I think we’re the team to beat in the AFC East Dammit! What the hell is wrong with ESPN? We went 7-9 with a brazilian injuries and picked up Marcus Stroud in the off season. I had us going 10-6 before that guy went down with injury.
But I’m glad…as long as we fly under the radar, we’ll be fine.
The Sporting News has been forever known as The Bible. And I’ve been reading The Bible since I was about 12 years old. My friend, Paul, and I would ride our Schwinn Sting-Rays over to Dee’s Drugstore and buy a pound of M&Ms, a big thing of Sprite and each a copy of The Bible. We’d sit on the stoop for hours reading and talking about sports.
For the past 30 or so years, I’ve been a subscriber to the TSN (I can no longer refer to it as The Bible). The past issue came with a big Sporting News Important Notice. I’ll retype it here:
Dear Valued Reader:
After extensive research with "die-hard" fans like you, we’re changing the way avid fans get their sports news. Starting with your next issue, Sporting News magazine will be much different.
Your "new" Sporting News will now feature regular A-list contributions from award-winning storytellers, athletes, coaches, scouts, executives and more.
Your "new" Sporting News will be 25% larger and printed on high quality paper.
Your "new Sporting News will now arrive every two weeks as our publishing cycle moves from 50 issues to 24 issues a year — including four double issues. The first "new" Sporting News will have a September 1 issue date and is scheduled to arrive by August 23rd. The second will have a September 15 issue date and will arrive by September 13th.
You will continue to receive the same number of issues remaining on your subscription. If you have any questions…
We hope you appreciate the changes we’ve made. We’re confident that you will continue to see a different game as you experience the "new" Sporting News.
Um…
Dear Sporting News,
I have some questions:
This was the worst issue of TSN I’ve ever seen. Sixteen total pages of football coverage, of which six were devoted to an interview with Mario Williams and three to a quarterback who held his team hostage for a trade. Jeebus. Why do you care so much about these guy that over half of your see a different game coverage was devoted to them?
Cancel my subscription. Right now.
Valued Reader
I admit it. I don’t watch the gymnastics. I’ve read too much about the ugly side of the sport and quite frankly, it makes me a bit ookey.
Nastia Liukin and China’s He Kexin tied for the gold in gymnastics uneven parallel bars. And in some wacky tie-breaker that no-one they gave it to He Kexin. I’d be totally pissed off about this if I thought that it matters in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t. After the Olympics games are over, all of the Chinese gymnasts will be disqualified for lying about their ages and Nastia will get the gold medal she deserves.
I love this picture. Nastia looks like she’s shooting daggers at He. 
Yes. I do.
Here’s why. The women are tall and tan and young and lovely. They play a great fundamental game - it’s not all about power like the men’s game. There’s sand and sun, so if you’re not looking at the venue, it looks like you’re at the beach.
Oh and did I mention, tall and tan and young and lovely?
I admit it. I am one of the many WWLIS readers who have written to Le Anne Schreiber about the bias toward NYBOS. She’s responded in a well-written note, not admitting anything, but laying down the groundwork for more excuses. You see, boys and girls, it’s all about the ratings and the promotion of superstars.
Ombudsman for ESPN, Le Anne Schreiber, writes:
The complaints I receive about alleged East Coast bias are many-pronged, aimed sometimes at ESPN’s event programming, sometimes at its news and analysis shows. To get beyond my own and viewers’ subjectivity on the matter, I needed some hard facts, so I went first to Len DeLuca, ESPN senior vice president for programming and acquisitions, to get some data about the most quantifiable aspect of ESPN’s baseball coverage: what games it chooses to telecast.
DeLuca provided me with a chart showing how often teams appeared on ESPN’s scheduled Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball broadcasts, up to the All-Star break in 2007 and 2008. The chart shows the season-to-season variation, with teams listed in order from the most increased number of ESPN telecasts to the most decreased. The most notable changes, by far, are in the frequency of Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees appearances. Up to the All-Star break, ESPN had telecast 10 Cubs games this year, eight more than in 2007, and seven Yankee games, eight fewer than in 2007.
The Boston Red Sox, the defending World Series champions, were the most telecast team this year during the same period, with 11 appearances. Ten teams remained invisible, with zero telecasts, up to the All-Star break. Most of those zero-telecast teams were at or near the bottom of their divisions, but the no-showed Florida Marlins were third in a tight NL East race, only one game behind the second-place Mets, who had been telecast seven times.
A team’s projected and actual standing in division races is an important part of what determines ESPN’s selections, but it is not the whole story — nor does ESPN pretend it is. And fans who call for equity — giving all 30 MLB teams anything close to equal airtime — can forget about it.
“It is long proven in NBA and NFL and MLB that spreading the wealth to 30 or 32 teams is a prescription for deflating ratings,” DeLuca said. “The equity approach might have been possible 30 years ago, but now that there is such a surplus of games to watch on network and cable, the mandate is no longer to get everyone on.”
