The Sports Media Sucks.
 

Two things first:

1) I am a diehard Orioles fan, so my judgement might ne clouded a little here.

2) I would someday like to join the hallowed membership that I am about to bitch about.

The sports media, particularly but not limited to ESPN, sucks. There is a long series of grievences, but today is the last straw to get me to complain.

It was announced by Peter Gammons, at approximately 1:00 P.M., that the Orioles had traded Sidney Ponson to the Padres for Phil Nevin. This wasn't the problem. The problem is that it is NOW being reported that:

San Diego is denying the trade.

Nevin hasn't even heard anything about the trade.

Why must the sports media, particularly ESPN, continually report information that is either premature, or simply incorrect?

There is another present deal where I get the complaint: the A.J. Burnett trade to the Orioles. This has been reported for approximately two week as being either close or already completed, when it apparently isn't even close.

This isn't limited to the Orioles either; remember the circus surrounding Alex Rodriguez to the Red Sox and then Yankees two years ago?

In addition to trades, there is a more personal problem that I doubt I will find much sympathy for. The idea that the American League East is only the Yankees vs. Red Sox, so that no matter where the Orioles are (and the Blue Jays for that matter, as they are in the thick of things), they are completely ignored.

You always hear about how this division is only between the Yankees and Sox, even though the Orioles led the division for two full months and are still two-and-a-half games out.

This has got to the point where I am ignoring anything I hear on ESPN because I know both that it will be wrong and will be negative towards the Orioles.

Am I just talking out of my ass? Most likely. However, I just needed to vent, and see if anyone shares at least the first part of my concerns.

Yeah well peter gammons is an idiot, if you throw enough shit on the wall something is bound to stick right?

well said.

Actually the Nevin trade is real. He just has a full no-trade clause and has not waived it yet. He has until about an hour before tuesday's game to decide.

Actually, it's fake again: he's apparently refused to waive his no-trade.

There are myriad problems with sports journalism, but what you are complaining about in particular is not really a huge problem and not limited to sports journalism. These scoops are put out on insider info which may not always be 100% up-to-date or correct. This happens all the time in journalism. See: Rove's lawyer Luskin repeatedly lying to the media as "a lawyer who has been briefed on the case."

I mean, if you want to bitch about a premature bad call, how about Fox News calling Florida for Bush in 2000 WAY before they had any right to?

Yes, Baltimore was 1 of 8 teams he could refuse to be traded to and he has refused. According to his agent, Phil wants to play on the West Coast only and has no desire to move.

This came from the the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Also, as of Sunday the PD boards were reporting that Burnett was headed to ChiSox. there was a link but I can't find the message to get it.

As for Gammons, I think once upon a great awhile ago he must have done something to make a name for himself and give him some pseudo credibility in the baseball world. What it was he did or what that cred is I have no idea, noone I know of believes a word he says, and in Cleveland media on the radio and in the papers he is consistantly ripped...... unless he does a nice piece about Cleveland which he has done.

I get the impression the way he is treated in Cleveland is the way just about every baseball city treats him.

To be fair about Gammons, he is a great writer, and from what I understand is basically a god in Boston.

That's where he got his rep, and why he's worth listening to most of the time.

MOST of the time :D

Ha.

*recalls the days of spending time with a friend in junior high, his father was a sports talk junkie, listened to it whenever he'd drive...*

Sports journalism is almost as bad as the celebrity rumor mill. The sad thing is too, even if listeners think it's crap, they'll still listen to it anyways... The rumors of false deals being reported happened occasionally when I was listening to the sports radio with them. One deal that I distinctively remember that his dad called us from Arizona [on a trip] to tell us that he heard on the radio that [circa 1999?] The Indians traded Manny Rameriz, Jim Thome, and a couple prospects for Griffey and A-Rod :lol:

Really, the media is actually driven by you - the fans, because the media stations want to be known that they're first one that gave you the breaking news of the big trade that went down, so you can be the first to know among your sports chums and make a quickie trade in your fantasy leagues before others find out; and thus, in exchange, you'll be their loyal listener. If you're annoyed by it that much, write them a letter [postal service works better than e-mail, gives a more personal touch] or simply tune out.

I know it [tuning out] doesn't sound easy, but after putting up with such drivel and the other crap of pro sports - I ditched the pro sports scene four years ago, didn't look back, and don't regret it for one second....

catcha back on the flipside,
will.