Everyone has heard about the extramarital affair between ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips and his 22-year old production assistant that caused him to get fired this weekend and his wife filing for a divorce.
Even after Phillips termination the drama continued with popular sports blog Deadspin and ESPN online. Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio was mad about being “misinformed” about the Phillips situation and decided to get back at ESPN by airing out the dirty laundry of ESPN employees.
According to Time Magazine, “Daulerio insists that he trusts his sources and claims that he really was trying to make a larger point about ESPN’s culture — employees allegedly complain that while on-air personalities get reprimanded for inappropriate relationships, business executives enjoy more leeway.”
This is just one example of how the web is changing journalistic standards. Anyone can publish a rumor with a click of their mouse. Basically the only way to go after an online media outlet through a defamation claim. If a public figure can prove “that an individual person or media outlet published something about him with so-called actual malice — knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth. This standard offers considerable protection for media outlets; actual malice is difficult to prove.”
According to SportingNews.com
“The NFL will not allow in-game Twittering by players, coaches or others on the sidelines during games, league spokesman Greg Aiello told ProFootballTalk.com on Thursday.
“We already have a rule that prohibits the use of cell phones or other handheld devices in the bench area during games,” Aiello told the website via e-mail.
The issue came up when Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco told a radio station this week that he inteded to start sending ‘tweets’ during regular-season games.
“I’m going to really make it fun. I’m using Twitter during games, during halftime, after the games. I’m going to be taking it to the next level,” he told KGOW in Houston.
PFT promises to look into whether the NFL’s ban on handhelds extends to the locker room.
Jim Mora was fined $25,000 for taking a cellular phone call during a game in 2005.”
RIP Steve… Here is some information in the developing story around McNair’s death. From CBC.ca:
Nashville police say a woman found shot to death with former NFL star Steve McNair recently purchased a gun, according to a report in The Tennessean newspaper.
Sahel Kazemi and the former Tennessee Titans quarterback were found dead on Saturday in a condominium owned by McNair.
Kazemi, 20, died Saturday of a single gunshot wound to the head alongside McNair, who had two gunshots to the head and two to the chest. The gun was found under Kazemi’s body.
“We believe the pistol recovered from the apartment was purchased by Kazemi,” police spokesman Don Aaron told The Tennessean.
Aaron said testing to determine if gunshot residue was present on Kazemi’s hands has not yet been completed.
U.S. federal law prohibits anyone under 21 from purchasing a handgun.
This is a great commercial. Surprising that it was a web-only initiative, but really cool nonetheless:
Can this Series get any better? Well yes, maybe if Crosby and Ovechkin pulled a Getzlaf/Thornton, but each of them scoring a hat trick in the same game is a pretty close second… Read more from cbc.ca:
Watching Sidney Crosby pull ahead in a superstar showdown, Alex Ovechkin decided to take matters into his own hands.
Ovechkin scored a hat trick, including the winner late in the third period, to lift the Capitals to a thrilling 4-3 win over the Penguins Monday night at the Verizon Center.
Washington’s victory spoiled a marvelous performance by Crosby, who also registered a hat trick.
“It’s a great atmosphere and when you win the game it’s an unbelievable feeling,” Ovechkin told Hockey Night in Canada. “People want to see great players play well. Both teams played well and Sidney played great tonight. He scored three goals and brings energy to the team.… He’s good.”
While the showdown is tied in goals — Ovechkin and Crosby have four apiece — the Capitals are off to a flying start.
The NHL club now has a 2-0 series lead in its Eastern Conference semifinal with the Penguins.
The best-of-seven matchup shifts to Pittsburgh for Games 3 and 4, beginning Wednesday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
Washington centre David Steckel scored the other goal, and rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov made 33 saves.
Penguins netminder Marc-André Fleury finished with 29 stops.
Ovechkin, Crosby living up to billingOvechkin and Crosby are more than living up to their immense hype and so, too, is this series, with the Capitals skating away to a pair of one-goal triumphs.
Washington took advantage of a careless tripping penalty by Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin to forge ahead 3-2 with less than eight minutes remaining in the game.
After a faceoff win, Ovechkin rifled a one-timer to the short side of Fleury.
“Lots of goalies stop me, but I have too many chances to score goals, so sometimes the puck goes into the net,” Ovechkin said of the plethora of shots his continues to register on a nightly basis.
He fired 12 at Fleury on Monday.
Malkin, on the other hand, remains a disappointment through the first two games.
“I’m going to talk to a lot of players about the things we did do well [and] didn’t do well,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said when asked about Malkin’s struggles. “We’re going to address [it] and Geno’s [Malkin’s nickname] is no different.
“We need to get better in certain areas if we’re going to get back in this series and have success.”
