THEY GET IT
The dignified jobless — The expectation is unreasonable. When someone is laid off in sports media, even after years of loyal and commendable work, that person nonetheless is supposed to publicly thank the bosses who are cutting off his nuts. If not, well, he’s a bad egg who NEVER SHOULD WORK AGAIN IN THIS BUSINESS, DAMMIT!! Ian O’Connor and Wayne Drehs are better men than I’d be in their situations, thanking ESPN profusely after their holiday ziggies — for O’Connor, halting a long run as one of America’s best (and last) general columnists; for Drehs, ending his stint as a productive enterprise writer best known for his persistent pursuit of the one-on-one interview coveted by every Chicago-based reporter: Steve Bartman. Tweeted O’Connor: “ESPN gave me the best job I ever had.” Tweeted Drehs: “I’ve woken up every morning the past 20 years feeling like I won the job lottery. I’m more thankful for the 7,000+ days I had as a writer for ESPN than I am despondent that today is suddenly my last day,” Me? I’d be writing the big boss, Mr. Jimmy Pitaro, and asking why I’m the latest website-headcount sacrifice helping Disney Co.’s attempt to outbid NBC for “Sunday Night Football” rights. It’s the latest sign ESPN has little interest in employing a surplus of online storytellers unless their names are Wright Thompson and … I’m not sure who else. I’ll be curious if O’Connor, Drehs and other recent pink-slippers land at the newly rebooted Fox Sports site, which has a cool interface and good writers but needs more content punch. There is room for quality sportswriting — especially stories that don’t require a monthly fee — in an industry where sports are gushingly promoted by league partners and no longer aggressively covered. In that vein, we have a competition of sorts: free-of-charge Fox and Sports Illustrated vs. subscription-based The Athletic. SI has troubling ownership issues. Fox does not.
Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale, ESPN — How prudent of the college basketball analysts to ditch the hype — The Bilastrator and “PTPer” shtick — and deliver much-needed commentary on a bastardized season. And they did so before the sport’s czar, Mike Krzyzewski, echoed their thoughts. After an early showdown between No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Gonzaga was shut down because of positive COVID-19 tests in the Gonzaga program, both men defied the company’s game inventory rollout and asked what I’ve been asking: Why are they doing this? Said Vitale: “This is total chaos. My feeling from Day 1 was that we should have started around February and then played conference games, because this thing is out of control. Basketball is my life and my love. But it’s secondary when the disease is running rampant. We’re going to have a lot of this happen, and we should be listening to the experts.” Said Bilas, targeting NCAA boss Mark Emmert: “We need some leadership out of Indianapolis, I know that. We never get it and I’m not sure we ever will under the current leadership. … We’re being advised by our government not to travel over the holiday, and yet these players are traveling. The NCAA told us we’d never play in bubbles because they’re amateurs, and we’re playing in bubbles.” Added Bilas: “If we were deciding to start now, would we start now? The answer, I think, would be no.” Has Bilas, on a higher intellectual plane than most in sports, ever considered a palace coup and taking over the NCAA?
Cris Collinsworth, NBC Sports — I refuse to play the troll/gotcha game and excoriate a football analyst who doesn’t deserve the flogging. In Collinsworth’s case, his earnest apology overwhelmed the minor flap he caused during the bizarro Wednesday afternoon version of “Sunday Night Football.” Yes, he could have worded his praise of female Pittsburgh Steelers fans more thoughtfully when he said: “In particular, the ladies that I met. They had really specific questions about the game. I’m like, `Wow.’ You’re just blown away by how strong the fans are here in this town.” But sometimes, intent and context are more important than the dark, lonely existence of social-media snipers who live to seize such slip-ups. Having grown up in that city, I realize Collinsworth is right: Every demographic — gender, age, race — lives for the Steelers and knows everything about them. He corrected himself in a subsequent tweet: “Today on our broadcast I made reference to a couple of women I met in Pittsburgh who so impressed me with their football knowledge that I wanted to tell their story on the air. I know the way I phrased it insulted many. I’m so sorry. What I intended as a compliment to the fans of Pittsburgh, became an insult. I’m sick about insulting any fan, but especially female fans and journalists. I know firsthand how much harder they have to work than any of us in this industry. I was wrong and deeply apologize.” That’s good enough for me.
