Digger Phelps: Dancing Fool
3 March 2008
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Basketball, College Basketball, NCAA, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Dancing, Digger Phelps, ESPN, Kansas Jayhawks | 
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Posted by tyduffy
ESPN Does Not Like Their Meat Salisbury Style
27 February 2008
ESPN has fired NFL analyst Sean Salisbury after 12 years at the network.
Salisbury released the following statement.
“I want to thank ESPN for 12 great years of talking football on TV and the radio. I have grown as much as I can at ESPN and decided to expand my horizons. I have created a brand and it’s time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others. My resume speaks for itself as a football analyst, and I believe I can talk all sports with the best of them.”
Rumors abounded in January that the World-Wide Leader had suspended Salisbury - for photographing his penis with a cell-phone camera and exposing it to women.
Salisbury’s reported replacement is former wide receiver Cris Carter, last seen being hosed by the Hall of Fame selection committee. It is unclear if Carter’s duties will include moralistic locker-room ethics rants and recycling “nerd” and “crypt-keeper” jokes at John Clayton’s expense. But, Odds and Sods will keep you posted.
Update: The Big Lead has deduced two theories. The first is that Salisbury felt hamstrung and pigeonholed by ESPN because of his lack of star power. He asked the network for a seven-figure contract, knowing full well it would lead to his mutual termination.
“I’d grown tired of being punished for not being an NFL superstar,” Salisbury told the LA Times. ” Analysts who don’t work as hard as me, don’t prepare as hard as me, and don’t have my resume were making more than me just because of their ability to throw or catch a football. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the opportunity ESPN gave me, but they had capped my ceiling. There was only so far I could go there.”
The other theory relates to the Harold Reynolds lawsuit. Execs felt that Salisbury’s continued employment after cell phone - gate might leave them liable to charges that they singled out Reynolds for bad behavior while tolerating others.
1 Comment | Football, NFL, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Cell Phone, Cris Carter, ESPN, Fired, Sean Salisbury | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
ESPN is the Problem, Not YouTube
22 February 2008
ESPN’s Vito Corleone, Chris Berman, has finally deigned to speak publicly about viral videos of him released on YouTube. The videos, taken without his knowledge, depict Berman swearing, making fun of former colleague Al Michaels and awkwardly interacting with a female co-worker.
“It’s almost as if what we would fight against as a country,” Berman told the Miami Herald. “The Soviets spying -that’s what everyone is doing.”
The videos have created an uproar in media circles. Sportswriters imply that the videos represent an unprecedented foray of TMZ culture into sports coverage. But, is that really the case?
Over the past decade, ESPN has embroiled itself in a culture of celebrity. The network invented and hosts its own red carpet awards show. It throws its own A-list Super Bowl parties and gets its on-air talent on the guest lists of others. Sportscenter intertwines celebrity and sport with features like “Who’s Now.” The programmers parade Greenberg and Golic in front of the camera like they are percocet-permeating trophy wives. The morning shows happily have on any Hollywood hack with a movie to promote.
This trend has integrated itself with an increasing culture of comment over reporting. ESPN’s programmers emphasize personality and presentation over substance, subsuming salient issues beneath the humdrum melodrama hosts wrangling Skip Bayliss. The network relegates Brady Quinn’s homophobia to the back pages, yet two ESPN analysts examining a comment a different ESPN analyst made about another ESPN analyst earns ions of airtime. The analysis has become more important than the news itself.
ESPN’s prominence has created a bizarro world where sportswriters are more famous than the athletes they cover. The network has imbibed upon the sweet wine of celebrity without consideration of the potential hangover. Public recognition and scrutiny is the price of being famous. One cannot hobnob with superstar athletes, actors and celebutants in one setting and enjoy a Chinese walled private life in another.
The problem is not an expansion of celebrity culture into sports journalism, but an expansion of sports journalism into celebrity culture. If ESPN does not want Chris Berman videos hitting the internet, have him behave himself off camera.
No Comments » | Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Chris Berman, ESPN, Video, YouTube | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
LZ Granderson on Brady Quinn
21 February 2008
It is amazing how fast that Brady Quinn situation defused. Perhaps, Mr. Quinn has a few friends at Opus Dei,
How would journalists have covered the incident had it been racial rather than sexual? The editorial decision to bottle the story in the back pages seems particularly shameful for ESPN, as one of the writers was the victim of a similar incident at the All-Star Game. LZ Granderson writes an excellent piece concerning his own experience as well as the Quinn question for Page 2.
