Nike: Vick Who?

When ESPN breaks a story, you're better off waiting for confirmation before running with it as gospel. Perhaps no sports media outlet has mastered the art of running unconfirmed innuendo or aside as news, and gotten away with it a majority of the time. When the information is wrong, however, no one gets called to the carpet.

Such is the case with the Michael Vick/Nike "endorsement" story, first broken by ESPN "news services".

Michael Vick is back with Nike two years after the company severed ties over the quarterback's involvement in a dogfighting ring.

"Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship," his agent, Joel Segal, said Wednesday.

Today however, Nike flags Vick's agent for a false start:

"Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick. We have agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike," the company said in a statement.

Which seems more likely to me, considering that Vick has yet to make any impact in the league, or show any sign that he's going to become the impact starting quarterback he once had the potential to be.

Fair or not, Vick is toxic right now to a company from a PR standpoint. Yes, he's back in the league and deserves to make a living, but endorsement deals are viewed by the public as a different deal altogether. If Nike jumps right back onto the Vick bandwagon then the PR hit could be immense. The term: "soulless corporation" comes to mind. NO ONE on Madison Ave. wants to have to market around that tag.

I don't care how talented Vick is.

As for ESPN? I love their actual sports coverage, as I feel they always do a good job producing the actual events. When it comes to pure analysis however there are many other outlets who are doing it better, and with less self-promotion. Where the NFL is concerned there's also better coverage to be found that doesn't involve the analysts performing on-air oral sex to Brett Favre everytime the latter throws a pass that's not intercepted.

I'm sorry Erin.

You see, it's not all guys who are jerks, just some of them. Unfortunately the "sportz FAN" male is held up as the stereotype for all of us, and that's not fair. Not that this is any comfort to you I understand. Because some idiots decided they had a Divine rights to view the naked body of any woman they choose you're now subjected to a life of looking over your shoulder at every turn and stuffing wash-cloths in the key-holes and in the crack of the door. In short, your life has been ruined, all because you decided to become a reporter for a "man's" game.

In England they have a saying: "Football is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligan's game played by Gentlemen." That's a pretty good description of the two sports over there, but in America we might say it differently.

"Football is a man's game watched, in large part, by mental infants."

It's those infants, the type of men who think the pinnacle of culture is belching out the Battle Hymn of the Republic after chugging 3 beers, that sort of ruin the sport for the rest of us. They're the reason we have to put up with the "all men cheat" rantings from raving feminists who's idea of utopia is the corralling of all heterosexual males into sperm farms where they can be cattle-prodded into submission every day. It's an ancient idea of masculinaty that's as out of place in today's culture as a dinner jacket would be in pre-historic times. Back when Uga the Mok was challenging you for breeding rights, conking a she-ra on the head, taking her back to the cave and giving her the business may have seemed like a good idea. In today's society unfortunately, that'd still earn you the admiration of the 80's Fraternity set.

I'm not sure who's argument to be more amazed with, 1560 the Game's Shawn and John who said on-air that Erin should "embrace" having her privacy violated and being stalked, or the argument of Bob Norman* from the Broward Sun subtly hinting that Erin's looks sort-of justify it in an odd sort of way. How dare you be attractive and NOT show us your breasts Erin?

What's lost in all of this is that Ms. Andrews is a damn good sideline reporter. She's savvy enough about Football that she understands the game and is capable of asking coaches questions that run deeper than the old Susie Kolber stand-by: "How do you feel?" Losing Andrews on the side-line because of this would set in-game reporting BACK a long way.

Unfortunately, because of this, Erin is going to have to develop a thick outer skin in order to keep her career on track. She's going to be cat-called by drunk boys who downloaded her video before it was removed, she's going to wonder what's behind the lecherous stares that she's getting at every game. Every time she interviews a player "Has he seen the video?" will be in the back of her head. I hope they catch the guys that did this and let her kick them in the balls repeatedly. It's probably a small target but I'm guessing she'll manage.

Sorry Erin, some guys just have a long way to go. Don't hold it against all of us please?

The Report you're not seeing in Houston (Updated)

Yao could be out for season, if not even longer.

[Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! sports]

As the NBA draft approached, the grim truth about Yao Ming’s(notes) broken left foot hung like an anvil over the Houston Rockets. The fear isn’t that he’s just lost for next season, but longer.

The Rockets and Yao’s reps are frightened over his future, and the concern is the most base of all: Does Yao Ming ever play again?

“The realization has hit them that this is grave,” one NBA general manager said.


For now, the Rockets have privately told league peers it could be a full season before Yao might be able to return to basketball. Multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses are describing a troubling, re-fracture of his navicular bone. Three pins were inserted a year ago, but the foot cracked in the playoffs and isn’t healing.


