porkchop said:
bamarooski said:
Bo7 said:
Just to add to porkchop's comments, Luginbill in fact spent the majority of the interview attacking Rivals and Scout instead of explaining why his service was better or more accurate. When he did offer his version of reason, it was anything but.
For instance, he claimed the other services had an agenda which was to sell subscriptions. Of course, he failed to mention ESPN's Insider subscriber service. He also failed to explain how choosing Bama as #1 helped the competition sell more subscriptions. After allowing him to claim everyone had an agenda except him, Finebaum dropped the hammer on his head by asking if he was aware that ESPN had just signed a multi-million dollar deal with the ACC and pointing out that Luginbill's #1 and #2 picks were both ACC teams.
Finebaum also asked how all the other services could pick Alabama #1 and he had them so low until the last minute. Luginbill's answer was hysterical. He said, "Well, why isn't anyone asking if Rivals and Scout and everyone else maybe got it wrong?". Evidently, the law of averages is a forgiegn concept to this bozo.
He was also confronted with his comment after Julio announced Bama as his choice. Luginbill's comment was, "He made his bed and now he's got to lay in it." He tried to down play the comment, but everyone with half a brain knows exactly what that old saying implies. He clearly missed on Julio going to OU and he clearly had either an anti-Bama or anti-Saban agenda.
The best part of the day was when Finebaum had the CEO of Rivals on following Luginbill. This guy systematically dismantled each and every aspect of Luginbill's comments without ever attacking ESPN or making a single derogatory remark.
It was a credibility blowout that left Luginbill ranking slightly behind a used car salesman and a crackwh*re, but still just ahead of an auburn fan explaining Tubby's recruiting class.
Did he mention his wife Mrs. Loogenbooger went to chopblock Univ. :lol:
I may have heard him wrong but I thought that in the interview with PF he said that his wife was NOT an Auburn grad, though I've heard that mentioned before. So is that a rumor or did his wife go to AU and not graduate?
But like Bo alluded to, for ESPN employees to go onto a talk show riding the high horse about not having an agenda and not having to sell subscriptions is a load of crap and I'm dissapointed that Lugenbill was not called out on that. Anyone that has ever logged into ESPN.com knows that almost the entire site has gone "insider", meaning you have to pay for info. In fact, all of their recruiting is insider, so Luginball is dancing around the issue trying to portray ESPN in a favorable light while not being completely honest about it.
And as far as the whole "agenda" issue goes...we're talking about ESPN. I think it's evident that if anyone here has an agenda it is ESPN. They have become the ultimate spin machine and have a history of slanting their coverage to fit their agendas. The whole situation would be laughable if it were not filled with so many outright lies and distortions.
As some of our Auburn fans might say, "she's a sidewalk Auburn fan." But, it's not entirely the case since her family are fairly large (as in $) supporters of Auburn. That is simply a fact.
As to the agenda, some points have been made here about that. One point that hasn't is ESPN has recently designated about 4M just to the recruiting of high school players. At the same time, they are making a play to join the ranks of Scout and Rivals with ESPN affiliate web sites. They only grabbed a handful as it is but they've coughed of some $ for those. It's mostly larger schools at this point. USCw (wearesc.com) is an example of this. UF also has a site affiliated now with ESPN and don't think for a second there aren't "insider advertisements" to ESPN on those sites.
Now, with Julio it's a story in itself. A while ago he was insisting that Auburn was in the picture for Julio's signature. They never were. In fact, their coaching staff was described as "wearing knee pads" when visiting Julio's high school. (as in on their knees begging...and that was just for a visit.)
Now, get this. Lugenbill even went to the point of suggesting to Julio that he should commit to OU. The same thing happened with Harris to USCw if he wasn't going to sign with Auburn. (FWIW, one of Harris' coaches said recently he didn't even want to visit Auburn, much less sign with them)
Is that an agenda? It's no secret he doesn't like Saban. It's no secret he doesn't like Alabama. To say the least, if he considers himself being objective he's lying through his teeth.
Continually down playing our class while continually putting their class in as good of a light as possible.
Just as another example, did you know if you cut our point total in half we would still be ranked in the top 20 in the nation? 17, to be exact. Take away their re-signs and Southern Miss has a better class than they do.
ESPIN doesn't stand for their insider network.