You asked for it: the Parker Poll

[Robin Garr]

Gotta be Barry Bonds ... he's big, he's dominant, some people love him and a lot of people don't.

Definitely Bonds, from size to deportment to the nimbus of self-righteousness that follows each of them around...

Mick, of course. He's got his own style, is immensely popular with a select group that will follow him blindly, but is certainly not for everybody. And like it or not, he has been influential in shaping his arena.

Got to go with OW on this one. Calling him Barry Bonds is too much of of a slap. He deserves better than that even though I do not subscribe to WS or follow his wine ratings.
Walt

[Robin Garr]

Calling him Barry Bonds is too much of of a slap.

Sounds to me like you're letting dislike of Bonds shape your thinking here, Walt. Those who admire Bonds - and there are plenty of 'em, just not me - admire his power and would follow him anywhere, and point out, justifiably, that the guy IS the home run king. Or emperor. I don't think it's that much of a stretch, given that the subject is divisive and has both great fans and noisy foes.

Calling him Barry Bonds is too much of of a slap.

Sounds to me like you're letting dislike of Bonds shape your thinking here, Walt. Those who admire Bonds - and there are plenty of 'em, just not me - admire his power and would follow him anywhere, and point out, justifiably, that the guy IS the home run king. Or emperor. I don't think it's that much of a stretch, given that the subject is divisive and has both great fans and noisy foes.

I admire Bonds as much as many here admire RP.
Walt

[David M. Bueker]

Gratuitous and unecessary.

[Robin Garr]

I admire Bonds as much as many here admire RP.

There ya go!

I say Bonds because both are skilled in what they do--I just don't approve of some of Bonds's actions or RP's immense influence and proclivity for rating according to his personal tastes (the trouble with ratings in general). I secured Bobby Bonds's (Barry's father for you youngsters) autograph along with others (including Tug McGraw--Tim's father-- and Bob Feller) on a former baseball players' tour to U.S. military posts in Germany. Gave the signed balls to my youngest nephew. I'm glad it was Bobby's signature and not Barry's.

[James Roscoe]

Let's see, Barry Bonds uses steroids and hits 72 homeruns. Robert Parker may or may not be a pompous ass depending on your point of view and experiences. It's all a little surreal to me. But it sure is entertaining to read the empassioned arguements on either side. I kind of like the Barry Bonds analogy, I wonder if a Sammy Sosa analogy might not be more appropriate.

Gratuitous and unecessary.

Concur.

Concur.

Seconded. I mean thirded.

Who is Barry Bonds (and should I care?)

Re Bonds/Parker comparison:

Both Bonds and Parker have mischievous “unfair” advantages in their respective fields (pun intended), making them newsworthy and good at what they do. Granted, you could argue that Parker’s special advantage is God given, rather than man made; but God made the brain, which figured out how to make the substance to take. That’s if you believe in God, of course. If you don’t, like me, you might view taking drugs as a natural phenomenon no different from taking in some lucky genes from the evolutionary gene pool, like Parker did. They both just happened randomly. And both men are big blocky “super” men,--and there was no other choice in the poll that even comes close to being similar to Parker.

As a related aside, I was astounded yesterday when I presented a thank-you bottle of wine to an associate, from Boston, who has helped me immeasurably with my project there. She is a very attractive and worldly woman of 30-something years. I brought up Parker with regard to his potential effect on the particular 1999 Bordeaux being drinkable today; whereas, perhaps without his influence, it wouldn’t have been.

She responded with, “Who is Parker?” She had never heard of him and neither had another attractive, worldly woman who worked with her. And I chose a bottle of Bordeaux as a thank-you because the woman told me more than once she rewards herself with red wine! Of course, you might argue that a person can’t be worldly and have never heard of Parker; but the woman lives in Boston and has an active upper-middle-class social life. She also worked in TV. I had to wonder if she and her workmate were really unique, or if I live in a narrowly skewed environment. It would be interesting to know what percentage of non-wine geeks have heard of Mr. Parker. He has been in a lot of mass media discussion, but maybe disinterested people tune this out.

of course, you might argue that a person can’t be worldly and have never heard of Parker

I wouldn't go that far. And there's nothing necessarily "worldly" about wine appreciation.