“It sounds like he’s missing most of next season, if not the entire 82 games,” one league executive who has had recent discussions with the Houston front office told Yahoo! Sports. “That’s all that [the Rockets] will concede quietly, but they know it’s probably much worse.”

Houston general manager Daryl Morey refused comment on Monday and a team spokesman said the Rockets will not have further comment until Yao undergoes additional medical tests.

Contrast that to the Chron's coverage by Jonathan "tortured prose" Feigan:

Nearly seven weeks after the Rockets were shocked by the injury that ended Yao Ming’s season, they were as stunned Wednesday to find it has not healed.

A bone scan late Wednesday evening showed that the immobilization of Yao’s left foot has not healed the hairline fracture he suffered May 8 during the Rockets’ second-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

A statement released by the team said Yao and his doctors will consider other treatment options. Those could include anything from wearing a cast, rather than the walking boot used since the injury, to surgery.

“Yao is not experiencing any pain in his left foot. However, the results from the CT and bone scans we performed over the past two days indicate that the hairline fracture has not responded to the degree that we expected,” Rockets team physician Tom Clanton said in a statement. “We will review a variety of treatment options before proceeding.”

(snip)

Despite the injuries, Yao has remained central to the Rockets’ long-term plans and is considered untouchable when it comes to trades heading into tonight’s NBA draft.

“He is the cornerstone of the team,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We’re trying to win here. We have an All-Star. We’re hoping Tracy (McGrady) can come back and play at an All-Star level like we know he is capable, but we’re dealing with uncertainty there. We’d like to get more All-Stars, not trade one away.”

Richard Justice danced around the issue but failed to mention what the Rockets are privately saying.

Namely, Yao Ming is out.....for a long time.




Instead of the company line from this town's sports scribes, or wink and nudge 'negative' columns designed to rile up the fan base while staying so outlandish so as not to offend the targets, it'd be nice to get a little bit of actual sports analysis and reporting on the big issues....

Say, like the severity of Yao Ming's foot injury. That'd be some reporting I'd like to see from the Chron. Because I love my family and would like to spend more time with them I'm not holding my breath.


UPDATE: Feigan files a report: Admits to being scooped by Yahoo! Sports.

Sad.

Ouch

Stealing this from Tom Kirkendall.

Cartwright 1

Justice 0

Is Richard "the media" Justice really trying to equate what he does daily to real, honest journalism? Maybe he's just mad that Cartwright didn't even deem him worthy of being named?

Most customers, and other readers (self included), understand that the Houston Chronicle Sports Section is nothing more than a place to check up on scores of games you missed over a weekend out of town. For analysis there are much better team-specific blogs and bloggers out there who do a better, more entertaining, job relaying the meaning of what just happened. Going to the Chron for that is akin to going to a 3-year old to get a fact based account of a candy-snatching: It's likely to be nothing more than a bunch of histrionics and crying.


Oddly enough, much like Justice' response.

Had I a pick in today's Seinfeldian draft...

Today is the 2nd Annual KGOW Seinfeldian Mock Draft where anything and everything is fair game.

Unfortunately, my invitation to participate somehow got lost in the mail, either that or it was eaten by Sean "The Cablinasian" Pendergast one Friday at Nick's Place. Either way I won't be participating. So, as a public service, I'm going to reveal early what my pick would have been had I a place in the line-up.

The Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 emblazoned with Bar Rafaeli. My team might suck but they'd travel in STYLE.


The draft is this afternoon from 3-7 on 1560 AM Houston.

Not THAT Much worse Richard....

Another nugget of wisdom from the Chron's Sr. sports columnist...


After today's embarassing loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates (themselves losers to Manatee Community College) your Houston Astros are 1-6. In case you're wondering that's 1 1/2 games better than the 0-8 record Justice is mentioning.

Yes, it could be worse. Instead of winning ONE game the Astros could have won NONE. It's good to know the Chronicle values this type of hard-hitting sports analysis over competent beat reporters.

God knows what we would do if we didn't know how Ortiz thinks Wandy might be 'close to stardom'.

Is it Football season yet?

In-Justice (again)

Richard Justice is on a tear again. Fortunately (for us) Tom Kirkendall copied the comments before Justice had a chance to go back and doctor them.

Remember awhile back when Chronicle lead sports columnist Richard Justice defamed Stephanie Stradley, a very good local blogger on the Texans and the NFL who now blogs at the Chronicle?

Well, ol' Richard is at it again.

This time the subject of Justice's venom is Alan Burge, who pens a very good blog on the Texans for the Houston Examiner.

