As you know, there is much that I do not like about ESPN. But, of course, I have to accept them as the premium supplier of sports news on television. And I have to live with all of the stupid things that they do on what seems to be a daily basis.
While I would love to rail against them for boneheaded decisions, especially regarding their choice of "talent,"I have bigger fish to fry. Number one, why does the network present to us as fact this past weekend that Texas A&M was going to jump to the SEC? The "source" for that story was an insider from College Station reporting the news to basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb. Really? That is the best you can do? While it does appear that there is some interest between the SEC and A&M, the deal is being held up for scores of reasons mostly involving potential lawsuits and money to be owed by the Aggies to the Big 12. But because of these myriad hold-ups, the deal is far from finalized and, as we learned from the story about Texas jumping to the Pac 10, far from being a lock. Why jump the gun? You, ESPN, are the main source of sports news for everyone. Let the other guys jump the gun.
Also, this week ESPN is airing a panel that is discussing the ills of major college sports. And of course the dopey ESPN "experts," like Mark May and Jay Bilas, get to spout off while the more important people, like coaches and administrators, can barely get a word in. But allowing Saban to speak about the issue of recruiting malfeasance drove me crazy. Urban Meyer clearly had Saban in mind when he said that one way to control coaches would be to suspend them when they commit violations, but Saban just spun the conversation around to something else. And then May and others chimed in about how the rulebook is too big as if that is some excuse for Saban's cheating. Until they hammer guys like Saban the problem is not going to go away as others, as we saw with Auburn last year, will cheat to try to keep up with him.
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