By the end of the 2007 season, ESPN had televised 24 of 30 MLB teams at least once and expects to do about the same this season.
She needed hard facts, so who did she turn to? The Senior Vice-President for Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN! Of course. When you want hard facts disproving something, you go right to the person who is responsible for the alleged misdeed.
Here are some points to ponder. The Yankees and Red Sox were on 26 times last year. Incredibly, two teams who won their division, the Angels and the Rockies weren’t on at all.
This year, probably due to all the complaining, the Yankees are on less, but we get to see the Cubs more. The Cubs? The team that you can catch every day on their own station? Why do I want to see more of the Cubs?
There are SIX teams that haven’t been on MLB’s National Telecast in two years!
She finishes off with this chestnut:
I think the root of complaints about bias on ESPN derives not from the selection and sequencing of highlights on news shows, not even from ratings-based telecasting decisions, which most viewers grudgingly understand, but from the disproportionate attention given certain marquee players on programs across the ESPN board.
Viewers noted that more attention was given to Ramirez’ approach of the 500-home run milestone than was given Ken Griffey’s approach to his 600th home run; more attention was given to Joba Chamberlain’s move from middle reliever to starter in the Yankees’ pitching rotation than would be given to other young pitchers making similar transitions on other teams.
To my mind, if there is collusion at ESPN across platforms and programs, it is in the creation, maintenance and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal among diehard and casual fans and followers of popular culture. The most egregious recent example of this phenomenon comes, of course, not from baseball but from football. And that brings me full circle.
Oh yea, it’s all about the disproportionate attention given certain marquee players. Like who? Let me answer that — the ones the WWLIS has created. And IF there is collusion, it’s about the creation, maintenance and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal. Well, who the hell creates, maintains and promotes these superstars?
The numbers don’t lie.
The WWLIS is biased.
Manny Ramirez aka ManRam continues to be Manny just being Manny. Dodgers’ Manager, Joe Torre asked the Slugger from Another Planet to cut his dreds, which he did. About and inch and a half.
“He haunts me with this,” Torre said. “He says every time he gets a hit, it’s the hair. I say it’s the ability. He knows as well as everybody else around here that his ability is special. He’s a character.”
Rumor has it that Terry Francona recommended his own barber — some lady named Delilah.
Oh yes, there are other Olympic swimming stories, boys and girls. In case you missed it.
Rebecca Soni, silver medalist in the 100M breaststroke, set a world record in the 200M breaststroke, beat reigning champ, Leisel Jones, from the Land of Oz.
This is a great story folks. She finished a full-body length ahead of Jones, breaking the two and a half year old record held by Jones.
In other Olympic news, Dana Torres qualified for the 50M sprint final. Michael Phelps made it 6 for 6. Nastia Liukin won Olympic gold in gymnastics in the all-around; U.S. teammate Shawn Johnson finished second. In the medal count USA is ahead of China 44-38.
Pat Forde from the WWLIS writes:
Just in time to pour cold water on the coronation, we go to Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic at the Water Cube:
“It would be good for the sport if he lost.”
You know who “he” is. Michael Phelps, the man who has cornered the market on Beijing bling. The owner of six gold medals and six world records in these Olympics. The guy who is striving to make it a great eight this weekend, then presumably will walk across the pool surface to the final medal ceremony.
This was not a quote that was bollixed in translation. Cavic is from California, born to Serbian parents who immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. He didn’t simply say it once, he said it twice.
“I think it would be good for the sport and good for him,” Cavic said.
Yes. Cavic should perhaps be drug tested for crack.
Paging the Women’s Olympic Softball Team: Quit your crying about softball not coming back as an Olympic sport. It’s almost solely an American game and you crushing your opponents (51-1 combined in the last Olympics, 14-0 with a no-no in this one so far) is reason enough to can the sport. Other countries are decades away from catching up.
Paging the Men’s Olympic Basketball Team: You beat Angola. Quit thumping your chests. It was Angola.
Paging Aaron Rodgers: I hope you go undefeated as a starter this year and stay healthy the whole way. I hope that the Green Bay Packers become as feared as they were in Lombardi’s heyday under your leadership. Good luck to you, kiddo.
Paging the Buffalo Bills: Keep playing well and stay under the radar of those teams in your division that shall go unmentioned. You will be THE surprise team this year.
Paging Chad Pennington: Good luck to you in Fishland. I wish you well. You deserve it.
Paging the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays: Keep up the pressure fellas! You’re making baseball interesting and fun again!
Well, he now holds the record for most gold medals at 11 and counting, so do we now consider him to be the greatest Olympian of all time? Do his achievements outshine what Jesse Owens had to overcome in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin? The Nazi propaganda machine and Aryan ideals were in full swing and Owens crushed the competition. How about the accomplishments of Mark Spitz in 1972? Remember that Palestinian terrorists entered into the Athletes compound and killed 11 Israeli athletes and Spitz had to leave before the closing ceremonies for his own protection.
Winning double digit golds is incredible and mind boggling.
Here’s my top 5:
