Not a Good Day for Journalism

First, there is this on Time.com. They conducted a poll of who is the most trusted newscaster in America. The result - Jon Stewart. Now I love Stewart and The Daily Show, but I would have to guess that even Stewart himself would admit that the journalism profession should be able to produce a more trusted newscaster than himself. When Walter Cronkite died, and article after article commented on how he was the most trusted person in the news, I wondered who does America trust now? Unfortunately my fears were confirmed, that there really isn't anyone.

Then there is the continuing story of how ESPN ignored a story about Pittsburgh Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger, even though every other serious sports media outlet reported on the story for days. ESPN came up with some lame excuse why they instructed their employees not to report on the story. But The Boston Globe's Chad Finn uncovered what is likely the true story. Big Ben is set to appear on an upcoming ABC show and of course ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney. Again unfortunately, I was not surprised by this. It is really just par for the course for The Worldwide Leader.

I know what I will be doing tomorrow

Prior to seeing this story, I already knew that I would be glued to the tv watching the WNBA All-Star game. But it just got even better - as I will also be refreshing twitter at a mad pace:

NEW YORK — Two WNBA players will update their Twitter accounts during Saturday's All-Star game.

The league said Thursday that Alana Beard of the Washington Mystics and Swin Cash of the Seattle Storm will post messages pregame and postgame, during timeouts and at halftime.

The game will be played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/wnba-players-to-tweet-all_n_244431.html

I hate umpires

This is another job well done by an MLB umpire - http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/58389

Shocking American Cars Aren't Selling

I am in the market for a new car. I was looking into possibly buying a Ford Escape, and asked for a quote from a local dealer. This is the email I received from the dealer. Note the Palinesque attention to detail and language -

Hi, my name is [removed] and got you're email about our 09 Escapes

We several Ford Escapes right with GREAT deals!!!!! Now, is a certain color or package that you're are looking for???

If you have any questions please email back or come down a visit.

Thanks.

On the list of why American car companies are failing, this email likely is not in the top 10 - but wouldn't you think because of all the other problems, something as simple as sending an email would receive a little more attention to make sure the person reading it doesn't think the person writing it is a complete idiot.

Per AP/ESPN - Don't drink and fall asleep on a couch and get shot by your girlfriend.

The AP is reporting, and of course ESPN has to pounce all over it - that Steve McNair's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit at the time of his death. Wow, I didn't know there was a legal limit for being asleep on the couch. This is not a story, just an attempt to add another level of scandal to a story. McNair wasn't driving. He wasn't over the legal anything. This is a non-story.

Can the Boston Sports media just let things go?

Maybe it is all markets. But I follow Boston sports, and the sports media in the city seem to really have a difficult time just moving on when athletes - in particular baseball players - leave for a new team. This is the latest example - a 66-page slide show detailing where ex-Red Sox players are and how they are doing? Who cares? It is 2009 - newsflash for the Boston media: athletes change teams. It happens. Are the Red Sox suffering because any of these guys are playing for other teams? Wait, if only the Sox held on to David Aardsma - maybe they would be in first place? Things changed dramatically in how people feel about the Red Sox after October 27, 2004. The old line of "why can't we get players like that" just doesn't matter anymore. I don't care what any of these people are doing. Break a sweat maybe and come up with something new to talk about, write about and turn into a 66-page slide show.

I hate Stupidity - even by those I love

Now for Really with Seth and Amy. Ok, they aren't here, but I am going to play Really with this latest story about former Celtic Antoine Walker's arrest for an $800,000 unpaid gambling debt -

Really Antoine? You went to a different Nevada casino? Really? Didn't think they would notice the 6'8 guy? Really? So let me get this straight, you were a professional athlete, you earned nearly $100,000 in salary alone during your career, yet, you can't pay your bills? Really? And then the day after an arrest warrant was issued, which I have to assume you knew about, you decide you are just going to try to pay back the debt by gambling some more? Really? You just thought you could slip into a casino, undetected because it isn't as if casinos have cameras watching every inch of the place? Really?

Other than that, sure it has been a success

This morning while watching ESPN's Mike & Mike in the Morning, Mike Greenberg was plugging the show for the rest of the morning, and told people that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would be appearing at 9:00.  I am sure he meant it as a tease, to get people to stay tuned, but at least for me, it has the opposite effect - as I will be sure to be doing something else.

