https://www.chess.com/news/view/death-match-returns-to-settle-internet-feud-2173
Is Ben Finegold as big a jerk as he seems in his videos?
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bb_gum234 wrote:
MayCaesar wrote:
Indeed, I don't like Finegold that much for this reason. I know he does it jokingly and doesn't really mean what he says, but in my eyes negative humor is only funny when it is episodic, not when it is the only kind of humor a person employs.
To be honest though, he seems friendlier than Eric Hansen. That guy just has some anger management issues, and I can never watch his videos for more than 5 minutes before having had enough.
Eric Hansen has anger issues? At least in the stl chess videos his personality seems very unremarkable, just normal, didn't stand out to me one way or another.
I've seen him get mad quite a few times when playing bullet. He is not mad at his opponents, but he can really employ self-defeating attitude sometimes: "Ah, I blunder so much, *curse*, I just can't play any chess today, *curse*".
That said, when I saw him play on special chess.com streams, he was much calmer. It is possible that his anger issues only manifest on his personal chessbrah channel, while to more public events he tries to bring a more positive attitude.
Hes hysterical and a great guy, i like him as a person, but im actually less enthusiastic as a chess lecturer, his lecturing style just doesnt click with me as well as someone like say Yasser or Maurice, but hey going to one of his lectures is definately cheaper than going to a comedy show, and hes probably funnier than most comedy shows as well
I am really going to vomit if another person posts on this thread . its old and over! Get a life other than being in his ass!!
That last comment?
Very suspicious ...
Suspicious of please be quiet! and stop posting on this dead thread!
"I am really going to vomit if another person posts on this thread."
Hey Genaro, let me guess: you blunder your drama queen frequently.
Tbh I don't have much respect for Finegold after watching a video where he ridicules Josh Friedel (a GM in his own right) for saying that Morphy wouldn't be a master today, then gives a half-baked argument about how Morphy found the right middlegame plan in a couple of games (albeit finding plans that any 1700 could find against weak opposition) and how that somehow makes Morphy a 2700 GM.
Put simply, his humour is acidic, snarky, and badly delivered. It's toxic and unfunny. His appearance is seriously unprofessional too, as if he had binge-watched Netflix for a few hours beforehand.
Now some of you have a different favorite lecturer than me. Maybe you had brain damage as a child.
~Ben Finegold
See?
That Ben Finegold comment right there is funny. Especially so if you hear the comment and pick up the tone and tenor with which Ben made that remark.
If you are taking a Ben Finegold comment like that literally and are angry, then there is good news: I own a large bridge in New York City and I would like to sell it to you.
(whisper: I don't really have a bridge in NYC to sell you.)
Hmmm.... suspicious.
Aug 17, 2017
0
#317
I don't think he is mean spirited.
I get it that he is trying to be funny. He just isn't that funny to me.
If you like sarcasm combined with chess, watch Jan Gustafsson's Banter Blitz. He is funny, in a 2nd language, while playing chess without picking on kids.
A friend of mine has a sharp little 10 year old daughter, and I kid around with her all the time with dry teasing and sarcasm similar to Ben's, and she LOVES it.
Just yesterday when I was saying goodbye I shook her hand and with a deadpan face said that I had a thoroughly mediocre time hanging out with her. I thought she was going to wet her pants from laughing so hard.
I'm hard-pressed to imagine that the kids don't enjoy Ben's playfulness. We don't call it "kidding" for nothing.
The best proof that Ben is not a jerk is the continued existence of this thread. He is not offended and just thinks that it's funny. Different strokes for different folks.
Agree