MLB FanHouse

Chipper Jones Strikes Out with Kelly Clarkson

Will Brinson — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Braves, NL East, MLB Gossip, MLB Media Watch, ESPN

Every time you think athletes are pampered, rich and famous, remember that "regular" celebrities are even more pampered and even more famous (rich is debatable). Take, for instance, the comparison of Chipper Jones and Kelly Clarkson.

To those of us who care deeply about athletics, Chipper is immensely famous. More so than Clarkson anyway. But to the rest of the world, Clarkson >>> Larry when it comes to fame. And she let him know it the other night too. From ESPN the Mag outtakes with Kenny Mayne via LBS:

KM: Do you get recognized everywhere you go by now?

CJ: Funny story about that. Last year I was at the Daytona 500 with a friend and Richard Childress. Kelly Clarkson, who had sung before the race, came into the room. She walked my way, looking at me like she knew who I was, so I started to put out my hand. Then she pulls out a camera and asks me to take a photo of her and her friends. My buddy lost it. I'm from Daytona, so everybody knows me there. I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to go get a beer. Boy, was I put out.

That's like the time I tried to talk to Fantasia when she was in High Point and she totally blew me off. ("But I blog for a living! What's not to get?") Only if I was a successful baseball player and she was still famous for her American Idol run.

In other words, embarrassing, yes, but big deal? Absolutely not. That's why Chipper's laughing about it in the back page of an overly dramatic sports mag.

Chipper Jones Strikes Out with Kelly Clarkson originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

How To Mail a Column In, by Rick Reilly

Pat Lackey — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Media Watch, ESPN

There's nothing that gets me worked up more than lazy sports writing. These days, the internet makes pesky things like "fact-checking" so easy that they can be done simultaneously with writing. Unfortunately, that's not always how things work. In his latest piece for ESPN the Magazine, Rick Reilly (with his, as he put it, "ridonkulous" ESPN salary), gives us this paragraph in regards to this umpire beaning incident.

It happened on May 31 in the Georgia high school Class AAA championship game. Stephens County was losing to Cartersville 9-1 early, partly because nine straight SCHS batters had struck out. The last ring-up so hacked off superstar shortstop Ethan Martin-who had just been drafted 15th overall by the Dodgers-that he threw his helmet in protest. But that figured. Martin and his brother, Cody, who was pitching, reportedly had been complaining about balls and strikes the entire game.

The emphasis is mine, because the draft was on June 5th, meaning it's quite literally impossible for Martin to have "just been drafted" because the game was six days before the draft. Now, I get that this seems like a small thing to be whining over. It's an easily glossed over nit that an editor should've caught and we should move on with our lives ... right?

I'll be honest. This entire column bugs me. The internet covered that video to death when it came out at the beginning of June and now, he's writing a whole column about it two weeks later, manufacturing outrage and wishing actual harm on stupid high school kids. Who wasn't an idiot in high school? I was. The school already paid a fine and I'm sure their coach and probably even the school disciplined them. Now they need the Rick Reilly fist of social justice thrust down upon them?

What we've got here, even if we toss aside the lazy fact-checking that could be blamed on an editor, is a two-week old story filled with scathing criticism of teenagers, all done because most people Reilly's age will read that column and nod their heads in agreement. I mean, it's one thing to mail a column in, but it's another to declare to anyone that reads it, "Sorry guys! This one's in the mail! Maybe next week will be better!" This is what ESPN's playing $3 million+ a year for?

How To Mail a Column In, by Rick Reilly originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Dr. Joe Morgan: Consistantly Educating Himself

Will Brinson — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Media Watch, ESPN

The easy way out would be to mock Joe Morgan for getting another degree. And then mocking those that gave it to him even more. But that's really more of a job for someone else. Still, if you have ever watched him type in a chat or talk about certain aspects of the game, it is fairly humorous that Morgan is being granted bonus degrees from someone.

The baseball Hall of Famer and two-time NL Most Valuable Player received an honorary doctorate of humane letters Saturday from California State University, East Bay-the school where the Bay Area native earned his bachelor's degree after his 22-year playing career ended.

[...]'I've always felt that the quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your education,' said Morgan, who earned his bachelor's degree in 1990. 'If you continue your education, I believe you'll continue to improve the quality of your life.'

Now, more to the point of why this is actually a good thing; Morgan apparently returned -- and I was unaware of this -- to get his bachelor's degree after playing baseball for 22 years. He had no reason to; certainly he had made enough money over that time to retire. But he promised his parents he would get the degree and he followed up on that promise.

And now the university that gave him the degree decided to "further" his education in an honorary fashion. And when a famous alumni gives you over $150,000 in endowment money, you make sure that you give him publicity props. And that's especially fine as long as they are basing such publicity on his pre-announcing career.

Dr. Joe Morgan: Consistantly Educating Himself originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Chris Mortensen: ESPN Had Rams Walk- Through Story, It Didn't Meet Our Standards

Michael David Smith — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:50:00 EST

Filed under: Patriots, Rams, Boston, St. Louis, ESPN

Now that former Patriots employee Matt Walsh has finally come forward and said he did not tape the Rams' final walk-through practice before the 2002 Super Bowl, the Boston Herald is coming under increased scrutiny for its report three months ago that said someone on the Patriots had, in fact, spied on the Rams.