No Comments » | Football, NBA, NFL, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: All-Star Game, Brady Quinn, Cleveland Browns, ESPN, Hate Crime, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LZ Granderson | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
What is Worse? The Cheating or the Stupidity?
14 February 2008
Indiana basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson is likely to be fired after being charged with even more recruiting violations.
An NCAA report has charged Sampson with “major” recruiting violations, including the following.
- Sampson and his assistant coaches failed to comply with sanctions, making approximately 100 impermissible phone calls to recruits
- Sampson and his assistant coaches made 25 additional phone calls to nine recruits that would have been illegal had no sanctions existed
- Sampson and an assistant coach made inappropriate conduct with a recruit during a two-day camp held at Assembly Hall over the summer, providing him with illegal benefits including a t-shirt and a drawstring backpack
Sampson was originally sanctioned for infractions committed during his tenure as Head Coach at Oklahoma from 2000-2006, when he made 577 impermissible calls to recruits. He was further penalized by Indiana itself in October after word surfaced that he had made 100 impermissible calls while under sanction. He forfeited a $500,000 raise and had one scholarship taken away. These calls sparked the NCAA Investigation which released its findings in the aforementioned report.
The stupidity starts at the top. Why would Indiana hire someone who committed such flagrant NCAA violations in the first place? Indiana isn’t what it was, but it is still easily a Top 25 job. Someone with at least a moderately clean record should have been willing to step in there.
Next, the lens must focus on Sampson who, after receiving sanctions for one specific violation, went on to commit that one violation again 100 times. This transcends traditional stupidity. He’s on par with the guy who got caught on “To Catch a Predator” twice.
Also, if you are going to cheat, at least be somewhat stealthy about it. Call from someone else’s house. Walk down the street and use a pay phone. Don’t call from your University phone!
You can say what you want about Bobby Knight, but he played by the rules. He had his personal problems, as ESPN loves to point out with their classic highlight reel, but he would never have brought such a sordid scandal upon the program. For a university community that harrumphed on its moral high horse by running Knight off campus and refusing to elect him to the Hall of Fame, the taste of humble pie will be more than a bit bitter.
No Comments » | Basketball, College Basketball, NCAA, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Bobby Knight, ESPN, Indiana Hoosiers, Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting, Sanction, Violation | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
Brady Quinn is a Nice Young Catholic Boy
13 February 2008
Brady Quinn is the proverbial golden boy. He’s charming, handsome and, most importantly, white. He is the nice young Catholic boy who played quarterback for Notre Dame. He also, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, is a homophobe.
Quinn was celebrating New Years Eve at La Fogata Grill in Columbus, a Mexican restaurant next door to Union Cafe Bar, a popular gay bar in the Short North neighborhood.
Seth Harris placed a 9-1-1 call at 2:35 AM on Jan. 1, claiming that “Brady Quinn of the Browns” was “trying to cause a fight.” He claimed that Quinn, unprovoked, called him a “faggot” and used other profanities.
Harris stood by his statement in an interview with the Plain Dealer, emphasizing that he recognized Quinn specifically and that Quinn was part of a group of 10 causing problems.
Police arrived shortly after the phone call. They found Quinn engaged in a verbal altercation with Jason Thompson, 32. Quinn disengaged from the altercation when police arrived, but Thompson was charged with disorderly conduct and for failing to leave the scene.
Thompson’s friend Brian Dunfee reported to police that he suffered minor injuries after being thrown to the ground by a white man, about six-feet tall, with brown hair. Police described the incident as an “anti-male homosexual” crime. Thompson’s attorney claims that Thompson was “trying to protect his friend” when he was arrested.
This may simply be a case of drunkenness on Quinn’s part, but alcohol generally lowers inhibitions. It doesn’t create prejudice where none was latent.
Quinn comes from both a locker-room culture and a religious environment that often breeds a virulent strain of homophobia. The mainstream sports media promptly piled on Tim Hardaway for his stated displeasure at the prospect of having a homosexual teammate. Though they also extended a free pass to LeBron James for voicing a similar sentiment, because he was too young and immature to comment intelligently.
