And a new bit of media on the site: MJD and PostmanE and MJD's friend Danks pulled together a podcast looking at the NLCS, the BCS, and a feature called "Bigger Douche?"
Media Watch:
On Demons and Saints: A Story About Travis Johnson and Media Hype: The first player I met at the event was Travis Johnson. I told him what was happening and asked for his autograph on the hat. He was really moved by Deb's situation and wrote some encouraging words on it. Then he did something he really didn't have to do.
Jason Whitlock Wants to Win a Pulitzer Prize for Covering Don Imus, Jena Six: Columnists don't often openly discuss wanting to win a Pulitzer -- journalists are supposed to pretend they're above openly campaigning for the most coveted prize in journalism. In fact, Whitlock is the only journalist I can ever remember coming right out and saying that's his goal, although he's certainly far from the only journalist who has that goal.
ESPN Ombudsman on Patriotgate, Injuries, Manning, McNabb, Mort: With regards to the Patriots spying controversy, Schreiber reserves her harshest criticism for Tuesday Morning Quarterback columnist Gregg Easterbrook. Schreiber accuses Easterbrook of "rumor, speculation and twisted logic" and "cloaking opinion in the camouflage of reporting." It's a rough attack on one of ESPN.com's best-known writers, and it's an attack I think Easterbrook has no choice but to respond to.
Suzyn Waldman Not Sorry She Cried: As I said before, I agree with her. She is a conduit for the fans, not a national host pretending to be objective. And she reacted as a fan would react, not as the team wanted her to.
Don't Mess With HBO:HBO-UFC Deal Falls Through, What's Next? The bottom line is that UFC likes to have total control over everything it broadcasts -- UFC wants the announcers, cameramen, everybody to be hired by and supervised by UFC. HBO wants to have the same level of independence it has on its boxing broadcasts. It just wasn't a good fit.
Random YouTube Magic: Don't Mess With Larry Merchant: Some fans love HBO boxing broadcaster Larry Merchant; others think he's a senile old fool. But I think we can all agree that you'd be wise not to get drunk, stumble into the ring and disrupt his post-fight interviews, lest this happen to you.
College Football:JoePa Had Nice Chat With Distressingly Poor Lady Driver, Says JoePa: This, of course, is completely transparent crap. "I have your license and will call the police" does not warrant a "that's my wife!" response; "#*#$ you, do you know who the #&!* I am? I WILL EAT YOUR BRAINS" does. Being politely informed that your driving skills leave something to be desired does not result in non-insane people calling the police, and which person in this situation is the billion-year-old man with severe referee paranoia issues? Hint: not the woman.
Charlie Weis' Evil Plan to Reanimate the Corpse of George Gipp Discovered by ESPN: There's one thing blatantly missing from this article... any mention of why the hell they're digging up the Gipper. The only possible reason they're not revealing this info is because of a cover-up, and I think it's pretty obvious to everybody that Charlie Weis has set into motion his evil plan of reanimating the Gipper's corpse for this weekend's game against Boston College.
MLB:
Random You Tube Magic: Joe Torre Fired From Disappointing New York Baseball Club: The above video is a WABC report from 1981, when Torre was fired as manager of the New York Mets on the last day of the '81 season by GM Frank Cashen (apparently, not needing to go to any meetings in Tampa to decide Torre's fate back then.)
NFL:
T.O. Will Only Communicate With the Media Via the Written Word: as we're bombarded with non-stop coverage for the next 96 or so hours, Terrell Owens is taking a new media strategy. Instead of actually talking, he's turned to passing out statements. Here's what he left for reporters who came looking for him Wednesday.
NBA:A Most Amusing Pistons Practice: Out comes Hamilton and Billups back onto the court, both clad only in towels and shower slippers. Apparently they were going to settle the dispute on the court -- dressed or not. We don't get the results, but this is still as funny as anything that's gone down in Washington. In fact, I'm willing to bet that most teams have stuff like this happening in practices; either it's not getting covered, the organization doesn't want it covered, or both.
Luke Ridnour Joins NBA Mask Club: One of these days, the Sonics are going to refuse to play the Kings in preseason. Last year, Robert Swift ripped his ACL against Sacramento in late October. Last night, point guard Luke Ridnour took a Ron Artest 'bow to the face. His nose is broken and he'll be wearing a mask for a month.
Now LeBron's Backing Cleveland: I want to speak frankly to Cleveland. You know how Allen Iverson spoke of showing allegiance "to keep the fans happy?" In this case, you might want to think about keeping LeBron happy. He's got love for his city, and wants to win with the Cavs, but losing him is a very real possibility.
NASCAR:
Democrats Require Immunization Before Pandering to Rednecks: Rep. Robin Hayes (NC-R) is perturbed. The Concord, N.C. representative wants to know why Homeland Security required congressional staffers to be immunized against Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, and influenza before attending a NASCAR race.
