I...you too, huh? I don't understand how anyone could think the tone of the piece was appreciative. It was rather sarcastic, and to its credit, it did NOT read like something written by Matt "subtle as a sledgehammer" Taibbi. Appreciative or admiration is probably the wrong word, but personally the lack of judgment towards Loria(he does use "I don't blame him", "I'm just impressed", and "I'm just in awe" in one paragraph without sarcasm that I can tell) falls short of what anyone who looks at the situation reasonably should conclude. And personally, I found the effort to stretch this firesale as progress towards being contenders because of economic factors such a distortion that it colored my opinion of the rest of the article. He didn't get the benefit of the doubt after that. I'm between your two interpretations. I didn't sense as much sarcasm as CSC, but I think he did miss the boat with the "I blame the system and not the scumbag who is reaping the benefits of a flawed system" analysis.