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Not only did MLB Network just air the Costas/McGwire interview, but they were able to follow-up with Bob Costas in the aftermath while getting commentary from studio analysts Tom Verducci (si.com), Ken Rosenthal (fox sports) and Peter Gammons (now of MLB). Actual decent and interesting conversation for conversations sake. A blessing to listen to.

Or, you could flip to ESPN and get John Kruk’s take…

There, I said it.

Mike Leach is getting absolutely killed during tonight’s broadcast of the Alamo Bowl. Mike Patrick–Craig James’s usual broadcast partner–has become a de-facto advocate for Adam James and Bob Davie, who spent much more time preparing for the Texas Bowl, is using his status as James’s replacement to play off of Patrick. It’s like a bad buddy-cop movie broadcasting a football game.

The worst part might have been near the end of the first half when Davie said that it must be hard for Leach to realize that it’s over and that he was watching his own football team on television. Yes, that’s probably pretty hard to take, but my guess is that when Davie said that, Leach was in the bathroom puking in disgust from all of the James fellatio that had previously occurred.

ESPN did a great job of ignoring the topic in the first part of the broadcast, and I’m sure that the overtime Liberty Bowl helped. But once the second quarter was underway, it was open season on Mike Leach.

At the very least, ESPN could have clarified on numerous occasions that Craig James worked for the network. Instead, it acted as if that point was known by the viewing audience, while also acting like none of the details–with plenty of pro-Adam James commentary and sidebars–of the past week were known by viewers.

Despicable.

Yeah, college football hasn’t kicked off yet today, but who’d have thought on a Saturday in September that you’d have to tab past EPL scores to get the top 25 schedule?

Of course, this wouldn’t be the case if ESPN didn’t have EPL rights on Saturday mornings.

And apparently she could bring world peace if she was omnipresent.

Watching the Mike Tomlin interview that occurred over the past weekend and only half listening, and perked to attention when Tomlin revealed the Steelers might have had an interest in Mike Vick, but declined to pursue any interest seriously because they didn’t want to add any distractions to a camp where the Ben Roethlisberger civil stuff was percolating. Per Tomlin:

“In terms of [the Steelers being interested in Vick], to be quite honest with you, our quarterback is going through some things of his own right now, and he needs my complete support and undivided attention. So it just wasn’t the appropriate time for us to consider something of that nature.”

But this post isn’t about Mike Vick. Or Ben Roethlisberger.

It is, instead, one more raised eyebrow and “fuck you” to ESPN for its bullshit stand where they refused to report the initial allegations against Roethlisberger for reasons that remain spurious. So, the story that ESPN did its best to dub a “non-story” directly impacted Pittsburgh’s decision-making process when it came to Mike Vick (a decided story under ESPN’s guidelines)? Worlds colliding, espn. Worlds colliding.

Yesterday I noted in the obligatory Brett Favre post that espnews’ two doofus’ on Wednesday night were acting like the word “schism” was something so exotic that people would not know what it was. Going so far as to put up the Webster’s definition on the screen.

This morning, Eric Kasilias (an attorney for fuckssake) and Mike Golic (Notre Dame graduate) were both yukking it up over that word, claiming that each did not know what it meant, and that there was no way that any football player in any NFL clubhouse would use it.

I refuse to believe that the word “schism” is that unusual. I refuse to believe that Eric Kasilias did not know what it meant and had never heard it. As much as the Golic-is-stupid thing is played as part of his persona, he’s not, and I refuse to believe he doesn’t know what the word means. I am starting to wonder if there is some orchestration at ESPN to downplay the less happy parts of Brett Favre’s pussified comeback.

Again, as I asked yesterday, is it really that hard to believe that there might be some Vikings who are less than thrilled with Brett Favre wussing out of the summer program and training camp only to swoop in for the hoped for good times on Sundays in the fall? So whoever that was used the word “schism”, why is that word choice such a big fucking deal? That certain ESPN folk are choosing to hone in on that word and giggle like tools over “smart words” seems like a weird tact to take, a denial mechanism with regard to the potential unhappiness. And Kasilias and Golic, at the least, ought to be better than that. Their audience (on Mike & Mike) isn’t full of illiterates. Stop acting like it is.

As for the Vikings, some of them are taking the same approach to the report, professing ignorance as what “schism” means. At least in their case, I get it. It’s a way of defusing the media questions over it while they try and assimilate the pussy onto their team. Favre (Southern Miss) with this:

“I’ve got no reaction,” Favre said when asked about an ESPN report Wednesday that cited anonymous sources as saying some Vikings supported Tarvaris Jackson and others felt Sage Rosenfels should start. “I’m just doing what I can do, hopefully help this team win, and just trying to fit in. I’m not worried about that. That’s for you guys to have some fun with. Once again, I have no idea what that means. I’m assuming it’s controversial.”

