Jason Whitlock and ESPN are probably not friends (not that you can really be "friends" with a mouse-operated, soulless corporate entity anyway, but that's beside the point). Whitlock did, after all, take some shots at the conglomerate on his way out, and they did, after all, fire him. So I suppose it's not a huge surprise if he throws an occasional dart at them from his column at FOX Sports. Except in his most recent column, the occasional dart suddenly df with regard to the WWL's treatment of Ball State and quarterback Nate Davis' chances to win the Heisman trophy.
Ball State's football season perfectly illustrated my problem with ESPN and why I believe the World Wide Leader is the most evil and destructive force in the sports world. It has driven and hastened the destruction of authentic, independent, democratic, courageous sports journalism.The fact of the matter is that Whitlock, while misfiring at times in this column (Ball State at 12-0 is harder to do than Oklahoma at 11-1? Really?), is dead on with this abundance of conspiracy-laden talk re: ESPN.
ESPN is the enemy of the truth, and all who believe a pursuit of the truth is the lifeblood of a genuinely free society must stand against the Wal-Mart-ization of sports journalism.
I reached this conclusion when trying to figure out why Ball State quarterback Nate Davis isn't one of the top-five Heisman Trophy candidates and Ball State coach Brady Hoke isn't the front-runner for national coach of the year.
Anyone who followed the Barry Bonds or Brett Favre's sagas knows that the WWL has an agenda with the story it promotes, and that most often revolves around a) who is giving them interviews and b) who is the most popular.
And while the latter is technically just annoying when it comes to an obscene amount of Yankees - Red Sox coverage in baseball, it's borderline criminal when it affects the way the nation perceives the Heisman race ... which it most certainly does, because they control who the public gets to see the most.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bottom line:
Whitlock is a bitter ex-employee who needs professional help.
Blogger is a jealous wannabe making 50 cents a post.
Man Brinson,
I really hope you make a little more than 50 cents a post. You better get writing if you want to pay the bills.
Whitlock's problem is controlling his rants. He has a lot of great points, but you have to sift through so much crap to find them. Maybe you could read all of his stuff and aggregate the good from the bad for us?