By FITSNews || In case that whole one-hour prime time special about his free agent announcement didn’t make it abundantly clear, ESPN has pretty much surrendered its self-respect (and journalistic testicles) to NBA mega-diva LeBron James.
The latest fellating?
“The network” has pulled a story that it previously published from Los Angeles sports columnist Arash Markazi that is said to portray James in a negative light.
“We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story,” ESPN’s top editor said in a statement. “ESPN.com will not be posting this story in any form.”
Sheesh. What a bunch of pussies.
In case celebrities and politicians are unfamiliar with the rules of the new media, we’re all reporters. Every last effing one of us. And stuff that goes down in public is … well, public.
So what was in the story?
Nothing. Seriously.
Take a look for yourself …
By CNSYD July 29, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Will all five of the residents of SC who actually give a shit about the NBA please standup. Thank you.
By EB July 30, 2010 at 12:05 am
I am no NBA fan. I would not watch game seven of the Championship Series if they played it on my driveway.
It has been widely reported that about twenty of the NBA franchises are in financial trouble. They keep this crap up, they all may be playing in China in ten years.
I did not watch ESPN when they reported on the LeBron James decision that was going to “change the world.” I did notice that the cable channels spent more than ample time with minute by minute updates. It was just not that important.
A few minutes of trying to catch up on the news would subject an individual to the breathless banality and mindless blather of what I thought was normally intelligent news people. It reminded me of the way MSNBC reports the news about Obama.
In the end, the newscasts were very irritating, like a Ron Popeil or Andrew Lesko Infomercial at three o’clock in the morning.
By Tunes'n''News July 30, 2010 at 9:25 am
Still seated.
By DisgustinJustin July 30, 2010 at 10:55 am
Your commentary on this is dead-on. This story says nothing. And, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a young, rich NBA player. The pantomiming is a bit eccentric though.
By OhNoNotAgain July 30, 2010 at 1:43 pm
So why should ESPN be popped for not putting a nothing story on its website?
I don’t get it.
If there was something extremely negative in it and they pulled it to protect him, you might have something akin to a point here.
But if the story is nothing, why are you raising a fuss about nothing?
By FITSNews July 30, 2010 at 2:27 pm
That’s part of the point. It wasn’t an awful story. If it was an awful story with shocking revelations, ESPN would have profited from it (or never let it see the light of day).
It’s precisely the fact that the story wasn’t a huge deal that raises questions about it being pulled.
-FITS
By Ralph Hightower July 30, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Sounds like LJ is football’s version of TO. Who cares?
By JR August 1, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I think the effort by conservatives to downplay the NBA as some sort of thug, ghetto sport full of selfish bad actors is hilarious. As if every other professional sport is not EXACTLY the same way. That being said, ESPN sucks and has always sucked. They know what makes them the most money and they beat those things to death and then keep on beating them after that. I mean we had to put up with four years of Tim Tebow worship by the worldwide leader while he was in college and now that he is in the NFL as a backup (BACKUP!!!!) quarterback, they have a portion of their web site titled the “Tebow Tracker.” Can anyone name me a single backup quarterback in the NFL right now besides Tim Tebow? I thought not. Tim Tebow is irrelevant as an NFL player yet ESPN keeps telling us about him. They are not objective journalists in any way shape or form.
By Greenville Girl August 2, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I still can’t believe there was this much hype over ONE athlete. I don’t have a lot of respect for pro athletes; most are arrogant, ill mannered, foul mouthed, over rated and over paid individuals.
If you look at pro football, basketball & baseball players, their greed and the idiocy of the team owners who pay them so much will be their own undoing. College athletic programs are suffering too; fans are tired of the high price of tickets; pro sports is even worse.
I’m still shocked that Dallas built a $1,000,000,000 stadium. I wonder how many winning seasons the Cowboys will need in order to see the light at the end of their tunnel of debt.