And so now we have the curious case of YouTube, a company that once seemed to embody a sense of anarchy we hadn’t felt since…when?  We could be forgiven for recalling the Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks” while browsing YouTube’s many pirated dishes.  Something about the site evoked loose guitar riffs in smoky bars. 

But everything changed with the signing of a $1.65 billion buyout offer from the Evil Empire in Mountain View.  To Google fanboys, it was another reason to rejoice.  To Wall Street, despite YouTube’s unproven business plan, it was cause to pop the corks.  And to those who feared a world in which Google advertises in their Alphabits, it was cause for nausea.

YouTube, to the blogging world, went from an entity of the people…say, the Boston Red Sox, pre-World Series victory…to the exact opposite: The Yankees (also see: The Red Sox, post-World Series victory). 

Maybe that’s a stretch.  YouTube isn’t the Yankees.  After all, if anyone in the business world is the Yankees right now it’s Google.  No, YouTube is more like an All-Star who’s made more than he’ll ever need and played for one team his whole career, then faces free agency with George Steinbrenner waiting in a private jet, pen and contract in hand, and signs without blinking.  Red Sox fans: I believe you call this person Wade Boggs?  Or Roger Clemens?  Or Johnny Damon?

Now anything we write about YouTube meets a blunt and bitter response.  Few pro-YouTubers remain vocally recognizable, drowned out as they are by the haters who enjoy, in equal amounts, stoking the fires of the rumor mill about Chad Hurley’s relationship to Sequoia Capital while simultaneously gleefully watching a YouTube clip their friend sent earlier that day. 

But don’t feel sad for YouTube, and not because their pockets are full of Google dollars, something not too dissimilar to gold in 1850’s San Francisco.  As I said, evoking passionate hatred is often a good sign.  No one likes a loser. 

But being overly loved can be a bad thing too.  Ask Second Life loyalists how they feel about that company now. 

Passionate love isn’t bad for everyone though, which brings me to my point: Is there a company more adored, more cheered for and praised, more gushed and salivated over than Apple?  With certainty, writing a positive review of a new Apple product will be one of the best things you can do for your blog’s traffic on a given day.  Individuals dedicate entire web pages to single Apple products.  That’s right: Someone, right now, with a regular job in a regular company, working in a regular cubicle under regular neon lights, is maintaining a site dedicated strictly to positive news about the iPhone. 

So now YouTube is coming to AppleTV, a brilliant move on the part of both companies, mutually beneficial in every way.

But watch for a battle to develop that few outside the blogoverse have considered: Apple Aficionados vs. YouTube Bashers.  It’s one of those small things that will go largely unnoticed but could shape both in a subtle and important way.  How many YouTube bashers are Apple lovers, after all?  They’re two of the most well-known brands worldwide, so there must be plenty who love one and hate the other.  And which will win in weight?  Will AppleTV suffer at all, buckling under the weight of YouTube hatred and jealousy?  Or will Apple-Pickers beat down the skeptic YouTube Bashers?