ESPN increases the blather

I watch way too much ESPN.  There, I’ve said it.  I DVR three (soon to be two) shows every afternoon and watch them when I get home from work, plus it is my default if I want the TV on but I’m not paying attention.  Unless golf is on; a previous post mentioned that I am getting tired of golf analysts awaiting the return of Tiger Woods, which at this point is like waiting for Godot.

ESPN frequently runs into so interesting journalistic ethics questions.  ESPN likes to fancy themselves as “journalists” all the while their network is an intimate partner with most major professional sports leagues.  On the one hand, they like to have talking heads who yell and make outrageous claims, but not if they bite the hand that feeds them too frequently.

Not long ago ESPN allowed Bill Simmons, resident basketball guru and the guiding voice behind their Grantland auxiliary website, to leave for greener (for him) pastures.  Simmons is phenomenally brilliant, churning out incredibly long, yet incredibly detailed, articles on basketball with remarkable speed.  His works tend to the epic length; I bought his The Book of Basketball for a friend as a present and nearly got a hernia carrying it to the birthday party. 

But Simmons was a fan first and “journalist” second and he never fully recognized the line between the two.  He was suspended for three weeks in 2014 because he called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on a podcast over Goodell’s dealings with the Ray Rice situation.  Even through the suspension his name and photo remained on the Grantland masthead.  This was only the latest of several problems he has had with ESPN censoring his content.

Another ESPN personality with Goodell issues is Keith Olbermann, who will be leaving ESPN at the end of this week. Olbermann has called for Goodell’s firing so often for so many different reasons that number theorists at MIT are busily attempting to devise larger numbers with which to count.  He has also called for the firing of the President of FIFA, the head of the US Women’s soccer team, the owner of the Washington football team, and countless others.  He rarely met a situation that didn’t call for someone’s firing.  Olbermann was also penalized by ESPN for some impolitic tweets regarding Penn State.

Without Simmons and Olbermann ESPN will be much, much blander.  They still have a number of voluble analysts, such as Stephen A. Smith and Tony Kornheiser (both of whom have run afoul of ESPN’s rules), but one wonders how much longer they will last.  Apparently ESPN likes “controversial” statements when they are directed at teams and players, not ESPN’s partners like the NFL.  Roger Goodell’s administration of the NFL has been nothing short of grossly incompetent, but two of his most notable critics at ESPN are now gone. 

There were reports that ESPN was interested in renewing Olbermann’s contract only if he refrained from commentary.  These reports have been denied, probably because if true they would have been absurd.  Asking Olbermann not to do commentary would be like hiring Pavarotti but asking him to keep the noise down.  Keith Olbermann probably wakes up in the morning and immediately starts complaining about what was wrong with his dreams.  And with such large targets as Roger Goodell and Washington football team owner Dan Snyder out there, the temptation to insert commentary on any news items would have been irresistible.

I suppose if ESPN wants to maintain a business model where they only hire people to give opinions if those opinions are on whether LeBron can win in Cleveland without Kevin Love (apparently, no) or if Tiger Woods will win the next major (his chances are only slightly better than Charles Barkley’s), That’s sustainable.  They can claim not to be anyone’s lapdog as long as Outside the Lines does an occasional expose on concussions or someone mentions the Washington football team name on Pardon the Interruption every few months or so.  Meanwhile, they can maintain the illusion of controversy by hyping all their personalities who wax rhapsodic about who will win the NFC East next season.

But the departure of Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann within weeks of each other gives the impression that the network has a problem with iconoclasts. Of course the fact is that Olbermann is notoriously prickly to work with; and as I said Simmons began as a fan and is not someone steeped in journalistic training, meaning he often wears his heart on his sleeve in a way that is inappropriate for a reporter. 

But two points establish a “trend.”  Let’s see if other instances arise of ESPN smacking down on-air personalities who take swipes at ESPN’s corporate partners.  For now, the cancellation of Olbermann opens up a 30 minute hole in my evenings, which I will not fill with ESPN.

Follow up note: I just discovered that in April ESPN ended their association with analyst Gregg Easterbrook, creator of Tuesday Morning Quarterback.  In addition to bringing policy analysis skills to football, Easterbrook was a staunch critic of Roger Goodell and the NFL.  He labeled the NFL package with Dish an illegal monopoly, and he criticized the NFL's handling of concussions.  So add a third point to the evidence that ESPN is pushing out talking heads who are too critical of their business partner, the National Football League.