Possibly I would listen but I am fairly confident it will be another typical ESPN interview of Selig, where they just lob softballs at the incompetent Selig.  To confirm my suspicion, Greenberg went on and on for a few minutes about how great the first half of the season has been for baseball, and how happy Selig must be.  Of course in the laundry list of what has happened in baseball thus far, Greenberg forgot to mention Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa all being outed as steroid users.  Just a minor detail that may cast a bit of a negative light on MLB and in particular Selig's leadership of the sport.  

A quick freecreditreport.com rant

If you marry your dream girl, and then break up with her just because her credit is bad, doesn't that just make you a complete asshole?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H8dAgu05CA

What Does This Mean?

The Minnesota Vikings reportedly are customizing their playbook for QB Brett Favre. What could this possibly mean for their playbook - that the Vikings are now putting in plays to help their offensive players quickly switch to defense in order to make tackles after interceptions?

This seems fair

Yao Ming is injured. Again. He may miss all of next season, and his career may be over. But nothing is known for sure at the moment. Regardless, the NBA granted the Houston Rockets a disabled player exception due to this injury which freed up $5.7 million in cap space to allow Houston to sign Trevor Ariza.

Why does this make me so angry? It is because a few years back my favorite team, the Boston Celtics, applied for a similar exception, and the NBA denied the request. That was for Reggie Lewis. He died. Still bitter.

Everyone, Stop What You Are Doing!

Red Sox Owner John Henry has just released photos from his wedding. I am so excited I can barely type, but I just knew that everyone out there had been frantically searching the web for this moment when we get to see photos of this pasty old man getting married.

Not Quite Just The Facts

The following is two paragraphs from a story by Mike Florio on his web site Profootballtalk.com:

"The fact that Mechelle McNair didn't know combined with a claim from Kazemi's family that McNair would soon be divorcing his wife could point to a set of facts in which McNair was trying to break things off with Kazemi, who while under the influence of alcohol (or something else) might have reacted irrationally -- and violently -- to the news.

But where did the gun come from? It possibly belonged to McNair, who might have left the thing laying around without ever considering that the girl he was dating would use it on him."

Now let's count how many times in the span of three sentences Florio decides to just completely make up what he thinks might have happened -
1: "could point to a set of facts"
2: "who while under the influence of alcohol (or something else)"
3: "might have reacted irrationally"
4: "It possibly belonged to"
5: " who might have left the thing laying around"
6: "without ever considering"

Not bad. Only six times where Florio just guesses. Now, it could turn out that everything he made up did in fact happen. But shouldn't someone writing on a very prominent web site, not be so quick to just print rumors and what he believes may have happened? How many people will read that and gloss over the words Florio carefully couches his language in, such as "could point" or "might have" or "it possibly", and just use Florio's imagination to fill in the blanks to this tragic story.

For anyone who follows Profootballtalk.com, which is connected with NBCSports.com, you will know this type of report first, fact check second process is par for the course for Florio. But there is also a difference between reporting rumors when it comes to covering the NFL and the games, as compared to writing about a person's murder.

Update: It only took a few hours for one of Florio's made-up-rumors to be debunked, as now there is a report that the gun was not McNair's, but that the Kazemi had recently bought the gun. Florio also provides this same update to the story on his web site, but of course makes no mention of his previous incorrect posting. Another job well done by Florio.

Oh, that Ex-Vice President

Headline right now on CNN.com, "Ex-VP accuses insurer of 'purging' customer."  It caught my eye.  Quickly, I start thinking, who could it be?  If it was Cheney or Gore, I have to assume it would say Cheney or Gore instead of Ex-VP.  Dan Quayle, couldn't be.  He hasn't said something news worthy since he took Murphy Brown a little too seriously.  George H.W. Bush?  Yes, he is an Ex-VP, but he had another position after that, that trumps VP.  So, it has to be Walter Mondale, right?  Interested, I click on the link to the story.

So, which ex-Vice President was it?  Well, it was Wendell Potter of course.  Was he VP under Ford?  No.  He isn't an ex-VP of the United States.  Why would I think that.  Naturally, he is an ex-VP of corporate communications at the insurance giant Cigna.  Yes, that ex-VP.  I should have known.