Burge recently made a comment on one of Justice's blog posts regarding Texans GM Rick Smith, who Justice has been belittling for months because Smith fired Justice's friend, former Texans strength coach, Dan Riley.

At any rate, after Burge commented (he goes by "AJ" in the comments) on Justice's blog post, Justice responded by belittling Burge's comment. Burge responded by again challenging Justice's statements regarding NFL contract provisions. Justice responded by continuing to belittle Burge and concluded by accusing Burge of stealing "from others and calling it research."

Inasmuch as Justice has previously removed some of his defamatory statements from his blog site after publishing them, I copied four of Burge's comments and Justice's replies to them before Justice could remove or edit them (he has, in fact, done so now). Burge's comments and Justice's replies are set forth in the document below. Also included in the document is a comment from another commenter who was appalled by Justice's comments toward Burge and Justice's reply to that comment.

Go read Tom's entire post. He has the comments printed out and asks a pointed question: Is there any hope for the Chronicle?

From a Sports coverage perspective, Yes. But only if the Chron is willing to jettison, or demote, their top-tier writing talent and re-build from the bottom. Given Cohen's track record with columnists, I don't see that happening.

The end-result of this is hackneyed analysis, PR-like reporting and the above-referenced unbalanced rants. What all of this obscures is some very good reporting going on in the 'free' blog Sports section. Yes, there is some homerism but what do you expect from a 'fan' blog? There's also better analysis to be found here than in the blogs of the supposed top-flight writers.

This is twice now that Justice has irrationally gone after a sports blogger, denigrating them personally instead of addressing the weak points of an argument in which he is clearly wrong. Of course, its also wrong for Justice to characterize what he does as "reporting". He's a columnist, he walks in the realm of opinion. He's not out there working the beat or breaking news he's commenting on what's already happened. Quite often he's taking Mark Berman's scoops and commenting on them. Which, when you think about it, is really what he's accusing Alan Burge of doing.

Hackery

If Bourn Stays Hot, Astros could breeze into the playoffs. [Richard Justice, Chron.com]...

Moneyshot quote:

Offensively, Michael Bourn could be the key to everything the Astros hope to accomplish. If he's the player Ed Wade thought he'd be when he made the Brad Lidge trade, he transforms the lineup.

His has the kind of speed that can win games, fluster pitchers and put Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee into position to drive in a ton of runs. He would transform the Astros from an artistic standpoint as well.

Last season's original blueprint began with speed (Michael Bourn and Kaz Matsui) at the top of the order. They bring a dimension of speed few other teams have.

Speed is out. Speed doesn't compute. But if you've got speed, if you can make running worthwhile, you've got a valuable weapon.

Last season's plan fell apart when Bourn didn't hit. He finished the season with a .229 batting average and 111 strikeouts. He started this spring very badly, with his averaging sinking to .167 a few days ago.

Maybe, just maybe, he's getting hot at the right time. He has been on base seven times in 12 plate appearances his last three games and raised his batting average from .167 to .219.

(emphasis mine)

12 at bats over three games, and Bourne's batting average is .010 less than it ended up last year, and this is how Justice defines hot? Nevermind that Bourne is just above the Mendoza Line as an Astro, or that he seems to be struggling to understand the geometry of Center Field defense. Nope, none of that matters.

In order to understand this you have to understand how the ego of Richard Justice effects his sportswriting. Richard's been around a long time, and he does have a decent institutional memory of Major League Baseball. He's got a list of funny quips and stories a mile long. Richard also likes to be treated as if he's important, and he likes a certain style of player. Players learn quickly that catering to Justice's twin ideals of upstanding citizenry and catering to his ego (his "I am the media" explosion is still mocked) lest you fall out of favor, is a good way to gain a friend in the media. (being a UT grad doesn't hurt either)

What gets lost in all of this however is that Justice, while a good scribe, lacks the serious analytical ability to really offer any meaningful insight into the prospects of a team.


The point of all this background is to point out that the Astros, even IF Micheal Bourn stays hot, are probably not deep enough in starting pitching or on the bench to seriously compete this year for the playoffs. On top of that, after one and a half equivilent seasons Bourn's batting average is .237 and his OPS is a miniscule .612, expecting a turnaround of epic proportions is probably putting too much pressure on a man who's got good speed, but serious issues with the other four tools required to play baseball.

Blind optimism I can understand from the fans, but from journalists whose job it is to provide insight and analysis?

Houston should expect a little better than that.

Let's (not) talk Tebow.

"With all of the negativity in the world, if people could just spend five minutes with Tim Tebow..." - Fox announcer Thom Brennanman.

