Speaking of the feeding frenzy after Saban's remarks, Chase Goodbread has this quote:
"What if Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey or Kentucky's Rich Brooks had made the same remarks.
Does it make a wave or two? Probably.
Does it lead off ESPN's SportsCenter? Not a chance.
Talking heads like Dan Le Batard and Michael Wilbon would have the American public think production meetings are that even-handed. Deep down, however, they and all the other national pile-ons know that's bull.
ESPN sold out for the sensational over the substantive years ago. That's why its best reporter, Bob Ley, has to run its best program, Outside the Lines, from a weekend broom closet while juvenile programming like Around the Horn commands a daily, front-porch presence. Not to pick on ESPN solely - it doesn't corner the market on the sensationalism of sports media - but at a minimum, it personifies it.
This isn't the first time since he took the UA job that Saban's comments have become a story all their own. One gets the feeling it won't be the last. What's certain is that Nick Saban + Alabama = an awfully powerful microscope.
Saban's latest remarks can't be defended on their face. But the media pulpit makes itself hard to defend, as well."
Thanks Chase, this needed to be said in print!
;flame ESPN
"What if Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey or Kentucky's Rich Brooks had made the same remarks.
Does it make a wave or two? Probably.
Does it lead off ESPN's SportsCenter? Not a chance.
Talking heads like Dan Le Batard and Michael Wilbon would have the American public think production meetings are that even-handed. Deep down, however, they and all the other national pile-ons know that's bull.
ESPN sold out for the sensational over the substantive years ago. That's why its best reporter, Bob Ley, has to run its best program, Outside the Lines, from a weekend broom closet while juvenile programming like Around the Horn commands a daily, front-porch presence. Not to pick on ESPN solely - it doesn't corner the market on the sensationalism of sports media - but at a minimum, it personifies it.
This isn't the first time since he took the UA job that Saban's comments have become a story all their own. One gets the feeling it won't be the last. What's certain is that Nick Saban + Alabama = an awfully powerful microscope.
Saban's latest remarks can't be defended on their face. But the media pulpit makes itself hard to defend, as well."
Thanks Chase, this needed to be said in print!
;flame ESPN