On ESPN Radio this morning, reporter Chris Mortensen suggested that the Herald reported that "scoop" not because the Herald had better sources than other media outlets, but because the Herald had lower standards than other media outlets.

"Other media outlets including ESPN, had this allegation and pursued this allegation for months, and it just didn't meet the standard in terms of what you needed to report it, and the Boston Herald evidently felt they had met the standard to report it," Mortensen said. "They need to come out and say, 'We stand by our story' or they need to have a retraction and apology and deal with the consequences of it, but certainly it's damaging to the Boston Herald at this point, especially if they stay silent on the subject."

I agree with Mortensen on that last part about the Herald needing to step forward and say something. But I find it a little surprising that he's saying ESPN had the allegation and didn't feel that it met the Worldwide Leader's standards. Obviously, ESPN has relied on anonymous sources for stories that turned out to be wrong plenty of times, including, for instance, Mortensen's report last year that Michael Vick would not be indicted. I point that out not to embarrass Mortensen, but simply to say that all reporters occasionally get stories wrong. And we still don't know if the Herald got its story wrong, although that's what everyone seems to be assuming today.

Previously on FanHouse:
Boston Herald Owes Its Readers an Explanation on Patriots Spygate Story
Matt Walsh Sends NFL 8 Tapes, Rams' Super Bowl Walkthrough Not Among Them
The Matt Walsh-NFL Indemnity Agreement: A First-Hand Review of What It Means

Chris Mortensen: ESPN Had Rams Walk- Through Story, It Didn't Meet Our Standards originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 08 May 2008 09:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Miguel Tejada Is Not Happy With ESPN

Pat Lackey — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Astros, NL Central, MLB Video, ESPN

By now, you've almost certainly seen the clip I've embedded above of Miguel Tejada being presented with his birth certificate by Tom Farley for ESPN's news magazine E:60. Tejada is clearly flustered in the clip and today he says that he's not at all happy with the way ESPN ambushed him and presented the clip:

Tejada said he believes his family was misled by ESPN, suggesting the network had indicated a camera crew that went to the Dominican Republic was affiliated with the Houston Astros. He also expressed displeasure with the way a recent interview was presented and the way it was conducted recently in Philadelphia.

[...]

"They called me about two days before the interview and told me it was going to be more about baseball," Tejada said. "When I got there, I thought it was about baseball and they throw me a 98 mph fastball inside."

Seeing as both the team and Tejada are shuffling this off as a non-story (I'm not so sure it is, but if the Astros don't care then there's no where else to go with it), I tend to believe Tejada here. That hasn't stopped ESPN from presenting the story as a "shocking revelation about Tejada's past." A Latin American player is slightly older than we thought he was! Wow! That is truly surprising and definitely doesn't happen all the time!

Miguel Tejada Is Not Happy With ESPN originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Choosing Other People's Adventures: A Guide for ESPN the Magazine the Website

Matt Watson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:57:00 EST

Filed under: NBA Media Watch, MLB Media Watch, ESPN, Blogs

Pablo Picasso once said, "good artists copy; great artists steal." Well, ESPN the Magazine the Website employs some great freakin' artists. Their "Choose Your Own Adventure: Kobe Bryant" concept looks awfully damn familiar. I know, I know, we were admittedly inspired by the original Bantam Books series we read when we were kids, but that just means we're great artists, too! Fun!

Coming up with new ideas is hard. Like, really, really hard. Especially on a sunny Friday afternoon when you'd rather be outside lying under a tree next to one of those fake coyotes. So to help everyone out, we here at FanHouse thought we'd put together a handy little guide for the future:

-- Fake IM conversations between players. It's brilliant! You could make up fake little conversations between players, and have them talk in internet slang. LOL!!1! It's edgy, funny and will have all cool kids ROFL! Oh, wait ...

-- Or, you can institute a policy of free-form basketball commentary, accompanied by photos that make you laugh, think and/or cry but rarely make you think of basketball. Even better, you can give it a quasi-Eastern European bent and an undefinable ethos to make the whole thing come from a bit deeper out of left field.

-- You could give everyone a fresh take on the morning's sports news with a bunch of short, punchy items that serve as talking points for fans around the country. Oops, that's right, you guys already did that.

-- Blogs are always attacking the MSM. I mean, it gets a little old, right? So why not turn it around on blogs? Let's see ... you could take a blog post and, when it contains logical or factual inaccuracies, rip it to shreds on a line to line basis. You'd have to differentiate it from the actual post, naturally, so perhaps a bold vs. non-bold dynamic could do the trick. Maybe a little snarky commentary? Oh, this is sounding good. Next thing you know, you'll be writing for television's funniest show. It's just that easy!

-- OK OK ... let's see. People are always featuring our NFL talking head types in front of incredibly expensive ESPN sets, wearing incredibly expensive ESPN suits. It's Sunday morning, man -- no one but the really religious types are wearing their best suits on Sunday morning. So maybe you could to re-calibrate a little bit. Hmm. How about this: Let's send our people to the bar and have them get some "common man" observations. You know, get out there, judge the waitresses, talk about the satellite TV selections ... regular blue collar stuff! This is a fantastic idea, and has surely never been done before.

Any of it -- it's gold, Jerry, gold! And, so long as your Google skills are as unrefined as humanly possible, none of it has ever, ever been done before. Ain't ignorance great?

