So if you read my columns then you know I love comic books, video games, movies and sports in no particular order. My hour long commute back to the homestead usually consists of listening to ESPN radio, unless of course it’s All Night with Jason Smith to which I promptly change the station or put on some music. Last morning the news broke that Brett Favre would in fact play for the Minnesota Vikings after all. ESPN committed several acts of pure sensationalism in their coverage of the event and quite frankly I’m disappointed in the talking heads on the network trying their best to make something out of nothing.
Not to say that Favre going to the Vikings is nothing, but a little context would have been nice. First off let’s review the situation from the outside looking in. Brett Favre was a free agent, not contracted to play for any professional sports team. In no way did the actions of Brad Childress (the coach of the Vikings) violate any rules the NFL has as far as recruiting players. He also had an injured QB and a questionable starter in Tavarus Jackson.
Brad Childress did what he could to put the best possible player on the field, and thanks to Brett Favre’s status as a media darling every decision surrounding him became a media feeding frenzy with all the ins and outs of the choices put on full display which is no one’s fault. Leave it to Mark Schlereth on ESPN’s football coverage panel to blow the situation completely out of perspective. I’m telling ya, he really laid it on thick. Allow me to paraphrase: “When Brad Childress said he closed the book on Brett Favre what he closed was the book on ethics.” Are you serious? Is it that bad Mark Schlereth?
Schlereth goes on to paint a picture he has painted before of a Denver Broncos team that once signed a player that was considered by the coaches to be morally bankrupt as if it was a straight analogy. Thankfully Chris Carter disagreed but seriously, what was Schlereth thinking?
First and foremost players should understand that football is a big time business and business decisions are made all the time without the notice of every employee. To accuse Brad Childress of being unethical based on this ultimately minor issue is incendiary and unnecessary and comes off as nothing more than a ploy for screen time.
This is only one example of how poorly handled things have been lately on the ESPN network. To say the coverage and opinions are completely off base at times is an understatement to be certain. It’s time for ESPN to take a hard look at how they cover the information they disseminate to the public as truth, and they really need to reign in their analyst or at least post a disclaimer disavowing any connection to the views expressed by their analysts.
It’s a sad day when ESPN seems to model the biased style of the major news networks that rely on rhetoric and sensationalism to drive ratings. A sport generates enough controversy and information without the talking heads on ESPN helping matters along with unwarranted commentary. The guys and gals at ESPN should remind themselves that they are a sports network that has pretty much cornered the market on sports reporting and should act accordingly.
I hate to be so hard on Mark Schlereth because typically I like him and his opinion but this time the gentlemen went just a bit too far.