Told the word schism refers to a division — one definition is “a separation or division into factions” — Favre shot back, “Well, good.” He wasn’t smiling.

Jared Allen (Idaho State) took it a step further, claiming he thought “schism” was an STD.

Sigh.

I will assume the professed ignorance in those cases was the aforementioned deflection of the issue.

As for Kasilias and Golic’s yukking it up over a pretty fuckin’ common word, they have no excuse.

I know it’s a scary new world out there with Twitter and all, and you are guys are being rather Luddite about it, but, here’s the thing. You don’t get to ignore it. So when Allen Iverson himself broke the news that the Grizzlies had made him a contract offer on his twitter page early yesterday, that was all that was needed for it to be a story. Because Iverson himself was the source of the news. And you would figure he would know.

So when you ran a crawl on ESPNews last night that said “Chris Sheridan reports that Allen Iverson has contract offer from Grizzlies” that gets filed under no-fuckin’-shit. But thanks for feeling like you need to put the imprimatur of “approval” on the news the world already had for about 12 hours thanks to Iverson himself.

Get over yourselves, ESPN. There are sources for “breaking news” now that are not going to be you. Stop pretending you have the story exclusviely when everyone in the world has had it for 12 hours.

Jeebus.

The details from the Commercial Appeal, which goes ahead and cites to Iverson’s twitter announcement as the source for its reporting. Well done, Commercial Appeal. From the story:

It appears the former All-Star is deciding between Memphis and Charlotte. There is a strong possibility Iverson could land with the Bobcats, who can offer the midlevel exception without entering luxury tax territory.

Charlotte would reunite Iverson with coach Larry Brown and present an opportunity for the 13-year veteran to start. Memphis still views Iverson as a reserve guard behind O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley.

You want to read a fantastic article about the Southeastern Conference’s recent decision to ban fans (!) at games from facebooking and tweeting, then check out what Michael Kruse of the St Pete Times wrote on Sunday.

Here’s a quote, and when you’re done, come back here and finish reading this simple little blog post.

Many are saying this makes the bosses of the SEC look like fuddy-duddy technophobes — that they don’t “get” new media.

They get it. The language of the conference’s policy suggests they know all too well the high-stakes fight that’s just beginning.

Ok, welcome back. You’ve just witnessed – probably for the 103rd time today – the power of the hyperlink.

It’s the most basic, most fundamental value of the New Media world. And it’s just the beginning of a giant shift in the way news is distributed and how it will be paid for.

Inside that shift, there is a clear divide forming; the ‘those’ and the ‘those-nots’.

On one side, there are teams like the New York Jets – who are fast becoming the poster boys of social media (mostly because they are in NY, many pro sports teams are doing what they are doing.)

For another example, take this story from TechCrunch about a new startup called FanChatter. It has partnered with a few pro teams (Twins, Wild, and others) to set up a way for fans to take photos and video of themselves at a game and upload it to a place where people who work for the team can post the photo/video on the scoreboard (at best) or (at worst) on the web site. It’s basically the exact opposite to the idea as the SEC had.

So when I read about morons at the SEC, or like at the Associated Press, who think they’ll be able to figure out a way to control the flow of this tide, I just laugh at the level of Fear I see on display.

What all this does… the actions of the AP, the SEC, ESPN… is take regular everyday developers like me, and regular everyday users like the guy next to me, and turn us into an army of hackers. All ready to see the latest wall that is built for us to scale.

Their only weapon is enforcement.

And since technology is now the enemy of closed, the future is on the side of the open.

About the Big Ben thing

And boy, it is weak.

“Those are the things that I think are damaging to reputations, and I think you need to know more about them before you report them,” Doria said. “As it stands right now, today, we don’t think it meets our standard of reporting.”

Apparently the color coded electoral-college-like maps on SportsCenter and the .com weren’t enough, because yesterday, ESPN(2) debuted a new show based on those purdy maps.

Seriously.

Your hosts are Colin Cowherd and a random blonde lady who I didn’t recognize. You’d think that ESPN would realize that Cowherd’s presence would drive away viewers, but I guess they don’t.

According to the show’s section on the .com, fans can vote in real time on topics that the hosts discuss. And if you’re lucky, your Tweet will appear on the show. Monday’s questions included “Would it be fun to hang with Roger Federer?” (SportsNation voted No.) and “Celts the Favorite in the East?” (SN said Close Call. Typical East Coast crap.)

Given the time slot (4PM ET) I give it eight weeks before it’s replaced by the fourth editions of NFL/College Football Live.