Did the ESPN Editors Miss Something?

LA Clippers GM Elgin Baylor resigned yesterday or was fired. Who knows. Long has he been a punchline to NBA jokes, especially for Bill Simmons. Well, Bill Simmons is a gracious man who wrote a great column today about Elgin. Touching on his importance in the civil rights movement, the development of the NBA, and the development of players' rights.

Simmons recounted one conversation between he and Elgin regarding the lap of luxury today's NBA players live in, including chartered flights. To which Elgin responded:

"Sheeeeeeeeeet," he said. "When I played, we flew coach and carried our own bags! We landed two, three, four times! You ever hear about the time we crashed in a cornfield?"

(emphasis mine). It's not like the Disney conglomerate to allow those sorts of words, even alternative spellings, onto their website.

I have a screen grab below for verification purposes in case the editors end up changing it.

Dana Jacobson Update

Many of you have probably heard of ESPN's Dana Jacobson's drunken antics at the Mike & Mike roast in Atlantic City recently. Deadspin.com later reported from a tipster that Jacobson stated the following: "f*** Notre Dame", "f*** Touchdown Jesus", and "f*** Jesus." This has all started a maelstrom with Bill Donohue of the Catholic League getting upset about the Jacobson comments and people calling for her head. Video then surfaced of the event but not of Jacobson's tirade. Jacobson was suspended for her ramblings and issued an apology.

Obviously the political pressure has increased significantly on ESPN regarding this matter. Enough so that ESPN has now doubled back on its "policy" of not commenting on personnel matters. I wonder if Jacobson's gender has anything to do with this given ESPN's less than stellar history with gender relations.

Regardless, I have learned that Bill Donohue considers the matter over.

On January 22, I said in a news release that ‘there is no evidence that ESPN is taking this matter seriously.’ I am happy to say that after speaking to two ESPN officials today, and having learned more about exactly what happened, that the are in fact taking this matter seriously. Indeed, I am convinced that what occurred at the roast will not happen again.

To be sure, Jacobson’s remarks were patently offensive; no one involved in this incident, including her, is maintaining otherwise. But it is also true that there is no evidence that what we are dealing with is a bigot—lots of people who have made bigoted comments are not inveterate bigots. No, what we are dealing with is a person who went off the rails while drunk at a raucous event. “The ESPN officials whom I spoke to answered the questions I had to my satisfaction. Therefore, as far as the Catholic League is concerned, this matter is over.

ESPN has mollified the Catholic attack dog. And, I have also learned that ESPN will be meeting with the Christian Defense Coalition on Friday after the group protested ESPN corporate HQ in Bristol, Connecticut. This information comes from an email from ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber sent to me by a reader.

So, what have we learned today? ESPN will cave to political pressure and violate its own policies on personnel matters. Any way Jesse Jackson can get righteous and indignant about Harold Reynolds's situation so we can get more information?

Irony This Is Your Picture

I made my first visit to modern day Sodom this past weekend. New York City. I had a great time despite all of the smug, self-involved hipsters who seem deadset on reviving all the worst fashions of the 80s.

Sport was not the reason for my visit, but I couldn't leave it behind. Actually, it kind of hit me in the face in the form of an 80-foot tall billboard on the side of building on 8th and 42nd in Midtown. (I know the quality sucks but try to take a good picture with a cell-phone from a moving vehicle.)

This is without a doubt intended to be an un-ironic statement from ESPN's marketing gurus. But, it is the epitome of irony. Every time I have listened to any of the "talent" on the billboard I have been dumber for it.

Just for shits and giggles, I found further evidence that NYC is full of heathens. This sign was on 5th Avenue somewhere in Midtown. I am quite sure you would probably break your neck if you ever attempted what this sign implores you to do--"toss your own salad."

Heh.

ESPN's Double Standard

The Big Lead is reporting that in yesterday's chat with Paul Shirley, that the basketball vagabond Shirley called Kobe Bryant a douche. A reader wrote to TBL and said it went up and then ESPN censored the comment. ESPN can censor if it wants, but the question remains whether "douche" is really a bad word. And, after some quick research it seems that the WWL hasn't thought so in the past.

I found this Bill Simmons Mailbag where the word douche was used in a reader email. However, in ESPN's defense Simmons, in a basketball blog entry only uses "d-bag", which is obviously the polite form of douchebag.

I know I've heard the word used on broadcast television during primetime, and, I must admit, this has always struck me as odd. It is a fairly descriptive word and seems somewhat vulgar, although not one of the big seven. I just know, it is not a word my parents would have let me use when I was a teenager. However, I might liken it to the use of bitch, jerk, ass or some other word that describes an unpleasant person that is frequently heard on the airwaves.

What Does The New Ombuds(wo)man Have To Say About Bloggers

ESPN has a new ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber, a former NY Times Sports Editor. Ms. Schreiber replaces George Solomon, who first held the position. I liked George Solomon...most of the time. I did write one thing that was anti-Solomon, but he was generally fair and tried to hold ESPN accountable. However, I think he was a bit of a company man and could be cowed by the World Wide Leader.

After reading Ms. Schreiber's introductory column, I don't think she will have Mr. Solomon's weaknesses. I could, though, just be fooled by her persuasive writing. I'll just have to wait and see. Schreiber seems to be quite tough and claims to have no qualms in holding ESPN's feet to the fire. Good for her. And, hopefully, good for us...the consumers.

ESPN has become quite unwieldy and has no serious competitor with the same resources. In fact, ESPN is the creator of the modern sports media industry. Its sheer girth allows it to be unresponsive to consumer complaints. So, it's refreshing to see the company actually try address consumer issues. Let's hope they actually pay attention to the ombudsman because it seemed Solomon wasn't seen but not heard.

There was one passage in Schreiber's column I found quite interesting yet don't know what to make of it just yet. Time will only tell. Schreiber was discussing her thoughts before accepting the position and wrote this:

Before the week was out, I realized my liabilities for this position were also my assets. The almost mutant scale of ESPN's growth in recent years makes it seem the likely ultimate employer of every sports anchor, announcer, analyst, writer, talker, producer, editor, technician and, last but not least, blogger in the land.

I am curious why she would mention bloggers so pointedly. What does it mean? Is she going to be reading the blogs to find ESPN's faults? Last but not least? She's actually giving us credit. The Underground that ESPN has so strenuously fought against. Help me out...what is she getting at?

It's also obvious she doesn't understand that bloggers are by definition unemployed and write from their parents' basement in nothing but a pair of tighty-whities. I kid, I kid. Only because I actually have a job. But, there are far more sports bloggers out there than ESPN will ever care to employ.