OK, Florida beat Oklahoma 24-21 to claim the B(C)S title. I get that. It was a good game until the 4th quarter, when Oklahoma tired and Florida's speed took over. I get that. Urban Meyer is one of the best coaches, and has one of the most innovative offenses in the world. Yup, I'm still with you.

So why are we having to hear over and over again about the greatness that is Tim Tebow?

We've been down this road before replacing "Tim Tebow" with "Vince Young". It's almost as if sports writers don't get their gold-plated laptops until they slather the star du jour with superlatives. How bad has it gotten? I've heard rumor that the blind and lame are converging on the University of Florida campus just for a chance to touch Tebow's wristband and be healed.

What this illustrates is the relatively poor bench depth in sports writing. If you can't write or say something constructive on the game (say, how Oklahoma shot itself in the foot in the first half, how Percy Harvin was the difference maker, or question why Bob Stoops ran the ball so often for example) then the fall-back is to slather the star QB with superlatives like a giddy High-school freshman cheerleader twirling her curls with her finger and looking up with hopeful doe-eyes at the star player.

"There is no greater a leader in College Football history than Tim Tebow" - Kirk Herbstreet, ESPN

Granted, Tim Tebow is probably the player most representative of today's College football which utilizes spread offenses requiring a mobile quarterback with simple pass-routes ran by lightning fast recievers. He's got a football resume that's second to none (1 Heisman trophy, 3rd place in the Heisman voting the next year, 2 National Championships), and he's relatively free of scandal. By all accounts, he's a nice guy. But why the need to deify the guy? Isn't it enough that he's a good quarterback and a good team captain without tripping over yourself in an effort to see who can perform the most blatant act of over-the-air, verbal intercourse with the guy?

Florida is standing astride history with their second B(C)S title in three years because Urban Meyer is a great coach. They won the first title with Charlie Batch calling the signals. Tebow came in and did his patented "jump pass" (which made NFL offensive coordinators cringe) for a touchdown and a star was born. Last year Tebow had the greatest statistical year ever by a quarterback, and his team was beaten in the Capital One Bowl by an average Michigan team (known previously for a humiliating home loss to Appelachian State earlier in the year).

Missing from the Capital One Bowl? Percy Harvin. The real battery that powers the Florida offensive engine. Oklahoma had no answer for Harvin, who many say was on the field at less than 100%. When Harvin touched the ball, good things happened for Florida. On the Gators second touchdown, after Tebow had failed twice to punch the ball across the line, it was Harvin via a direct snap that plunged in. Tebow threw two interceptions that gave the Sooners field position, and Florida's defense rose up and pulled the Gators out of the fire. Yet all the announcers wanted to talk about was Tim Tebow's Spring missionary trip to perform castrations on young boys in the Philippines. It was that bad.

Now granted, sportswriters have never been ranked high in the annals of watchdog reporters. Ty Cobb was given a free pass for his boorishness as was Pete Rose. The notoriously "tough" NY press overlooked scores of Yankee scandals throughout the years, including the alcoholism of Babe Ruth and Micky Mantle. ESPN self-promotes and attributes news broken by other outlets to their own beat writers, often ignoring media reports that broke several hours prior. Local sports columnists are even worse, a mixture of hopelessly biased homers or out of touch elitists who view themselves as the moral compass of the games they cover. (Yes, I'm looking at YOU Skip Bayless) There's often a tendency in sports writing to try and make history instead of just reporting on it. "Game of the decade/year" is thrown around like candy, sometimes before the first quarter/inning/half has played out. Some bold reporters even attempt to classify a game for the ages before its even been played. (Hi Chris Berman!)

Because of this its only natural for those with lesser talent to attempt to their subjects to rediculous heights. This has been a common practice since Howard Cosell gained fame through his association (and fawning coverage) of Muhammed Ali. The problem? Ali was a flawed man. A great champion, a great boxer, and a good man, but a flawed man with many of the same internal demons tormenting him that we all face daily. What he could do is box better than almost anyone else before or since. History, not Cosell, has determined this to be true.

History might reveal the same thing about Tebow. He might go down as one of the greatest College Football Players ever. We'll only know the answer to that in time, attempts by the media to deify him notwithstanding. They tried the same thing with Vince Young and its looking more and more like they were wrong. Just as VY could go down in history as a good college QB who didn't have the skill set to become a good NFL QB, its still possible that Tim Tebow could find himself in the same boat. If that's the case then he'll join VY and a host of other College QB's in a pretty high-rent district. Sure, its not curing cancer or recieving the Holy power of Divine healing, but its probably the most accurate placement for Tebow in the long run.

Unless he comes back for his Senior season and improves his passing that is....