Smelling blood, Ovechkin sealed the victory with 4:22 remaining, using Pittsburgh defenceman Sergei Gonchar as a screen before sending a wrist shot over the glove of Fleury — resulting in a flood of red caps onto the ice by the sold-out crowd in honour of his first career playoff hat trick.
“Sick game. Sick three goals by me and Crosby,” said Ovechkin, who celebrated by bouncing his body high off the glass following both of his third-period goals.
“It’s unbelievable to see how fans react, how fans go crazy. The atmosphere right now, it’s unbelievable in town. You see all the red, and — probably I’m afraid to go home right now.”
Following a second round of hats that descended to the ice, Crosby chatted with the referee regarding the long delay.
“People kept throwing hats,” Crosby said. “And I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop.”
For his part, Crosby gave the Penguins a chance, netting his third goal of the game by batting a fourth opportunity behind Varlamov on the power play with only 31 seconds left.
In the end, Ovechkin got the help that Crosby didn’t receive.
“It’s nice to score,” said Crosby. “But it’s better to win. I’m sure it’s entertaining for people to watch, if I were to look at it from a fan’s point of view. As a player, you don’t like when the guy on the other team gets a hat trick. That’s usually not a good sign.”
Read the rest HERE
You tell ‘em Mike! From AdAge.com:
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Michael Vick is in talks to become the new spokesman for PETA.
Yes, you read that correctly. The disgraced one-time NFL superstar serving prison time for funding an illegal dog-fighting ring is primed to do public-service ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals upon his release later this month. According to three people with knowledge of the matter, the proposed endorsement is part of a comprehensive PR scheme aimed at rehabilitating the quarterback’s image and gaining him readmission to the league that banned him from playing.
“I’m familiar with [the plan],” said Dan Shannon, director of youth outreach and campaigns for PETA. “We have been in discussions with Michael Vick, with his management team, about the possibility of him putting out a public-service announcement with PETA when he’s out of jail. We want him to discourage people from taking part in dog-fighting. I can do it until I’m blue in the face and it might not convince anybody. Michael Vick sure can. He can say, ‘Look, I did it, I was wrong, and it ruined my career.’”
Other image-changing moves
That’s not all Mr. Vick will do to try to rehabilitate his image. People with knowledge of his comeback plan said it will also include mea culpa TV interviews, PSAs and charitable donations to other animal-rights organizations (or perhaps the formation of his own foundation), along with the possibility of working with PETA.But this might be the mother of all PR jobs. Mr. Vick’s obstacles are many: a hard-line NFL commissioner who wants to see “genuine remorse” before reinstating Mr. Vick to the league; individual franchises that might be wary of the backlash and potential damage to their brands from signing Mr. Vick; and an incredulous public that remains shocked by the story.
And what a grisly tale it is. Mr. Vick, who in 2004 signed a seven-year, $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons, funded the Bad Newz Kennels in Virginia, which participated in the fighting of pit bulls and also admitted to participating in the sometimes torturous deaths of dogs that underperformed, including death by drowning, hanging and electrocution. Mr. Vick is due to be released from federal prison on May 20 and will serve the remaining two months of his 23-month sentence under home confinement near Hampton, Va., where he will be working a 40-hour-a-week construction job.
Mr. Vick’s camp includes a multitude of PR and legal handlers. His Atlanta-based attorney, Daniel Meachum, did not return several requests for an interview. Mr. Vick’s Washington-based lawyer, William “Billy” Martin, declined to comment. It is not known if Mr. Vick’s team has hired a strategic-communications or crisis-management firm to handle the PR efforts. But PETA confirmed it has talked with his handlers.
Before doing a deal, however, PETA wants Mr. Vick to undergo a psychological evaluation for antisocial personality disorder. “We’re suspicious this may come from a place of simply wanting to repair his public image, rather than genuine remorse,” Mr. Shannon said. “He was dishonest all the way up the line until he finally had to admit to what he did, which is a hallmark of [antisocial personality disorder]. If he can’t tell the difference between right and wrong, we can’t get in bed with this guy. At this point, he hasn’t chosen to submit to an evaluation. We hope the NFL will require that evaluation as a precondition of reinstatement. The bottom line is: Everybody knows he’s going to apologize, go on Oprah and Larry King and say he did wrong, that he learned his lesson. But there’s no reason for anybody to take his word for that based on the pattern of dishonesty and the severity of cruelty he took part in.”
Read the rest HERE
Fairfax, VA (April 8, 2009) — Time Life will release the critically-acclaimed documentary THRILLA IN MANILA on DVD on June 2nd, a powerful film that reveals a previously unknown side to the final fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in the Philippines through the eyes of the oft-overlooked Frazier. Variety describes the film as “unavoidably fascinating,” while Salon.com declares it “riveting,” the Boston Herald called it “a knockout” and GQ.com says “this film is worth its weight in gold.” The DVD comes with 30 minutes of bonus material not seen in the original film, including archival interviews with Frazier, Larry Holmes, and Frazier’s own son.