The allegations over what Quinn did or did not do are murky and he has not been charged with a crime. And, discussion of the event will probably remain confined to the blogosphere, while ESPN focuses on more important things like Roger Clemens’ butt cheek abscess and Michael Strahan’s dance moves. However, would Terrell Owens or Randy Moss been afforded the same benefit of the doubt?
1 Comment | College Football, Football, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Notre Dame, ESPN, Brady Quinn, Cleveland Browns, Catholicism, Columbus, Homosexality, Homophobic, Tim Hardaway, New Years Eve | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
Chris Berman Shows His True Feelings for Al Michaels
12 February 2008
No Comments » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Al Michaels, Chris Berman, ESPN, Video | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
Dolphins Preparing Way for Dorsey?
12 February 2008
ESPN will harp on about sharp, amiable white man and future analyst Trent Green being cut, but there may be a far more significant outcome from today’s trimming of rosters by the Dolphins, three of the players were defensive tackles, Keith Traylor, Anthony Bryant, and Marquay Love.
The Dolphins “earned” the #1 overall pick in the draft for their disastrous 1-15 season in 2007. Though Parcells has been actively looking to trade out of the spot, the lack of a can’t miss skill position prospect worthy of that pick, with the plausible exception of Arkansas RB Darren McFadden, seems to have severely limited potential trade options.
Stuck with taking the #1 overall pick, the Dolphins may opt for dominant LSU defensive end Glenn Dorsey. The cuts at defensive tackle may be in part due to a conversion to a more Parcells-esque 3-4, but the moves today may prove a sign of things to come, with the Dolphins now on the clock.
No Comments » | Football, NFL, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: NFL Draft, ESPN, LSU, Miami Dolphins, Bill Parcells, Glenn Dorsey, Arkansas, Darren McFadden | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
Chris Berman’s Thoughts on Drug Smuggling
11 February 2008
No Comments » | Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: Chris Berman, ESPN, Video | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
Kolber and Tafoya to Make Way for Erin Andrews on MNF?
10 February 2008
The rumors are swirling around the potential shakeup of ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew, according to ProFootballTalk.com.
The website, citing anonymous sources, broke the news earlier this morning that Michelle Tafoya and Suzie Kolber had been canned from the Monday Night Crew. This revelation sparked multiple rumors, and alleged outrage among ESPN’s on-air personalities.
One rumor stipulated that the two were asked to step aside voluntarily, or risk having their roles drastically reduced. Another one speculated that ESPN thought dumping both reporters would help the broadcasting booth. A third rumor is that the World-Wide Leader plans to replace the duo with either Andrea Kremer of NBC, Jay Glazer of FOX, or a combination of the two.
The website also lists a fourth rumor that discord between Kolber and Tony Kornheiser sparked the move, although Kornheiser’s open appreciation and friendship with Tafoya would seem to dispell that rumor.
An ESPN spokesman responded by stating essentially that the two would still be involved within the penumbra of ESPN’s Monday Night Football presentation, though their precise roles have not yet been determined.
There is something to be said for the lack of effectiveness of sideline reporting in general. Both teams understandably filter knowledge to be disseminated to the viewing audience for fear of granting the other team a competitive advantage. Tafoya and Kolber were, perhaps justifiably, criticized for supplementing a lack of hard information with information that had been scripted before the game. Though, that may have been outside the control of the two reporters.
If ESPN is planning to withdraw or reformat sideline reporting in an attempt to increase its effectiveness and reduce its game-time disruption, that may be an admirable goal.
But, if this is merely a ploy to replace the two 43 year-old reporters with younger, sexier versions, the network should be ashamed of itself. Could that be anything other than blatant sexism from a network perfectly content to allow Chris Berman to maraud his way through prime-time television?
There may be a compelling rationale for removing Tafoya and Kolber, but their ability or lack of professionalism is not one of them.
2 Comments | Football, NFL, Sports, Sports Media | Tagged: ESPN, Chris Berman, Monday Night Football, Tony Kornheiser, Erin Andrews, Michelle Tafoya, Suzie Kolber, ProFootballTalk, Sexism, Sideline Reporting | Permalink
Posted by tyduffy
