long been a fan of angry rock. Well, angry message rock. Pearl Jam. Neil Young. Living Colour. Public Enemy (not rock, but certainly on point). It’s one thing to sing about women or drugs or parties—and another to actually make an impact.

Earlier today I received a Facebook message from a dude I went to high school with named Gregory Gilroy. He’s a year older than I am … graduated from Western Connecticut … writes on his page that “I get up, I work, I come home, play with the kids, kiss my wife, eat dinner, loaf on the couch and go to bed. Annnnddd repeat. In between that I write and perform music with two of my best friends, Drink an occasional PBR (or 50 depending on the situation), smoke butts and type on this dang fangled internet.”

When he told me about his rock band, The Dalliance, I thought, “Uh, yeah.” When he told me about the group’s new song, “Leave It All Behind,” I thought “Uh, yeah” again. Then I watched the video—a crude, basic, cheaply shot video … with a really good, really angry song.  I love this sort of thing, because there’s meaning behind the words and impact in the intent. So support a bunch of late-30s dudes trying to speak loudly. Because it’s a rare treat …

I’m sorry, but why is a girl who had a kid out of wedlock telling other girls not to have a kid out of wedlock?

I can appreciate the message, and certainly it’s not ideal to have a baby as a teenager. But how can Bristol Palin look into a camera and say, more or less: “I’m rich, and my mom is famous. So I could have a kid. But you’re poor and your mom isn’t famous—so don’t have sex. It’s bad.”

Were politics not involved here, Bristol Palin is just another teen mother being anonymously supported by her embarrassed-yet-wealthy folks. Instead, we’re hearing from her, not the girls who need to be speaking—those who had babys and were actually poor and struggling and hurting and overwhelmed.

Uhg. What a joke.

PS: That all being said, I have no doubt the kid is doing this out of good intentions. I don’t mean to slam Bristol Palin, the person, because I’ve gotta think her life is awful in many ways, and she seems nice. But the way she’s being used … gross.