An Official Selection at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, THRILLA IN MANILA chronicles one of the most bitter face-offs the sports world has ever seen, recounting a tale of personal betrayal that was stoked by the racial politics of 1970s America. Featuring archival footage and exclusive interviews with boxing insiders, including Ferdie Pacheco, Butch Lewis and Dave Wolf, as well as Imelda Marcos (former First Lady of the Philippines), the documentary tells the story of two great fighters forever linked by three epic bouts, and looks at their final fight, considered the most brutal, from Frazier’s perspective for the very first time. The match was a near-death experience for both of them - highlighting the contrasting styles with which they fought, and the vitriol they hurled at each other for so long. It has come to represent an extraordinary personal battle and captured a particular moment in US social history.
Directed by John Dower (”Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of The New York Cosmos”), THRILLA IN MANILA tracks an extraordinary personal battle between two friends, and captures the poignant moment in the socio-cultural history of the country when they became American sports icons and legends. While Ali was a symbol of the civil rights struggle and anti-Vietnam War movement, Frazier was cast as the symbol of the pro-war, conservative segment of American society, some would say unfairly.
In 1967, Ali was stripped of his heavyweight crown after refusing induction into the armed forces. The film reveals how Frazier subsequently befriended Ali and supported the renewal of his boxing license and status, showing the intense feelings of betrayal he felt after Ali returned to the ring in 1970 and subjected him to race-baiting attacks.
In the ring, Joe Frazier was a fighter who refused to be defeated. It was that relentlessness that defined Frazier’s boxing career, carrying him to an Olympic gold medal and to the heavyweight championship of the world. And it was that relentlessness that made him the perfect foil for his rival, Muhammad Ali.
Using incredible archival footage and music of the time THRILLER AND MANILA is the definitive account of this iconic event, which remains controversial to this day.
I guess Topps is really throwing everything at the wall at this point? Read more from Fortune.com:
NEW YORK (Fortune) — “I’ll trade you two Bernie Madoffs for a Derek Jeter and David Wright.”
Baseball card collectors could soon be saying something along those lines as the Topps Company will be issuing a trading card of confessed swindler Bernard Madoff as part of a product due out early this summer.
The Topps 2009 Allen & Ginter release will include cards of some 260 baseball players along with cards of historic figures and “world champions” from realms outside baseball. This year’s product, though, will also nod to Madoff’s financial chicanery as part of a group of cards featuring the “world’s biggest hoaxes, hoodwinks and bamboozles.” Among the other do-badders in the subset are Charles Ponzi, The Runaway Bride, and Enron.
“These cards feature 20 perpetrators of some of the most notorious pranks, dubious claims, and outright frauds of the last 2 centuries,” boasts a Topps sell-sheet for the collection.
That means collectors who open a pack of the cards at their local hobby shop could find Madoff right alongside notable sluggers like Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols. Packs of the cards will sell for $3 apiece at retailers including Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500). The odds of finding a Madoff will be one in 12 packs on average.
The hoaxes subset, originally inspired by the case of 1970’s skyjacker D.B. Cooper, was in the works even before the Madoff scandal hit the headlines, according to Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi. Madoff, in fact, was a late addition to the checklist, Luraschi says. “Ironically, the economy takes a dive and all these characters start washing out, like Bernie Madoff. We thought, hey, if anyone should be in this set it should be him.”
The Madoff card is not the only gimmick included in the set. Topps will again be issuing so-called DNA relics, cards featuring actual hairs of historical subjects including Napoleon, King George III, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Edgar Allen Poe, George Washington, Jefferson Davis, Geronimo, Abraham Lincoln and Beethoven. But the Madoff card is the one most directly linked to current headlines.
“I think it will add some interest to the hobby in terms of non-collectors, more mainstream people getting into it just because of those cards,” says Chris Olds, editor of Beckett Baseball, a publication for collectors. “They try to touch on unusual things that people would latch onto — stuff that’s out of the ordinary, especially stuff you wouldn’t expect to find in a pack of baseball cards.”
Some collectors on one popular trading-card blog seemed less than eager to see Madoff captured on cardboard.
“I think if I pull a Bernie Madoff card it will be getting burned or shredded,” one poster noted.
Another collector noted that Madoff isn’t the first infamous criminal to be featured on a trading card.
“I was pretty appalled when I found out about the Bernie Madoff card too,” that blogger wrote, “but they’ve had Jesse James and Jack the Ripper in previous sets so I guess Bernie is the designated scumbag criminal for this year’s set.”
Like father, like son? Read more from ChicagoTribune.com:
PEORIA, Ill. - Michael Jordan celebrated another Chicago basketball championship — his son’s.