Steve Kornacki, NBC — I can’t explain why this political-science nerd is a sex symbol, or why he received more Election Week social-media juice than CNN’s John King and other indefatigable, state-by-state breakdown analysts. But I’m thinking his popularity stems from: (1) appearing on MSNBC, official network of anti-Trump America, and ultimately confirming to gleeful viewers that Joe Biden had won the race; (2) he doesn’t preach or intimidate anyone; and (3) he apparently is attractive to the widespread masses, having come out as gay years ago in a Salon column. So, trotting out the same tie/shirt/khakis/sneakers outfit he wore last month, Kornacki broke down the NFL postseason races on his Big Board during “Sunday Night Football.” Yes, it’s a gimmick, and I don’t want to see it every week. But we do tire of the same faces on football broadcasts, so this was a fun crossover dose of the Map Guy breaking down the Arizona Cardinals’ chances, which was much easier than figuring out a Biden-flipped Maricopa County. I just beg ESPN not to copy-cat and summon exposed “math genius” Nate Silver, who, after swinging and missing badly in back-to-back elections, should seek soul-healing meditation in the Himalayas.
Steve Levy, ESPN — For those of us who don’t gamble on sports — and we still very much outnumber those who do — I want to thank the “Monday Night Football” game-caller for disregarding the Point Spread Elephant in the booth. Unlike Al “The Oddsfather” Michaels, who has made a career of snide fourth-quarter references to tightening betting lines, Levy refused to acknowledge how a late touchdown and two-point conversion flipped a 23-9 Philadelphia deficit into a ghastly setback for Seattle bettors. Here’s how Levy described it: “Final 20 seconds. Here’s Wentz. Why not? Deep ball in the end zone and it is CAUGHT for the touchdown. Had it all the way. A 33-yard touchdown catch. Padding the statistics.” And here’s how he described the conversion that made millions physically ill: “And a lane opens up nicely for Miles Sanders, who strolls in for two.” Partners Brian Griese and Louis Riddick didn’t make a mention either, which could have been perceived as a bird flip, to waiting “SportsCenter” host Scott Van Pelt, who had the ultimate bad beat to moan about but no lead-in momentum from the crew. Sorry, kids, but I can’t feel sorry for people who are blowing money in a pandemic. You know my feeling about problem gambling: In too many cases, it’s a life-and-death disease.
THEY DON’T GET IT
Stephen A. Smith, ESPN — There is a time and place for a Stephen A. rant. There also is a time and place for him to shut up and be thankful for his career blessings … and this is such a time. As O’Connor, Drehs and other skilled ESPN staffers — some more talented than Smith, quite frankly — deal with holiday layoffs during a pandemic, Stephen A. should have ignored Internet critics who’ve pointed out his ample salary, estimated around $8 million annually. Instead, he exploded at a Twitter user who said Smith and Max Kellerman “embarrass the platform” for big money, responding, “You might be able to get over it if you’d done your damn homework. I generate revenue clown. I bring money to help KEEP JOBS, not lose them. Know who the F&^%$ you’re talking about before opening your mouth. If you didn’t know you should’ve asked somebody.” This is as insensitive, in its own way, as deposed host Dan Le Batard ripping President Trump. But the Bristol bosses don’t fear sports fans the way they fear Trump. Smith should be reprimanded but, of course, won’t be. How about a nice tweet, Stephen A., commending the newly jobless for their great service at the company? The A, in this case, stands for Ass.
Lou Merloni, Boston radio host — Some ex-ballplayers remain suspended in adolescence, forever doomed to a childish clubhouse perspective. If Merloni and partners Christian Fauria and Glenn Ordway want to pick a fight with ex-con Craig Carton for his involvement in a Ponzi scheme, they shouldn’t expect other WEEI hosts to pile on the WFAN afternoon host, as if a sports station should adhere to some ballclub-wide code during a beanbrawl. When Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti chose to stick up for their teammate on WFAN, so be it. But Merloni, best known in Red Sox lore as a utilityman who shuffled constantly from Fenway Park to the Pawtucket minor-league club, zinged WEEI’s morning host, Greg Hill, for not being “a foxhole guy” in refusing to prolong the Carton bashfest. Said Merloni, he of the 14 career big-league home runs: “Whatever happened to going to war with one another? Both their shows are ripping our show and we figured somebody would have our back. What happened, are we just on an island?” No, you’re in a pandemic. Grow up, Lou.
Len Kasper, Chicago play-by-play flipper — The baseball broadcaster says he’s fulfilling a lifelong dream to mirror his boyhood idol, Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell, as the radio voice of a major-league team. “Twelve-year-old Len Kasper is as thrilled as can be,” he said after executing a rare switcheroo, leaving behind one of the most prestigious gigs in sportscasting — TV voice of the Cubs — to join the radio booth and occasional TV booth of the crosstown White Sox. Forty-nine-year-old Len Kasper really should know better. I don’t care if Theo Epstein has fled the North Side and everyone is tiring of the Ricketts family. I don’t care if the Cubs have the look of a downsizer. I don’t care if the White Sox finally look like contenders for the first time in forever. Kasper just lost a massive chunk of audience with a national-scope franchise, in a polarized city where at least four of five Chicagoans are Cubs fans, to accept a lesser role within a Reinsdorfian operation often run like a minor-market team in a major market. The Cubs have been reeling this offseason, and their Marquee Sports Network is co-owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, making the booth gig a political hot potato. But if they want to spend money, oh, Bob Costas is out there with little on his plate. Or, on a lesser but still acclaimed level, Matt Vasgersian. Such a hire would one-up the Sox’s heist of Kasper, hardly an all-time great, and remind everyone which franchise owns the town. Kasper says he wants to work a World Series, not possible in a local TV booth when national networks take over the postseason. Does he not realize the White Sox have thrown as many World Series as they’ve won (one) in the last 102 years?
Critics of Thom Brennaman’s new job — What would you like him to do, die? Having lost his livelihood as a baseball and football broadcaster after his anti-gay slur, Brennaman is paying his debt to media society by spending his winter in Puerto Rico, where he’ll work the booth for the five-team Roberto Clemente League. To his credit, he has apologized repeatedly and is willing to leave the U.S. during a pandemic to pay his penance. It likely won’t lead to a return gig in the major leagues, but maybe Brennaman will rediscover love for his craft in humble surroundings. Anyone who condemns the Clemente League for hiring him should stare in a mirror for five minutes and ask this: “Am I a perfect person? Have I never made a mistake?”
NBA writers — Did I miss the class in journalism school where they taught sports reporters how to suck up and sell out? I understand the importance of sources but never to the point of becoming a franchise lapdog or a member of an athlete’s brand. League veteran Andre Iguodala spilled the truth about some who regularly cover the NBA beat, telling The Athletic’s media writer, Richard Deitsch: “I think a lot of people don’t understand that certain writers are affiliated with certain teams. It might be a writer who works for a certain publication and they might have a great relationship with the GM or ownership and they will write articles that put the team in a great light — and that may not be the real case. Then you’ve got the same situation where a certain player might have a certain writer in his pocket so he writes favorable stories about that person. If you pay close enough attention, you can start to see who is more favorable or more straight down the middle and giving it to you straight. It’s an interesting game. That’s why NBA Twitter is so unique because you have so many opinions, so many voices, and it’s so hectic day to day. You start to learn the lay of the land and who is on who’s side. It’s pretty funny.” It isn’t so funny to me, nor should it be to media consumers. How many important stories are being covered up because writers are stuffed in back pockets? And their bosses don’t care because, hey, those cozy relationships are good for business. I have one request for these folks: When asked to list an occupation on a form, please put down PROFESSIONAL ASS-KISSER and not JOURNALIST. I used to gain one-on-one audiences with MIchael Jordan without sucking up. He’d yell at me for things I’d written, with no one else around, then answer my questions. That way, I retained my editorial freedom when covering him. But then, it’s much easier these days to sell out and fit in. After all, you don’t want to fall out of favor with the crowd and, God forbid, have people dislike you.
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