ESPN always wants it both ways, which is why it often goes oh-for-two.
On one hand, ESPN wants you to know it as a journalistic powerhouse, all its parts combining to break stories — or at least taking credit for them — three, four, five times a day!
On the other hand, ESPN goes out of its way to flagrantly violate fundamental journalistic code by entering into cozy advertising agreements with those the network supposes to aggressively cover. To make things worse, ESPN assigns its news anchors to co-star in those commercials.
Lately, ESPN has summoned some dubious acts to feature in commercials with “SportsCenter” anchors.
Last September, ESPN selected Panthers WR Steve Smith to star with Kenny Mayne in a commercial. It was a clever spot. They almost always are. But Smith was available because he was serving a two-game suspension for the brutal beating of teammate Ken Lucas.
In the last few days, ESPN lost even its flimsy grasp on fundamental, take-care journalism. Drew Rosenhaus, the bombastic and oily sports agent who seems to specialize in trying to explain why his clients were at the scene of the crime at 3:30 a.m., appeared in an ESPN commercial. Rosenhaus had accepted ESPN’s invitation to jump into bed with the network, specifically with anchors Scott Van Pelt and Neil Everett.
The 30-second ad is cute. Rosenhaus negotiates the price of the anchors’ lunch with the cashier at the ESPN cafeteria.
But while cute is one-shot deal, ESPN is left with a large, unsealed can of ESPN Brand worms. ESPN’s in the sports news business, Rosenhaus and his long list of pro football clients are newsmakers, and ESPN and Rosenhaus are now forever joined in an advertising cross-promotion, the kind of special relationship that even minimally vigilant journalists avoid.
The next “scoop” ESPN lands connected to a Rosenhaus client becomes highly suspect, as do the following 100. Rosenhaus, after all, has some funky clients, including Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Shockey, Terrell Owens and Browns WR Donte Stallworth, recently charged with manslaughter.
Is there no one at ESPN with the authority, foresight and fundamental sense of right-from-wrong to have killed this before it advanced beyond a bad idea? Why would ESPN do this to itself? Why would it do this to its anchors? Why would its anchors allow ESPN to do this to them?
But ESPN always wants it both ways. It wants to be America’s leader in go-get-’em sports journalism, yet regularly provides proof that it can’t distinguish journalism from a box of cookies.
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How many more strikes does Matt Vasgersian get?
Last week, MLB Network’s lead anchor apologized on the air the day after he exploited footage of injured Rockies OF Brad Hawpe to force up a gag so stupid that the analysts on the set, Billy Ripken and Mitch Williams, immediately told him so.
Shortly after MLBN debuted, Vasgersian was seen/heard dropping the F-bomb when the wrong tape aired. He’s not the first to learn the hard way that pros never say anything into a microphone that they don’t want heard.
As a smarmy Fox Sports Net game-show host, Vasgersian did his part to infuse the program with vulgarities and sexual innuendo. And as the first XFL on NBC play-by-player, he was plenty vulgar, though not enough to suit Vince McMahon and Dick Ebersol, who had him replaced.
And though Vasgersian, indiscriminate wise guy, will swing at anything, he keeps fouling ’em off, getting a piece, just enough to hang in there.
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Speaking of MLBN, did you know that Rusty Staub, of all people, was once considered a base-stealing threat? Last week, MLBN ran a 1970 Pirates-Expos telecast. After Staub walked, CBC announcers Hal Kelly and Don Drysdale noted that teams throw over a lot to keep Staub close. In ’70, Staub stole a career-high 12 bases. Mostly, though, he stole none or one per season.
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Not that grandstanding, gasbag politicians are rare, but for entirely personal reasons, Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy stands out.
Last year, I swiped at ESPN for having high school basketball games begin at 9 p.m. and later, especially in higher-crime spots such as Trenton and Jersey City. The column’s theme was anything-to-be-on-TV vs. common sense/good and welfare of kids.
Well, without offering proof that they actually read the entire column, Healy and three Jersey City councilmen denounced me for a “smear” of their fair city. They even posed for pictures — Page 1 of the Jersey Journal — and all blew hard: This creep in The Post owes Jersey City an apology! Yeah!
Meanwhile, the response to the column from Jersey City residents was mostly in agreement with it.
Anyway, last week Healy was in Trenton to support legislation that would limit the sale of handguns in Jersey City. “There’s just too many guns out there,” he said. Gee, Mr. Mayor, ya don’t say?
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Fabulous pay-attention TV team work Wednesday on SNY. When Gary Cohen noted that Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez was caught in a decoy by putting a pinch hitter in the on-deck circle for pitcher Josh Johnson — Johnson batted — director Bill Webb cut to Jerry Manuel, just in time to see him smiling, then over to Gonzalez, in time to see him smile back.