Marcus Jordan, son of the Bulls’ six-time champion, scored a game-high 19 points to lead Chicago Whitney Young to a 69-66 victory over Waukegan in the Illinois Class 4A championship Saturday.
As Marcus Jordan and his teammates celebrated on the court after the final buzzer, Michael Jordan stood quietly, clapping his hands with tears in his eyes.
“Crying?” the NBA great said in response to a reporter’s question. “I’m not crying. Not for me, anyway.”
The younger Jordan was key down the stretch after two teammates fouled out, hitting 4 of 4 free throws in the final 3 minutes to seal the victory.
“Awesome,” Marcus Jordan said. “Just awesome.”
Michael Jordan, part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, skipped his team’s home loss to Indiana so he could attend his son’s game. Another son, Jeff Jordan, plays basketball for the University of Illinois.
Some members of the French media in Montreal are losing their marbles because there is a chance that the next coach will be an Anglophone.
Since the Canadiens fired both GM Serge Savard and coach Jacques Demers, they have hired inexperienced [French] coach after inexperienced [French] coach:
- Mario Tremblay,
- Alain Vigneault,
- Michel Therrien,
- Claude Julien and most recently,
- Guy Carbonneau
Truth is, all of these men have proved to be very good coaches, with Julien of note turning the Boston Bruins around and leading them to a first place ranking in the Eastern conference. Vigneault is no slouch either; he is running the Vancouver Canucks, who remain a dark horse to hoist Stanley Cup this year. Therrien was recently fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins but here is a man who took his team to the Stanley Cup finals last year. Carbonneau will be coaching in Dallas in the next year or two. Tremblay, who left the organization in disarray and has the dubious distinction of having run Patrick Roy out of town, has gone on to serve as an assistant in Minnesota to Jacques Lemaire.
What is crazy, frankly, is that factions in the local media are actually suggesting that Mario Tremblay could make a return behind the Canadiens bench. I like to give people a second chance, but people, Mario Tremblay is welcome to the Bell Centre anytime as a member of the Minnesota Wild or another opposing team. He’s also more than welcome as a former hockey player who won 5 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens (the four-peat in the late 1970s and the one in 1985-86) but he should never be allowed to stand behind the home team’s bench.
He not only ran out Patrick Roy out of town, but he also sent Donald Brashear packing, who remains in the league, serving justice to opposing players on the ice. What has been an oft-mentioned criticism of the team? A lack of character, and toughness. It’s not like his “different philosophy” led those players to sign elsewhere; he was a disaster who literally ran players out of town, forcing an equally inexperienced GM in Rejean Houle to get little to nothing in return.
You know who I think is tough and has character? Saku Koivu. The Finnish-born player who was drafted 21st overall in 1993 by the Habs returned from cancer, numerous injuries and is now the Canadiens’ longest serving captain, surpassing the great Jean Beliveau. Koivu’s sin, frankly, is that he has never won a Stanley Cup. The French media blame Koivu for this, overlooking the fact that the Habs have been an organization in disarray, coached by largely inexperienced (at the NHL level) rookie coaches, woeful drafting and abysmal trades (Patrick Roy to Avalanche, John Leclair to Flyers, how long do you have?)
This week, when Habs GM Bob Gainey fired Guy Carbonneau, some members of the French Media were quick to point out that Carbo was the latest coach to be fired by Koivu, and that never in the league’s history has a captain gone through so many coaches.
Well, I had only two words for them?
Ray Bourque. Ray Bourque went through the following coaches in Boston from 1979-80 until 1999-2000 (he got traded to the Colorado Avalanche in that year):
Bourque was captain from:
- Wayne Cashman, 1977–83
- Terry O’Reilly, 1983–85
- Ray Bourque & Rick Middleton, 1985–88 (co-captains)
- Ray Bourque, 1988–2000
So Bourque was captain from 1985 to 2000, a whopping fifteen years, and the Bruins did not win the Cup either.
But Bourque is a francophone, and the French media won’t dare level the same accusation at him… but Koivu - whose greatest sin was not learning French - he is to blame for the revolving door of rookie and inexperienced coaches in Montreal.
What these members of the French media fail to realize, sadly, is that they are the main reason why the top French speaking players don’t come to Montreal.
- Daniel Briere was offered more money from Montreal but took less to go to Philadelphia. The media says it’s because the Flyers have a better shot of winning the Cup, I don’t buy that. The Flyers beat the Habs in the second round, but add Briere to Montreal’s side and there was a good chance that Montreal would have advanced that series.
- Vincent Lecavalier resigned with the Tampa Bay Lightning even though he was outright unhappy in Florida.
The list goes on and on. If the French media will be looking at assessing why Montreal has become an unsaviory destination for French speaking players and a graveyard for French speaking coaches, they have only themselves to blame.
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