But, I must admit I am surprised, because from the few superficial demographic labels you mention, one might expect her to have heard of RP. Furthermore my experience, similar people who are casual wine drinkers are likely to only have heard of Parker, and often use him as the one peg for their wine conversation to stand on.

Much like me and the few pegs I use when discussing sports..

I wonder if adding an Other category, with an obligation to explain your choice, might not be interesting, Randy.

In my case, Ralph Nader comes closest.

Certainly Parker gives Nader tremendous credit, they both plowed similar consumer oriented grounds, both seem to have great internal integrity, both have incredible egos and intellects, both appeal to a fairly narrow constituency -- Nader gets 2% or so for president and spoils stuff for others, Parker is a factor (I suspect) for a very small percentage of all wine drinkers (although like Nader he may have a much more important effect on producers -- of wine in the case of Parker, of cars in the case of Nader).

Both engender tremendous animosity and disagreements. I could go on ... but Parker seems to me to be a perfect Nader clone in a much smaller universe.

Regards, Bob

Covert,
I'm not all that surprised about the women who had not heard of Parker. If she's not into reading wine magazines or newsletters, his name could remain obscured. I equate it to arriving in North Carolina to live and seeing a lifesize cardboard figure of some race car driver in a grocery store. I had no idea who it was. The one Nascar driver I might have recognized (although he was probably retired as a driver by then) was Richard Petty. Later I learned that the cardboard figure was Jeff Gordon. I've now been exposed, willingly or not, to lots of Nascar news on the sports segment of the television newscasts, but that whole world was foreign to me 12 years ago and still is in large part. The lady in question may enjoy red wine but may not spend time reading wine tasting notes or articles about wine, etc.

Definitely not Paris, as Parker has some standards.

Who is the Captain without Tenille?

I have too much respect for Mr. Wizard to risk insulting him by equating him with Parker.

Sonny Bono who skiied himself into a tree for his final act I don't think so.

Barry Bonds might be an OK choice, but he doesn't have quite the influence he used to since he has been branded as a drug-enhanced athlete.

I go with Mick, as a big, brash, performer with a loyal following that is blind to his faults. I agree with OW's assessment on this one.

I'm not all that surprised about the women who had not heard of Parker.

I guess you are right, JC. During a haircut a couple of weeks ago, in Albany, New York, my lady hair cutter showed me picture after picture of a NASCAR race she had gone to in North Carolina. I mentioned at first that I didn't have my glasses on, but that didn't dissuade her a bit. Blurry, every picture looked exactly the same. I don't know any more about the subject now than I did before, except I was a little amazed that a pretty and petit woman in an Albany hair salon would be interested in such stuff.

[quote="Randy R"][quote=I don't believe the Parker score on a shelf in a store is as powerful as some would say.

I'd say most people don't read Car Review Magazine before they go buy a car. They more likely would observe or ask about their friends' experiences with a particular make or feature.

A new expensive Napa cab in the store, not selling well, place writeup by Parker awarding 93 points with a fine review. It immediately starts to sell. I've gone through this routine too many times. That's the way it is, like it or not.

I would have agreed with you on automobiles until the last 7 or 8 years. My two last cars were purchased after much research on the net+ consumers guide.

I think he would rate with any of the best wine critics...but star status? I dunno.

A new expensive Napa cab in the store, not selling well, place writeup by Parker awarding 93 points with a fine review. It immediately starts to sell. I've gone through this routine too many times. That's the way it is, like it or not.

Honest question -- Does a wine such as you mention start to sell when any wine critic gives it a good review, or only Parker? Doesn't it move when Tanzer or Speculator rates it well?

Spec has over five times the circulation of WA, not to mention a larger online circulation -- just curious -- not trying to put you on the spot.

IMHO, a wine critic's opinion will sway most folks, but I want to taste the wine first before passing judgement.


Call me spioled.

Call me spoiled

No, I call you smart. A critic only has worth to you if your tastes coincide. I'm not picking on Parker, but he is essentially worthless to me -- his preferences do not fit my style for the most part -- even more so over the past few years.