Two big media stories today, and both involving ESPN. First, SportsCenter got pranked called last night with someone claiming to be Brian Westbrook. This actually happened at a TV station where Nick worked, so we talk about how this can get through on the air and what kind of planning it takes to pull off a prank like this. You’re a douchebag for thinking it’s funny to prank call live TV and send it in to Howard Stern for 30 seconds of “fame” but you’re a dedicated douchebag. Here’s the video and whatnot.
Inside the Press Box:
We talk about the Kornheiser suspension. Yes, it’s a story I said a few times was not a story, but now that word came out that ESPN suspended him for two weeks, it’s a story. ESPN made this a story by completely overreacting to something that was posted on the blogosphere. Well played, World Wide Leader.
We also talk about this back and forth between AJ Daulerio of Deadspin and Jason Whitlock. Whitlock seems pissed that Deadspin isn’t giving credit to The Big Lead for this story, instead pushing the angle that the real story is Gary Braun’s dig on Chris Berman — that Tony facilitated — and THAT’S why Tony was suspended. Daulerio trusts his sources, but Whitlock thinks it’s bunk, and AJ is only going with that angle to rumor monger in an effort to steal the thunder from TBL to Deadspin.
Whether you believe the Berman rumor or not, what TBL did is NOT REPORTING. Someone listened to the radio. That’s it. Someone listened to the radio and wrote down what Tony said and posted it on a blog. What is a good thing to post on a blog? Certainly. It got a ton of traffic and spread throughout the internet. But it’s not news and it’s not reporting. The fact that ESPN suspended Kornheiser wasn’t broken by them — he wasn’t on PTI, said on Friday “I’ll go to my room now” and explained it on his radio show on Tuesday morning. Again, LISTENING TO THE RADIO IS NOT REPORTING. It’s smart blogging, but let’s back off on who “owned” this story.
There is a lot going on in sports today, namely a press conferences — SORRY, NOT A PRESS CONFERENCE — in two hours, so we give you bullets today.
• My new love of online curling.
• Tiger talk, specifically if the GWAA was just in boycotting. Are they missing out on media opportunities outside of Tiger?
• What station will you watch? Will you got to a sports station or a news station for the coverage?
Olympics
• The Olympic hockey tournament just got interesting last night. Too bad NBC doesn’t seem to care.
• Are snowboarders just programmed differently? Does winning matter as much to them, or is it a lot of hanging out on the mountain? The NBC announcer seems to think that training isn’t what most snowboarders do. Okay then.
• More Olympic stuff.
Tech talk
Is it okay for a school to spy on your kids through a school-issued computer? I think it is, with limitations. If the kid visits a website or keys in something that triggers the web cam to come on, that’s fine to me. I plan to spy on my kids computer habits as well. But random searches of kids’ rooms is not right. Listen and let us know what you think.
• Flash Mobs are getting people to sue Facebook. That’s hilarious.
Thanks for listening all week and putting up with our transition to the new site. Click through to listen to today’s show.
Chris Littmann from The Sporting Blog joins the show from Miami to talk about media day. We run though what the event was like and talk about some of the highlights. Honestly, rather than read it here, go check out the great coverage at TSB from Littmann and Tunison, who I am calling the Crockett and Tubbs of the Sporting News team.
Football Talk:
Nick and I follow up the football talk with more football talk. Really.
We discuss the two major ankle stories this week, including the one where Warren Sapp is adamant that Dwight Freeney won’t play this Sunday because he didn’t have his ankle wrapped or iced during the ONE HOUR of media day. Methinks he’s talking just to talk. Oh, and the other story? Favre. Whodathunkit?
