Something to chew on
In a preseason NFL game featuring Atlanta's Falcons, ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcasting crew also got a chance to work out its preseason kinks. True to form, the sports journalism giant showed little interest in the game.
Dominating sports (and general news) headlines for the last month has been Michael Vick and his losing battle with a dog-fighting scandal. The same day that ESPN rolled its MNF crew into Atlanta, Vick officially entered his guilty plea in federal court and was suspended indefinitely from league play by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Furthermore, Goodell's standing order to the Falcons was to let the league handle all investigation into any infractions Vick may have committed regarding his contract. This, in theory, would allow the Atlanta organization to get on with its preparations for the upcoming football season. In fact, reporters from every corner of any conceivable woodwork have continued to ask every conceivable question (and probably a few inconceivable ones) of anyone from the organization they can get their microphone in front of. In particular, they like to ask how the scandal has affected preseason training.
The Falcons higher-ups responded by handing down a decree effectively stating that the media's overcoverage of the scandal is more distracting than the scandal itself. In what MNF's lead announcer Mike Tirico described "Crisis Management 101", the Falcons were instructed not to answer any questions about Michael Vick for the duration. A field reporter felt the need to preface -- on camera -- her short interview of now-starting QB Joey Harrington (which, I might add, was conducted while the game was still up for grabs) with the fact that she would be unable to ask any such thing.
When the coverage was sent back up to the booth, commentator Tony Kornheiser blasted the Falcons organization, calling the new policy "censorship" and "unreasonable". He contended that as a journalist he was not being given a fair chance to cover a story currently under scrutiny. He also held that this story was the "number one issue" facing the Falcons right now, and therefore they should confront it, rather than turning their backs on it. Fellow commentator Ron Jaworsky directly disagreed, saying it was not the number one issue, rather that the Falcons are in the business of contesting football matches, not being the clowns in a media circus (my words, not his). However, all the time that Kornheiser, Jaworsky, and Tirico jawed about whose business Michael Vick's was, I stopped listening and watched the football action that was mercifully still being aired visually, which was truly the only reason I turned to that channel in the first place.
If it isn't already obvious, I'll state explicitly that I agree more closely with Jaworsky than with Kornheiser. In fact, I couldn't possibly be more opposite Kornheiser in this case. I, too, maintain that the Falcons have no need to concern themselves with anything other than what goes on between the lines at their practices and games if they so choose. Furthermore, I put forth that ESPN has talked more than enough about the developments and ramifications of the case as it has progressed and far too much on days when it has not progressed. Between the previous Monday when Vick's defense announced that he would enter a plea bargain the following Monday, and the day it was entered a week later, SportsCenter (ESPN's daily "highlights" show) aired coverage at or near the top of the show (as well as "re-capping" at the half-hour mark) of some angle on the case every single day despite there being nothing additional in the actual news regarding the case. Reporters, anchors, analysts, and lawyers spewed forth psuedo-information and conjectures running on even more than most, if not all, of the sentences in this piece on everything from Vick's family to his Falcons ex-teammates from his suddenly-non-existent endorsement deals to his possible future return to play in the NFL. In the case of the latter, despite making case after case that no team would be willing to take such a human-interest risk on him, opinions landed solidly on 2009 (2010 if his league suspension is extended another year beyond his release from prison).
Explicit admission: I have never been a fan of the Falcons in general or Vick in particular. So am I biased? Maybe. But I've grumbled about the media's tendency to glut the airwaves with "continuing coverage" of stories that aren't any of my business for years now. There isn't any way in Heaven or Earth that I should even know let alone remember the name Terri Schiavo, but news outlets couldn't seem to stop wagging their tongues and pens about it (assuming anyone uses actual pens anymore) when it was only relevant to the woman's family factions, her doctors, and perhaps the State of Florida. What mystifies me about that particular story is that she lay comatose for a decade before anyone gave a hoot, and the only way to shut them up in the end was to hold a long-expected funeral.
Similar situation at Virginia Tech this spring. Slightly different, in that there was actually a news story to report in Blacksburg, but within a week of that tragedy, there was coverage of the coverage, it was so out of control.
In the current case, there is also a story to report: a relatively famous athlete was caught after having committed a felony and now faces jail time. A plea agreement and offers of testimony will likely reduce the amount of time, but that won't be known for sure until December. Ironically, that will be decided the same day that MNF returns to Atlanta for a late regular-season game. For the sake of football fans everywhere, I hope the Falcons are in a playoff chase so that ESPN will be inclined to cover more football and less legal stuff. Then I hope they lose, just because I don't like the Falcons.
