SF Giants beat writer blasts ESPN coverage

My issue with SC isn't highlights, it's the lack of interesting stories.

What they really haven't been doing, except for their Sunday night features, is feature stories. I'm not talking about generated fake-controversial stuff like Who's Now or analyzing whether Brett Favre's nose picking means he wants to retire or not.

I'm talking about getting a look at behind what we see at TV. Granted, they were creating it, but I really liked their Make-A-Wish features when the kids would meet the stars. Dallas Braden's story should have been done before he pitched the perfect game. Show behind-the-scenes stuff like follow a player or coach around the day of the game.

To paraphrase Moddy, give me something to watch.

 

Schulman's my new hero.

 

Ladies and gents. I just saw this thread, as someone pointed it out to me.

I am not here to argue with any contention that my blog was "homerish" or should have been kept to myself. You have a right to your opinions, and I knew I'd be criticized for that when I wrote it. A few points, though.

1. I will never subscribe to the notion that just because athletes make millions, it's fair game to treat them with disrespect. To me that's the fanboi argument.

2. I will not waver from criticizing ESPN for treating every city outside of New York, Boston and maybe LA as if they were Hooterville. I realize they are a money-making operation, and hell, if Hearst didn't own 20 percent of ESPN I'd probably be out of a job by now. But to me, "SportsCenter" used to be as much a public trust as it was a capitalist operation, and I think it's fair to call 'em out when they transgress. And yes, they absolutely are a partner of Major League Baseball. Sure, they should cover teams objectively and critically, but at the same time they owe it to the game to distribute coverage at least a tad more evenly.

3. Yes, blooper reels have been around since Charlie Chaplin's day, but there is a difference between showing a ball bouncing off Jose Canseco's head over the fence with a "boink" sound in the background and spending an entire minute to ridicule a player and make that the focus of a highlight, with the anchors guffawing in the background. I can't tell you names, but I had ESPN people whose names you would recognize tell me they were embarrassed by the Molina highlight. They said it was probably the work of some 22-year-old production assistants who themselves never picked up a bat or ball in their lives.

Maybe I'm just getting crotchety in my old age, but I think it was wrong and I won't apologize one iota for writing that blog. I have mentioned Molina's lack of speed many times in my coverage. I have quoted him on it, and sometimes he actually has made light of it. But if I wrote a parody article, like maybe I was covering a race among the tortoise the hare and Molina, with Molina coming in third, I think my readers would be right to criticize me. To me, that's essentially what ESPN did.

 

ESPN guys embarrassed over the channel's coverage? Impossible!

 

You had me

You had me

"who themselves never picked up a bat or ball in their lives."

You lost me.

 

Thanks for chiming in, Hank. I disagree with the tone of the blog post, but your perspective is welcome.

 

More "("They") never played the game" horseshit.

And that's just what it is.

Do better.

 

It's one of the reasons I like ESPNNews - they don't dick around as much as they do on SportsCenter.

 

Then what is Bengie's feeling about being called "Kung Fu Panda"? If his teammates call him that, then he must have no problems with that.

 

This needs to be cited. Well done. "Pure Country" is an awesome piece of country fluff.

 

Well, he would have one problem with it, in that the nickname is already being used happily and to full marketing effect by Pablo Sandoval.

 

Bengie makes some good points. The play had no impact on the game.