Choosing Other People's Adventures: A Guide for ESPN the Magazine the Website originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

ESPN Is Not the Worldwide Leader of Math

Josh Alper — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:48:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Media Watch, ESPN

I think we can all agree that in the 2430 Major League Baseball games played this season there will be a winner and a loser in each one. That's what history has taught us, anyway, and there's no reason to expect a rash of ties or other oddities to pop up and cause a different outcome. Unless you work for ESPN, that is.

Tim Kurkjian, Jayson Stark, Buster Olney and Steve Phillips all turned in projections that add up to more than 2430 victories over the course of this baseball season. I don't know what Keith Law is smoking but that nutjob actually sticks to the established norm and comes up with an average of 81 wins per team. Sadly none of them offered insight for why there will be so many more winners than losers this season.

There shouldn't be much more analysis needed to discover that these guys are just throwing out random numbers when faced with the ardous task of predicting records but Vegas Watch did a little more digging and found that one man is particularly unwilling to be confined by mathematical certainties.

Phillips is so absurd. Here's my favorite little stat from all of these: he has 14 teams winning 88 or more games. Think about that for a second- that's one team away from half of baseball.

Check them all out here but, please, don't use them for anything that might cost you money.

ESPN Is Not the Worldwide Leader of Math originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Note to Wilbon: Earl Weaver Is Still Alive

Matt Watson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:40:00 EST

Filed under: Orioles, AL East, MLB Gossip, MLB Media Watch, MLB Video, Baltimore, ESPN

Earl Weaver is a classic, right? But that doesn't mean that he's also not, you know, still alive. I love Tony Kornheiser's bemused expression at Mike Wilbon's gaffe: "I think he's with us." And as Awful Announcing points out, Weaver is only 77 years old, not 88. AA said that Wilbon laughed off the mistake when informed after the show, but I'm guessing Weaver probably had a completely different reaction (that a few dozen f-bombs) were he watching from home.
%Gallery-13096% Previously on FanHouse:
ESPN Analysts Compare Joe Alexander to Other White Guys, Larry Bird and Jerry West

Note to Wilbon: Earl Weaver Is Still Alive originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Prince Fielder's Home Runs Are Bad for the Brewers, Or Something

Eamonn Brennan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:04:00 EST

Filed under: Brewers, MLB Media Watch, Milwaukee, ESPN

We discussed Prince Fielder's contract poutfest the other day, in which Prince made it clear that Prince isn't so happy about only making a renewed $670,000 after Prince's monster season. It's understandable: Everyone wants to be paid what they're worth, and 50 home runs is worth way, way more than 700k. What's not so understandable is Gene Wojciechowski's baffling column today, which makes it seem like Fielder is about to burn down Milwaukee's dugout:

Tomorrow, there could be another villain for Fielder. But for now, the renewed contract will do just fine. "He'll just use that as another chip," Gwynn said. "Who knows? He might be looking at 60 or 70 [home runs] this year." Good for Fielder. Costly, very costly, for the Brewers.

Wait a second. How, exactly, is the thought of Prince Fielder hitting 70 home runs good only for Prince Fielder and not for the Brewers? Prince Fielder plays for the Brewers. Confusing! I guess the innuendo here suggests that Fielder is sure to leave Milwaukee the minute he's able to, and maybe he will -- it will be tough for the Brewers to pony up the cash. But they're already said they plan on trying. So where, exactly, is the beef?*

*Hint: It's not in Prince's tummy! Get it?

Prince Fielder's Home Runs Are Bad for the Brewers, Or Something originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Why Matt Walsh Won't Talk Publicly: Explaining the Indemnification Contract

Stephanie Stradley — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:55:00 EST

Filed under: Patriots, Boston, ESPN

Do you want to know why former Patriots video assistant, Matt Walsh isn't talking details about his role in Spygate publicly? The answer is legal maneuvering. His attorney wants a complete indemnification (protection against legal risk and costs) agreement from the NFL to protect his client from being destroyed with legal fees and lawsuits.

I'm here to break the news to you that the NFL will never to agree to that. To explain my thoughts* on why, I'm going to go all Roger Cossack on you.

As you probably know, Walsh, who worked for the Patriots between 1996 and 2003, has said that he has potentially damaging information to the Patriots. He won't say specifically what this information contains.

At the same time, he's been working as an assistant golf pro in Maui, and he doesn't want to spend his salary on lawsuits and lawyers. He may also be sipping cocktails out of coconut shells with umbrellas in them, for all I know. Point being: He wants to fess up what he knows, and he wants to keep his good life.

To that end, Walsh told ESPN that nobody from the NFL contacted him in their Spygate investigation, and that if ESPN wanted him to dish, he wanted to be indemnified by the network.

Walsh variously worried about a) a confidentiality agreement with the Patriots he might be violating, b) getting his Patriots season tickets taken away, and c) losing his NFL pension.

And frankly, he's likely also concerned about defamation lawsuits, like what Roger Clemens filed against Brian McNamee. And lawsuits involving opposing players suing him for his actions.

In our country, a suit doesn't have to have merit for you to have to shell out tons of money to defend it. So ESPN rightly refused to indemnify him. (All the network could get out of Walsh is a story, and they don't want to risk their good life any more than Walsh does).

