What is wrong with ESPN??

ESPN (while NFL Network continues to replay GameDay and Total Access) has been covering Sean Taylor the man (both the good and the bad) through all its platforms (tv, radio, online) all morning long.

The complexity of Sean Taylor adds to what makes all this so tragic and compelling.

Sorry if I seem harsh but I don't understand the need to bash ESPN at every turn. And maybe, definitely actually, I take it too personally. But you'd be the same if I spent my time talking about how you constantly fail at your jobs.
SS we've bantered about our media experience so I somewhat understand what you're feeling. ESPN is big dog and the big dog gets blamed for everyone elses bites sometimes.

One of the reasons I got out of the field is because of coverage like this. While a small part of his life, his past legal and on field troubles have (presumably) nothing to do with this tragedy and really shouldn't be mentioned in any stories related to this. If it were Pac Man Jones that this happened to, it would make more sense and a correlation could be made more readily but as it stands it's just another example of the media going to the negative in order to spice up a story.

I know it's probably not the right time for this but, I can't help to think there is a sterotypical undertone to some of the comments from the media, 'This is the circle he surrounded himself with. He hung in violent crowds so why should we be surprised this happened. He had gun incidents in the past so this can't be so unexpected.' One incident automatically lumps him in with the image of a 'thug' that the media perpetrates consistently. Sean wasn't Tank Johnson, he wasn't Pac Man Jones, he wasn't Chirs Henry..

This was a man who had one incident, had removed those people from his life, had moved on as a man and a father who died protecting his family. Let's see if ESPN, NFL-N or anyone else has the courage to honor him for being home, asleep at 1:30am, with his girlfriend and child in the room, not at a nightclub or a strip bar and he did what any real man would do if he had to, he died protecting his family.

I hope the Redskins PR staff is taking note of those (Bayless, Wilbon, etc) who have run to the negative so immediately and bar them from Redskin Park forever.

I wanted to punch Skip Bayless in his arrogant, ignorant mouth this morning. He led off on 1st and 10 this morning talking about how he wasn't surprised about the incident and how troubled Sean was, blah blah blah. ESPN led the 6pm SportsCenter last night with a big segment about his gun incident, the spitting thing, and talking about all his problems before mentioning anything else. What a joke. I have such a love-hate relationship with that network. They have a lot of good programming, but they love to break people down. God forbid they lead with the tragedy of the whole situation. But no, lets rip his past rather than honor the man. Disgusting.

Skip Bayless earns his living by making one outrageous statement after another. His willingness to say on a daily basis things that fall just short of being either racist and/or over-the-top offensive is what has earned him a daily spot on a national broadcast. Hard to respect a guy whose most refined skill is pissing people off.

You guys have to remember that these are ESPN talking heads we're talking about here, guys. With all due respect, SS, how many sexual harrassment suits and stories have come from those guys? Harold Reynolds, Sean Salisbury, Mike Tirico, Berman... all of these guys have been linked to fairly skeevy "off-the-field" activities, yet they have no problem taking a holier-than-thou angle on a guy like Sean Taylor who is dead.

And, to be frank, if Sean HADN'T had a fiancee and a daughter, I can guarantee you the media reports would have been even more harsh. That's just life as an American media celebrity, though. We love to build up idols and then bring them down when they fail to perform or amuse us any longer.

Call it the gladiator mentality.

Watch the tribute video on Redskins.com and I guarantee you will cry. Make sure you have the audio on.

As for those highlighting Sean's past legal troubles, f em'. It's akin to spitting on a man's grave.

I just saw that. I'm crying like a little baby right now. The background music is the same as in Gladiator when Russell Crowe dies. Fitting. A gladiator.

Watch the tribute video on Redskins.com and I guarantee you will cry. Make sure you have the audio on.

As for those highlighting Sean's past legal troubles, f em'. It's akin to spitting on a man's grave.

Best image from that montage is the one they end with:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-8/1275969/st1.JPG

ESPN is not alone in this boat folks! Everybody running this story nationally has something to say about his past.

Well that's one of my biggest gripes. That ESPN is singled out. But at the same time I understand Pain and Brud's point that ESPN is the big dog.

But regardless, my frustration is really irrelevant to what truly matters, as is how the media covers it or how viewers react to the coverage.

My feeling is that all of the negative stuff in his past is completely irrelevant to this. He wasn't shot in a night club or at some crack house. He was at home asleep with his fiancee and baby girl. Then some piece of crap cuts his phone lines breaks in and shoots him dead. Whether he had past legal trouble or not has no bearing here and the fact that he had become a better man, a man to look up to means he deserves to be remembered that way and ESPN seems to be doing a pretty shitty job of remembering him the way he should be remembered.

Harold Reynolds, Sean Salisbury, Mike Tirico, Berman... all of these guys have been linked to fairly skeevy "off-the-field" activities, yet they have no problem taking a holier-than-thou angle on a guy like Sean Taylor who is dead.


Just to be clear, I'm not saying that any of the above-mentioned ESPN "analysts" are saying anything negative about Sean. Just that ESPN has plenty of skeletons in its OWN closets. Unlike most NFL players, however, huge media conglomerates are able to afford to pay lawyers and other damage control specialists to keep the majority of this stuff out of, well, the media ;)

Well that's one of my biggest gripes. That ESPN is singled out. But at the same time I understand Pain and Brud's point that ESPN is the big dog.

But regardless, my frustration is really irrelevant to what truly matters, as is how the media covers it or how viewers react to the coverage.

One thing to think about is that I am pretty sure the local DC coverage of this is far more forgiving and compassionate than the national coverage. ESPN represents the national coverage to most people so those of us local to this see the discrepency in the way things are presented. I do agree that maybe ESPN is being unfairly singled out.

Well that's one of my biggest gripes. That ESPN is singled out. But at the same time I understand Pain and Brud's point that ESPN is the big dog.

But regardless, my frustration is really irrelevant to what truly matters, as is how the media covers it or how viewers react to the coverage.

Honestly Smooty the only reason I single out ESPN is because of the stories that have come out in the past few years that make it sound like a frat house. If you're going to judge athletes for off-field indiscretions, you better be beyond reproach yourself.

And if all of those allegations are all false, as ESPN legal would have you believe, you'd think they would understand the damage that hearsay and saucy implications can do.

But in the end it's all about sellin' newspapers... (figuratively speaking)