Even Sportscasting Plays the Game

A couple months ago Tucker Carlson made headlines for going onto Sean Hannity and stating that, "Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did [it] in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that." We could go on about how both these men are extreme assholes, or that the hypocrite probably walked out of the studio and enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich, but neither matters; they sell controversy, and any criticism does nothing but generate attention and further their agenda - which is converting attention into money. It's the same game Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann (whoops!), et. al. all play.

What frustrated me was that ESPN put out a really lame headline on it's front page that a 'news analyst' had called for Micheal Vick's death. It's the same strategy the Topeka Capital Journal engages in - write some controversial tag, and generate crazy internet traffic from the resulting reader comments. Being disappointed with such an approach, I took matters into my own hands and personally e-mailed ESPN's ombudsman the following letter:
Tucker Carlson isn't a 'news analyst' so much as a race baiter. Shock jock Imus wasn't referred to as an analyst when you referenced him following comments about the Rutgers basketball team being nappy hos, and Carlson is no different. You're lending credence to news that shouldn't be, and have encouraged a long dialogue of racist sniping on your site. At least one commentator got it right: ESPN should have just titled the link 'white guy says black guy should be executed.'

I mention this because Don Ohlmeyer, the ombudsman, published his final article yesterday. Obviously, my letter was too airtight to correct, and acknowledging my absolute rightness would've left ESPN with egg on it's face. As such, I never received a response. I'm still angry about the chickenshit headline about a news analyst calling for Michael Vick's death - the resulting conversation thread was absolutely disgusting and rife with racism.

Note: I just went back to the archives. Apparently, ESPN updated the article to change the headline. Yeah, I'm claiming credit for that one.