Roger Goodell said that the NFL would indemnify Walsh, but then Walsh's lawyers said the NFL's contractual language wasn't protective enough.

This isn't necessarily surprising: indemnification provisions can be written in almost infinite ways. Some provide more protection than others. There are two basic problems with the indemnification language that is being disputed between Walsh and the NFL.

1. What is the truth? Walsh wants to be protected from lawsuits, even if there are allegations that he is being untruthful. The NFL doesn't want to agree to that. Even if Walsh tells what he thinks is truthful, if the Patriots and the NFL disagree, they can ignore their contractual provision by saying he lied.

Mike Florio from PFT.com talks about this in more depth here. I think a lawyer could draft language around that issue, but I believe the bigger issue is ...

2. Walsh wants a "kitchen-sink" indemnity. A contractual "release" by the NFL is not the same thing as an "indemnity," though sometimes people talk about them the same way.

The NFL and the Patriots have offered language that says that they will not sue Walsh if he says what he knows, gives up any stolen property, and tells the truth. That is a release.

Walsh wants that plus an indemnity on everything else. His lawyer's contractual language wants the NFL to pay for everything and the kitchen-sink (you don't have to read this language unless you want to):

The National Football League and any and all of its affiliates (the "League"), on behalf of itself and the New England Patriots and any and all of its affiliates (the "Patriots"), agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Mr. Walsh harmless from and against all losses, liabilities, damages, costs, fines, expenses, deficiencies, taxes, and reasonable fees and expenses of counsel and agents, including but not limited to any costs incurred responding to any investigation, inquiry, or proceeding or in the course of enforcement of this agreement, which may be sustained by Mr. Walsh arising out of, related to or connected with, directly or indirectly, (i) the employment of Mr. Walsh by the Patriots and any actions undertaken by him in the course of his employment, (ii) the taking or retention by Mr. Walsh of any information, documents or other materials that may be deemed to belong to (or constitute or contain confidential information or trade secrets of) the League or the Patriots, or (iii) any disclosure by Mr. Walsh of any such information, documents or materials to any person or entity, including the alleged untruthfulness in that disclosure absent bad faith on the part of Mr. Walsh ("Claims").

Basically, unless the NFL can prove bad faith in his disclosures on Walsh (nearly impossible to do), they would have to defend him and pay for all claims against him no matter what bad acts he did related to his employment with the Patriots. The NFL would take all of Walsh's legal liabilities for everything related to Spygate--investigations, legal fees, lawsuits, everything.

There is no freaking way that the NFL would ever agree to do that.

Though Walsh has assets that he cares about, the NFL, like ESPN, has more money than I can fathom. It's reasonable for the NFL to release Walsh from liability, but they will never agree to expose those assets through a kitchen sink indemnity just to aid an investigation.

At least ESPN would get a story if it offered complete indemnification. The NFL gets nothing positive other than making Senator Arlen Specter happy in furthering the Spygate investigation. And while I'm sure that's Goodell's top priority (smirk), but it still may not be incentive enough to assume all of Walsh's unknown legal liabilities.

If Walsh wanted to be completely protected from any legal liability, cost, or retaliation, he shouldn't have played the game of "I know something but I won't tell" with anyone.

I'm not sure where Walsh got the idea that he was likely going to receive a contract that would protect from all the potential legal consequences of his actions and disclosures, but I'm not thinking that is going to happen. His continued semi-silence is frustrating Patriots-haters everywhere, and to those Patriots fans waiting for the other shoe to drop.

(*Footnote: Ugh, I hate reading blog entries that say, "hey I'm a lawyer listen to me." But yeah, I'm a lawyer, I've written a law review article and lectured on the subject of contractual indemnification, so it's something I know more than I care to. It's more fun to talk about sports, but I figured some people might be interested in this and might be curious why I know anything about it. Thanks for reading.)

Why Matt Walsh Won't Talk Publicly: Explaining the Indemnification Contract originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Easterbrook: 'If True, This Would Be the Worst Sports Scandal Since the Black Sox'

Michael David Smith — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:05:00 EST

Filed under: Patriots, Rams, Boston, Super Bowl, St. Louis, ESPN

Notes on a trip to the Super Bowl.

Everyone here in Arizona is talking about the latest spygate allegations, but no one is speaking as strongly as Gregg Easterbrook of ESPN.com, who was one of the harshest critics of the Patriots and the NFL when the allegations first emerged and now seems to feel vindicated that the story is coming back. Easterbrook writes today:

Also Saturday, Mike Fish reported on ESPN that St. Louis' [pre-Super Bowl XXXVI] walk-through was devoted to red zone plays -- all new plays and new formations the Rams had not shown during the season. Going into that Super Bowl, the Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" was the league's highest-scoring team. In that game, St. Louis was held to a field goal in the first half. The Rams kept getting bogged down, as if New England knew what plays were coming. If the Patriots secretly taped the Rams' walk-through, then stopped the red zone plays the Rams showed in that walk-through, then won that Super Bowl by three points, then logic says New England materially benefited from cheating in the Super Bowl. If true, this would be the worst sports scandal since the Black Sox.
Let's put that in capital letters: IF TRUE. We don't yet know whether the Super Bowl allegations are true. Then again, we are into only the second day of information going on the record and the league finally answering some questions about the subject.

