Bruce Feldman

Good article on the situation at ESPN regarding Bruce Feldman and Craig James.

After reading the article I was left with 3 questions:

1. How can the image conscious people at ESPN be so blinded to the fact that most viewers think of Craig James as a douchebag at this point? Craig James is tarnishing the brand not enhancing it.

2. It will be interesting to see if the ESPN Ombudsman addresses this issue. If not what is the point of having an Ombudsman at all?

3. Did ESPN choose James over Doug Flutie? If so it is not too late to rectify that. Flutie could easily assume James' duties and not a peep would be heard from viewers.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Traditional powers Miami (FL) and Notre Dame may be down this year but it looks like help is on its way. Of the top 100 high school recruits - according to Rivals.com - the Irish and Hurricanes have already snagged 6 players each. That bodes well for a return to the top for each program... Hats off to the ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber who rightfully points out that making controversies out of nothing is getting out of hand in the sports media. I especially like her take-down of Greg Easterbrook:

Easterbrook is entitled to his opinion, to his logic, to his analogies, however strained I think they are, but what is not OK is cloaking opinion in the camouflage of reporting.

Ouch! Personally I gave up reading Easterbrook long ago. His verbal diarrhea style of writing is just not my cup of tea... Some people may be surprised at Ivan Rodriguez having his $13 million option picked up by the Tigers but when you consider that the free agent alternatives are Michael Barrett, Paul Lo Duca and Jason Kendall the decision look much less surprising. Some people thought that the Tigers would buy out I-Rod for $3 million and then move Brandon Inge back behind the plate from 3rd base. That would have just left a hole at 3rd base... Betsy has a nice look at how Anita Hill's testimony at the Clarence Thomas confirmation meetings does not hold up to scrutiny. In some people's minds a black man can be anything he wants to be in this country - as long as he's not a Republican.