I'm not holding my breath for any of those three things to happen.
Dominating sports (and general news) headlines for the last month has been Michael Vick and his losing battle with a dog-fighting scandal. The same day that ESPN rolled its MNF crew into Atlanta, Vick officially entered his guilty plea in federal court and was suspended indefinitely from league play by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Furthermore, Goodell's standing order to the Falcons was to let the league handle all investigation into any infractions Vick may have committed regarding his contract. This, in theory, would allow the Atlanta organization to get on with its preparations for the upcoming football season. In fact, reporters from every corner of any conceivable woodwork have continued to ask every conceivable question (and probably a few inconceivable ones) of anyone from the organization they can get their microphone in front of. In particular, they like to ask how the scandal has affected preseason training.
The Falcons higher-ups responded by handing down a decree effectively stating that the media's overcoverage of the scandal is more distracting than the scandal itself. In what MNF's lead announcer Mike Tirico described "Crisis Management 101", the Falcons were instructed not to answer any questions about Michael Vick for the duration. A field reporter felt the need to preface -- on camera -- her short interview of now-starting QB Joey Harrington (which, I might add, was conducted while the game was still up for grabs) with the fact that she would be unable to ask any such thing.
When the coverage was sent back up to the booth, commentator Tony Kornheiser blasted the Falcons organization, calling the new policy "censorship" and "unreasonable". He contended that as a journalist he was not being given a fair chance to cover a story currently under scrutiny. He also held that this story was the "number one issue" facing the Falcons right now, and therefore they should confront it, rather than turning their backs on it. Fellow commentator Ron Jaworsky directly disagreed, saying it was not the number one issue, rather that the Falcons are in the business of contesting football matches, not being the clowns in a media circus (my words, not his). However, all the time that Kornheiser, Jaworsky, and Tirico jawed about whose business Michael Vick's was, I stopped listening and watched the football action that was mercifully still being aired visually, which was truly the only reason I turned to that channel in the first place.
If it isn't already obvious, I'll state explicitly that I agree more closely with Jaworsky than with Kornheiser. In fact, I couldn't possibly be more opposite Kornheiser in this case. I, too, maintain that the Falcons have no need to concern themselves with anything other than what goes on between the lines at their practices and games if they so choose. Furthermore, I put forth that ESPN has talked more than enough about the developments and ramifications of the case as it has progressed and far too much on days when it has not progressed. Between the previous Monday when Vick's defense announced that he would enter a plea bargain the following Monday, and the day it was entered a week later, SportsCenter (ESPN's daily "highlights" show) aired coverage at or near the top of the show (as well as "re-capping" at the half-hour mark) of some angle on the case every single day despite there being nothing additional in the actual news regarding the case. Reporters, anchors, analysts, and lawyers spewed forth psuedo-information and conjectures running on even more than most, if not all, of the sentences in this piece on everything from Vick's family to his Falcons ex-teammates from his suddenly-non-existent endorsement deals to his possible future return to play in the NFL. In the case of the latter, despite making case after case that no team would be willing to take such a human-interest risk on him, opinions landed solidly on 2009 (2010 if his league suspension is extended another year beyond his release from prison).
Explicit admission: I have never been a fan of the Falcons in general or Vick in particular. So am I biased? Maybe. But I've grumbled about the media's tendency to glut the airwaves with "continuing coverage" of stories that aren't any of my business for years now. There isn't any way in Heaven or Earth that I should even know let alone remember the name Terri Schiavo, but news outlets couldn't seem to stop wagging their tongues and pens about it (assuming anyone uses actual pens anymore) when it was only relevant to the woman's family factions, her doctors, and perhaps the State of Florida. What mystifies me about that particular story is that she lay comatose for a decade before anyone gave a hoot, and the only way to shut them up in the end was to hold a long-expected funeral.
Similar situation at Virginia Tech this spring. Slightly different, in that there was actually a news story to report in Blacksburg, but within a week of that tragedy, there was coverage of the coverage, it was so out of control.
In the current case, there is also a story to report: a relatively famous athlete was caught after having committed a felony and now faces jail time. A plea agreement and offers of testimony will likely reduce the amount of time, but that won't be known for sure until December. Ironically, that will be decided the same day that MNF returns to Atlanta for a late regular-season game. For the sake of football fans everywhere, I hope the Falcons are in a playoff chase so that ESPN will be inclined to cover more football and less legal stuff. Then I hope they lose, just because I don't like the Falcons.
I'm not holding my breath for any of those three things to happen.