Is Easterbrook correct there? It seems like hyperbole, but the fact is we don't really know what happened in all this Patriots spying stuff, so we don't really know just how big a deal it is.

Easterbrook: 'If True, This Would Be the Worst Sports Scandal Since the Black Sox' originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Patriots' Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison Done After Super Bowl?

Michael David Smith — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:19:00 EST

Filed under: Patriots, Boston, Super Bowl, ESPN

Notes on a trip to the Super Bowl.

The best Xs and Os conversation I've had with anyone in Arizona this week was with Greg Cosell, the producer of NFL Matchup, a man who works at NFL Films and may have watched more game tape of the Giants and Patriots than anyone not on the Giants' and Patriots' coaching staffs.

And Cosell had an interesting perspective on the Patriots' defense. He believes that three of the biggest names on the defense, linebackers Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau and safety Rodney Harrison, have declined so much that there's a good chance that Patriots coach Bill Belichick will send them packing before the 2008 season.

Belichick respects all three veteran players, but he's not the type to let sentiment get in the way of doing what's best for the team -- just ask Lawyer Milloy. Bruschi, Seau and Harrison are all in their mid-to-late 30s and just don't have the wheels to play at a high level anymore.

And as for Super Bowl Sunday, Cosell says the Giants' best matchup advantages will come when the Patriots play their base 3-4 defense with Bruschi, Seau and Harrison all on the field. Because of that, the Giants would be wise to avoid three-receiver formations -- that's when Bruschi comes off the field, and that's when the Patriots' defense is at its best.

Patriots' Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison Done After Super Bowl? originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Dugout: ESPN Sucks | Well, Maybe Not

Jon Bois — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:27:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Astros, MLB Media Watch, The Dugout, ESPN, PEDs

I was just reading ESPN.com. I may very well be parsing this excessively, but this rather blunt headline on the right-hand side caught my attention:

Congress asks if Tejada lied in '05 | Brother dies

Sure, when viewed in context this is really nothing out of the ordinary. And sure, if this link were on CNN or Reuters nobody would give it a second thought, but sports bloggers (myself included) love crapping on ESPN. They're enormous, they're part of an enormouser synergistic corporate machine, and they're responsible for "Who's Now?" What's not to hate? Who do these people think they are, schlepping in personal tragedy with news bits like cheese in our Lunchables?

If approached objectively I suppose I can see that it's not a big deal, but I am a sports blogger after all. Miguel Tejada and the man who wants to investigate him, Rep. Henry Waxman (who, strangely enough, has appeared in The Dugout before), wrestle with this dilemma in this latest Dugout. Read it after the jump.

The Dugout

	cause_im_the_waxman: Miguel Tejada. As you may be aware, I have asked the Justice Department to investigate you.
	MichaelTehader: Look, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I took vitamin B-12 as an answer to my crippling fear of pernicious anemia.
	cause_im_the_waxman: Pernicious anemia.
	MichaelTehader: Yes. Pernicious anemia. It is a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin B-12. I can't think of any other reason why someone would take vitamin B-12.
	cause_im_the_waxman: What is pernicious anemia, exactly?
	MichaelTehader: According to Wikipedia, symptoms include "burning tongue," sore tongue," and "red tongue."
	MichaelTehader: Those sound like Old Testament symptoms. In short, I inject vitamins into my butt hole because I do not want to turn into a pillar of salt.
	cause_im_the_waxman: Fair enough. Still, I believe you're worth an investigation.
	MichaelTehader: I understand.
	OnlineHost ESPN breaks into the forum with a special bulletin!
	ESPN: WHOOOOSHHHH /expensive SportsCenter bumper graphic floats into screen
	ESPN: YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD
	ESPN: ...whoowhowhoooooshhhhh /computer-generated red ball thingy takes far too long to leave screen
	ESPN: .......whoooshhhhh
	OnlineHost ESPN has left the chatroom.
	cause_im_the_waxman: .... That was kind of...insensitive. I'm sorry they broke in like that.
	MichaelTehader: No, I mean, that's okay. I already knew.
	cause_im_the_waxman: Still, wasn't that a little much? You happen to be in the news, so they just tack on personal tragedy like it's a free throw at the end of a four-point play.
	cause_im_the_waxman: It's like they don't even care.
	MichaelTehader: Once you've been in the sports world as long as I have, you come to terms with the knowledge that ESPN isn't simply a collection of people.
	MichaelTehader: If there's a fire in a room, and you're the only one in the room, you can just run away. But if there are hundreds of people in the room, a stampede erupts. Individuality and humanity are forfeit. What was once a living, breathing, reasoning glimmer of hope in the universe, suddenly becomes an impartial, thoughtless force of nature. It's merely a hurricane that wipes clean anything in its path.
	cause_im_the_waxman: That's...that's terrible.
	MichaelTehader: And that horror is nothing new. A lot of people hate ESPN. Sometimes I hate ESPN. But I mean, it is a news agency. You or I may not find it tasteful, but it found the passing of my brother newsworthy. It assimilated that news and packaged it with the story I was already involved in. If nothing else, you can call it efficient.
	MichaelTehader: If your home were leveled to the ground by a tornado, would you curse the tornado, or would you cry in anger to the heavens?
	MichaelTehader: In the same spirit, maybe we shouldn't fault ESPN for being ESPN. It's not a puppy you can tame; it's not a child you can scold.
	cause_im_the_waxman: Maybe you're right.
	MichaelTehader: Although I'm not sure why ESPN hasn't yet pointed out that you look like a Wii Sports character. I mean, check out that schnozz of yours.
	cause_im_the_waxman: daw

