Nachos, News and Games

I was shocked when I looked at the New York Times website last night. I saw a large photo and story about innovative food at sports bars. It was funny on its own, but ridiculous when you could see that it had pushed down the only two stories on Egypt further down on the page -- a story just two days ago about a world-ending calamity.

The sports bar stories details a new wrinkle on self-indulgence in the form of chef-cooked fancy food in these rooms of giant TVs. The main example sounds a lot like a nacho or perhaps small tortilla but we are told it comes from a high-end restaurant. The article comes complete with obscure name-brand foods -- as if there were vintage or varietal forms of chicken, beef and pork, and it is laced with business lingo. I think there is a kind of yuppie vanity to show off your knowledge of minutiae about the finer things in life.

The story was filled with things I never knew, but still don't care to know: the meaning of locavore, which refers to someone who relishes local food.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/dining/09bars.html

But in the sober light of dawn, the sports bar story had gone, shoved inside with a toned down headline, and replaced by more amazement about Twitter and Facebook in Egypt. I imagined there had been an amazing telephone call from an outraged newsroom editor to the digital Times editor late at night to move the sports bar story out.

In truth there are a lot of plausible explanations for the appearance and demotion of the bar food piece. After all, it shows up as one of the most viewed stories of today's web site -- which is food for thought.

The other top story is an early effort at handicapping the next presidential election -- a mere 22 months in the future. Can an editorial lambasting the perpetual campaigning in American politics be far behind?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/us/politics/09republicans.html