Photos link to player info. WordUpThome.com Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Dugout: ESPN Sucks | Well, Maybe Not originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:27:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Peter Gammons: Rock Star

Pat Lackey — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:56:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Gossip, ESPN

Smack in the middle of the bizarre Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee situation, Peter Gammons has decided to make a play for "strangest Mitchell Report related headline." Last weekend at the annual "Hot Stove/Cool Music" event to benefit Theo Epstein's charity, Gammons got on stage to play his guitar and sing. That's not unusual, because he does it every year. But this year, he wrote and performed a song about the Mitchell Report. Here's the chorus:

"Canseco told Mitchell while on the Exxon Valdez
'I can make you millions, help you throw 93
'Bob Heise'd been Jim Rice if he knew what I know'
And there's never been a low as low as Canseco."

And my favorite line:

Met a street corner agent made a dive for my dime
Gave me 30 pounds of muscle in ten weeks time
Winstrol, Anadrol, no holds barred
And a T-shirt readin' "hammer like a porn star"

I'm not sure what that means and I'm not sure I want to know, either. Though I would like to see John Kruk and Steve Phillips on Baseball Tonight if Gammons ever dropped a "hammer like a porn star" reference on the air.

Via Can't Stop the Bleeding

Peter Gammons: Rock Star originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:56:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Fernando Vina Confirms HGH Use

Mullet — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:15:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Gossip, MLB Media Watch, ESPN, PEDs

Apparently, Fernando Vina is interested in keeping his analyst job at ESPN and staying in the public eye. To do that, Vina had to come clean and discuss his appearance in the Mitchell Report ... and that's exactly what he's done in an interview with Bob Ley (loose quotes):

In 2003 I did use HGH ... in '01 I played over 150 games, in '02 I played over 150 games, in '03 I had some issues with some injuries, my knee and my hamstring injuries that set me back ... I tried everything rehabbing, and it came to a point that I had to, I was desperate. And you get a lot of pressure, not only do I put a lot of pressure on myself because I wanted to be in every inning of every game, and it came to a point that, whenever I did rehab, I couldn't get back on the field. And I was getting pressure obviously from the team to get back out there. (...)

And it got to a point that I got desperate and I ended up trying HGH to try to get back and heal myself. It wasn't to try to hit home runs or get an edge, I mean for me, it was to try to get back on the field ... Was it right? No. Obviously it was wrong, because it was the wrong thing to do. I'm embarrassed by it.

When asked by Ley about the lines in the report where Radomski sold him steroids such as Deca-Durabolin, Vina responded:

I never bought steroids from him, all I used was HGH.

Looks like Vina is taking the Andy Pettitte route, saying that he would never use the evil steroids, that it was only HGH to recover from injury. If two makes a trend, then expect more and more on the report to take this tact. The entire interview contained Vina explaining that he didn't want to talk to George Mitchell because he didn't want to get involved, and that he didn't know enough about what was going on. Vina seemed a bit nervous to me around that portion of the interview but I might be reading too much into that. You'd be best served to come up with your own opinion after watching the interview for yourself.

Previously on FanHouse:
Vina's Future at ESPN Unclear
Andy Pettitte Admits to HGH Use

Fernando Vina Confirms HGH Use originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Fernando Vina's Future at ESPN Still Unclear

Matt Watson — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:15:00 EST

Filed under: MLB Gossip, MLB Media Watch, ESPN, PEDs

When former big leaguer and current ESPN analyst Fernando Vina was named in the Mitchell Report, some people wondered why ESPN didn't immediately put him on the air to address the allegations. But as it turns out, his conspicuous absence was apparently his decision and not the network's. From Richard Deitsch of SI.com:

Will Fernando Viña appear on ESPN again? The network says it's up to him. Viña joined ESPN's Baseball Tonight as an analyst in 2007 but has yet to appear on any ESPN property since being named in the Mitchell Report.

"We reported on him specifically when the Mitchell Report came out," an ESPN spokesman told SI.com Sunday night. "He knows we have been trying to get him on the air since the report came out. We do not definitively know when that will happen. But he knows we are trying to get him on the air."

Many of the former players named in the report will be able to escape the public eye by simply refusing to comment, but if Vina wants to continue working on television, this is something he'll have to address in a very candid manner if he hopes to retain even a shred of credibility. And if he doesn't decide to face the music? I'm not sure he'll really be missed. His commentary was usually vanilla at best, an he could easily be replaced by any other ex-jock wanting to get their face on television.

Fernando Vina's Future at ESPN Still Unclear originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Dugout: All Steroids, All the Time

Jon Bois — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:10:00 EST

Filed under: Orioles, MLB Gossip, Baltimore, The Dugout, ESPN

So, David Segui has admitted to steroid use. I'm glad we know this now, before the Mitchell report breaks. If we'd learned this by skimming through a list of names that will probably include Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, we wouldn't appreciate it. It's the difference between a bag of candy and those Christmas calendars that contain a piece underneath each day. In fact, I kind of wish George Mitchell would present the names that way.

Of course, nobody is loving this holiday season more than Bob Ley. For the last few years, his show Outside the Lines has been 90% steroids, 10% the dangers of chewing tobacco. Dogfighting has emerged as the show's golden goose over the last few months, but ultimately there's nothing the guy likes more than steroids and the taking thereof. As such, he's become sort of a cult figure within the Dugout universe. His first-ever FanHouse appearance is after the jump.

The Dugout

	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Welcome to Outside the Lines. My name is Bob Steroids.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Steroids.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Tonight's guest is David Segui, former major leaguer. Mr. Segui recently admitted that during his career, he experimented with steroids.
	segui_and_me: hi
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Before we get to business, let's get to know you a little better. What have you been up to since your retirement after the 2004 season?
	segui_and_me: well, like many ex-major leaguers i have moved on to other projects. at the forefront of my life these days is a particular exciting project i am throwing my weight behind. i am happy to demonstrate
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: By all means!
	segui_and_me: ok /clears throat
	segui_and_me: hat
	segui_and_me: NO HAT
	segui_and_me: hat
	segui_and_me: NO HAT
	segui_and_me: hat
	segui_and_me: NO HAT
	segui_and_me: hat
	segui_and_me: NO HAT
	segui_and_me: hat
	segui_and_me: NO HAT
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Wow. Which do you like better?
	segui_and_me: hat, probably
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: So, long story short, you have been doing absolutely nothing with your life.
	segui_and_me: i'm just as god made me sir
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Speaking of which, I'm looking at your career stats. 139 home runs, with a season high of 21.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Are you certain it was steroids that you took? That you're not confusing steroids with, say, muscle relaxers?.
	segui_and_me: no, i'm sure. one of the many benefits of steroid use is that it makes you poop out various products one would find at a dollar store
	segui_and_me: within a week i had crapped out a dozen coloring books, several racist figurines, and a hand-held plastic pool table with little springs on the cues
	segui_and_me: eventually i replaced my toilet fixture with big cardboard boxes which i would periodically mail to children whose fathers were in prison
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Okay, so they really were steroids. That makes your career stats all the more interesting, though.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS:Take Brady Anderson, for example. While on steroids he hit like fifty home runs, but without them, his stats were similar to the numbers you put up while on steroids.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Following that logic, before you took steroids you were basically a corpse.
	segui_and_me: you have stumbled upon my deepest, darkest secret
	segui_and_me: i was once a successful, respected stock trader. on november 5, 1929 i was found in my office hanging from a ceiling fan by my necktie
	segui_and_me: a decade later my body was volunteered for a black-ops military experiment. within a decade i had personally witnessed the murder of adolf hilter in an abandoned wheat silo in independence, missouri
	segui_and_me: since then my life has been a sort of strange compromise between "forrest gump", "robocop" and "weekend at bernie's"
	segui_and_me: allow me to recount the story of the time i built a tool shed with mao zedong and yahoo serious
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: Are there any steroids in this story?
	segui_and_me: well no
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: pffft /pushes button on desk
	segui_and_me: /falls through trap door
	OnlineHost segui_and_me has left the chatroom.
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: /cues an hour of stock footage of Barry Bonds intersparsed with people walking into and out of a courthouse
	STEROIDS_BobLey_STEROIDS: /sets alarm, crawls under desk, drifts into joyless, dreamless sleep

Photos link to player info. WordUpThome.com Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Dugout: All Steroids, All the Time originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Dugout: Next Men

B. Thompson Stroud — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:49:00 EST

Filed under: New York, Yankees, AL East, The Dugout, ESPN

What's ESPN's obsession with determining who is or is not the best sports star of a given, immediate, or to-be-determined time period? Does George Bodenheimer wander around the studios in a toga, trying to philosophize the existential meaning of LeBron James? If I'm Next, does that mean I'm not anything right now?

Today's Dugout deals with Joba Chamberlain being chosen as "NEXT," and whatever the Hell goes along with being that.

The Dugout

	Online Host Welcome to the New York Yankees Cafeteria!
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: /reaches for piece of chocolate cake
	JobaToTheStars: Uh, excuse me... /pushes Farnsworth out of the way /grabs slice of choclate cake but I was NEXT !
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: oh my [coital act toward a Christian God] mister bungle are you srsly gonna make farnsworth the last dinosaur break bad on you in the [judicially punished by same Christian God] lunch line /takes back slice of cake
	JobaToTheStars: Uh, pardon my French, cornpone, but as the Next Roger Clemens and the Future of Sports Today it's my RIGHT to be NEXT ! /takes back slice of cake
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: what army died and made you next
	JobaToTheStars: None other than ESPN magazine... the revolutionary force in sports entertainment.
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: i saw that movie, whereupon in nicholas cage saves his girlfriend by premonitionen her bein ran over by abraham lincolns secret presidential train an then stoppen it before it happens, or whatever it was mediocre to boren
	JobaToTheStars: I have no idea what you're talking about but Buster Olney sat down with me to write a feature length article in a professional news magazine about how quickly I can text message. When was the last time anybody sat down with YOU?
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: the last time i did somethin bad
	JobaToTheStars: which was when
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: the last few times i got to do anything dont act like a cats mreow, i got a b+ on a seventh grade vacabulary test whence everyone thought i was gonna fail, an jayson stark sat down with me at the middle school an wrote about it for the gazette
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: how did they decide on you bein next anyways how do you measure that
	JobaToTheStars: 32 sports celebrities, teams, related-personalities, and abstract concepts were put into four eight-man regional tournaments and pitted against each other to see who was most NEXT
	JobaToTheStars: I was in the Northeastern or "Meadowlark Lemon" Region against Danica Patrick, Dan Shanoff, The Miz, Sportsmanship, Radek Bonk, a bucket of Gatorade, and Greg Legg. Each matchup was then judged and decided by a panel of Stephen A. Smith.
	JobaToTheStars: In the finals it was determined that while Sportsmanship was important, it wasn't as important as being a Yankee, so I won.
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: your lucky you dident have to go up against gatorade, riptide rush woulda flipped you for real
	JobaToTheStars: Well, you can't deny the gravitas and career-defining legacy of the 24 innings I pitched in the one season I've played. That was almost two and a half games of quality. /takes back slice of cake
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: well if yer tryen to be the next roger clemens lemme help you /puts entire chocolate cake on Joba's tray
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: who gives a [fecal dropping of obscure animal] whether or not ESPN the Magazine For [the most offensive thing you can think of] thinks you are next, red rocker kyle farnsworth is more now so cake me MORE NOW and get outer my way you [doo doo chump, and additional quotes from The Humpty Dance] an stop holden up the line
	JobaToTheStars: Wait, your humpty nose is going to do what to my where?
	JobaToTheStars: Look, I've had enough of this crap, get out of my way right now. I'm NEXT, you are the bottom of the totem pole, and if you don't obey the Joba Rules I'm going to text the present of this team and get you [shit-canned].
	Online Host JobaToTheStars has been tapped on the shoulder.
	JobaToTheStars: What, what is it? Wait your turn, I'm having a conversation here. Don't make me get my Dad!
	Online Host JobaToTheStars has been tapped on the shoulder.
	JobaToTheStars: WHAT WHAT IS IT
	GOLDBERG: Excuse me, who's next?
	JobaToTheStars: me, why
	Online Host JobaToTheStars has been speared and jackhammered.
	pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: lol i knew letten goldberg into the cafeteria would be great fun

Photos link to player info. WordUpThome.com Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Dugout: Next Men originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:49:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Yankees Aren't Talking To ESPN

Tom Fornelli — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:42:00 EST

Filed under: New York, Yankees, MLB Media Watch, ESPN

If you're closely following the Yankees process of hiring a new manager, and you want to keep abreast of the situation, I have a suggestion for you.

Don't watch ESPN.

They won't know anything because the Yankees aren't including anyone from the network in their conference calls.

The Yankees have barred ESPN from news media conference calls with their managerial candidates this week. The move was in retaliation for the network violating rules covering last week's call on which it was announced Joe Torre had turned down a contract offer.

Jason Zillo, the Yankees' media relations director, said yesterday afternoon he told operators conducting calls with Joe Girardi Monday and Don Mattingly Tuesday not to accept ESPN as an affiliation.

First MLB wouldn't let ESPN do Baseball Tonight from the All-Star Game because they announced the All-Star rosters before they were supposed to, and now the Yankees are freezing them out of any conference calls. Do you think ESPN is going to realize at some point that they aren't God? They can't just do whatever the hell they feel like doing.

I get a bit of a kick out of the fact that I could call the Yankees and get some information from them on their managerial search, but if Peter Gammons calls they'll tell him to go to hell. That's just awesome.

(As for the picture, Erin Andrews has nothing to do with this story, though if she did call the Yankees they wouldn't answer her calls either. I would though. Seriously. Call me, Erin.)

The Yankees Aren't Talking To ESPN originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Yankees Flacks Mad at ESPN

Eamonn Brennan — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:41:00 EST

Filed under: New York, Yankees, AL East, MLB Media Watch, ESPN

If you're looking for a decent reason why so many people seem to love the Yankees, even though they were born in, oh, I don't know, Akron, OH, look no further than ESPN. Its willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in broadcasting Yankees and Red Sox news -- and their usual 15 or so in-season match ups -- is unmatched anywhere else in media. Whether the demand for East Coast baseball news came first, or whether ESPN created it ... well, that's a bit chicken-egg, isn't it?

But now ... the Yankees are actually mad at ESPN. And so Rome was toppled? Via Awful Announcing:

The conference call yesterday during which Yankees executives announced the end of the Joe Torre era was surprisingly matter-of-fact and unemotional.

The fact that a national television audience was able to hear it live, though, produced a reaction from the team that was anything but calm.

Media relations director Jason Zillo reacted angrily to the fact that ESPN2 carried the call live in violation of rules the team set beforehand. Other media outlets that abided by the policy also were upset.

"It's disconcerting that ESPN thinks they're above the law," Zillo said. "Their explanation to me was, basically, 'We took it upon ourselves.' If that is how they need to get their competitive advantage, then you certainly have to question it."

The popular, or at least cliche, response here would be to take ESPN to task for their largess, their willful disdain for the rules, and so on. Whatever. When the desire to report without filter subverts the PR/Media access hierarchy, and we get to watch media relations flacks squirm, well, that's a win for all of us.

And hey, at least someone is admitting Joe Torre is still alive.

Yankees Flacks Mad at ESPN originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:41:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments