Lot of plugs for 2 Broke Girls.
Jeff Pearlman knocks Whitlock, Parker: It’s all about me!
It wasn’t just me.
The former Sports Illustrated writer and now book author has his own site. He took exception to Jason Whitlock’s “Please give a Pulitzer” column and Rob Parker’s introductory piece at The Shadow League.
Pearlman writes:
I read two columns from sports writers that made me question their perspectives. The first, by Jason Whitlock, was a piece for (oddly) Ball State’s student newspaper. Jason’s an alum of the school, and the article was, I guess, his argument for why he deserves the Pulitzer Prize. The second, by Rob Parker, appeared on the website, The Shadow League, for which he now writes. It was, following his embarrassingly public dismissal from ESPN.com for making some insanely dumb comments about RGIII, an effort for us (the readers) to learn about, eh, Rob Parker.
Yawn.
Back when I was 22, and writing for The Tennessean, I presumed readers cared about me. I inserted myself in as many pieces as possible because—Hey!–look at me! I’m interesting! And fascinating! And, surely, my life will rivet you! So let me tell you why I’m a great writer! Why life as a Jewish man in the South is so tough! Why my transition from New York to Dixie has been so rocky! Let! Me! Tell! You! All! About! Me!
And then:
Some of the best writing I’ve ever done has come over the past 10 years, when I’ve been—for 98 percent of the time—invisible. I live in my own little Starbucks/Panera/Cosi cave, anonymous to the world, and write my happy books. I drink a cup of hot chocolate, slip on some baggy basketball shorts and a ripped T-shirt and write away. Notoriety matters not. Fame matters not. I get recognized, on average, two times a year. For a moment, it’s flattering. Then, just as quickly, it’s awkward. I don’t want that.
The greatest writers I’ve known revel in documenting the lives of others. Steve Rushin, the finest wordsmith I’ve worked with, never hyped himself for an award and, I promise you, never will. Neither did Jack McCallum. Or Jon Wertheim. Or Chris Ballard. Or Phil Taylor. Or Chuck Culpepper. Or Howard Bryant. Or Jonathan Eig. Or Leigh Montville. Or Mark Kriegel. Or Lee Jenkins. The best writers long to be invisible; to appear simply as a byline atop a story. Can anyone reading this imagine Joe Posnanski penning a piece titled ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF? Can anyone reading this imagine Kriegel calling himself Pulitzer worthy?
Hell, no.
Of course, Whitlock had to retort, via Twitter:
WhitlockJason Damn, this is quite possibly the most dishonest thing ever written.
Saturday flashback: Larry Bird lights it up as a rookie; in same lineup with Pistol Pete
How about a starting lineup that includes Bird, Dave Cowens, Pete Maravich, and Nate Archibald? And who is that sportswriter with the bushy hair?
Check out this clip from a Boston-Detroit game in March, 1980.
Why Jason Whitlock wouldn’t do Q/A with me; said I didn’t ask ‘sophisticated questions’
I would like to thank Jason Whitlock for providing me with some page views today. He spoke out on Twitter about my post this morning regarding his comments about the APSE judging.
WhitlockJason Just a good old boy, never meaning no harm. Ed Sherman comes out smoking!!!
WhitlockJason Ed’s journalistic instincts are a little suspect. But he’s a good old boy, never meaning no harm. Making his way, the only way he knows how.
OK, you get the idea. Whitlock also had this post:
WhitlockJason Guess I shouldn’t have told Ed Sherman his Q&A questions were stupid a month ago
I hadn’t planned to write about him accepting and then declining to do a Q/A with me on the site. But since he brought it up, I figure it’s worth an explanation.
In December, I reached out to the FoxSports.com columnist, asking if he would be interested in doing a Q/A. My request came just after Bob Costas quoted Whitlock’s column on gun control during his halftime commentary on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
I also wanted to talk to Whitlock about his sports media-based podcasts for Fox Sports. Specifically, I wanted him to address comments about a podcast he did with Richard Sandomir of the New York Times.
He repeatedly implored Sandomir to go after ESPN. “Deadspin has done a good job,” Whitlock said. “Some adults could get at the bigger issues at play here.”
Keep in mind, Whitlock once worked for ESPN and didn’t leave on the best of terms.
I also was intrigued about Whitlock’s comments on First Take during his discussion with Sandomir. He alleged that the show was geared to unemployed African-Americans.
“It’s not by accident that they’ve added the rap music, added the black women eye candy,” Whitlock said. “Skip Bayless picks on certain black targets. Then they brought in Stephen A. Smith to smooth it out.”
Later, Whitlock said, “Their ratings among black viewers is off the charts and it drives their decision-making. I’ve heard that from people I know.”
And one more sound bite. “There are a group of people who have time to watch this. They don’t have jobs. They like to talk sports and like the barbershop style of sports talk.”
OK, that’s a bit out there. I wanted Whitlock to discuss his position here.
So I contacted Whitlock about doing a Q/A and he said to email him some questions. I did ask him about ESPN, his First Take comments and other issues. After a week, I received the following email from Whitlock on Dec. 13:
Sorry for the delayed response. I’m not interested in the Q/A at this time. I can get my views out more effectively through platforms I control or through interviews with a more sophisticated line of questioning. Thanks for the invite.
Damn, I knew I should have gone to grad school so I could ask more sophisticated questions. At least, he said thank you.
Sure, I was ticked. But I moved on.
Then on Jan. 4, I went to Big Lead, and what did I see? A big Q/A with none other than Jason Whitlock. Now Jason McIntyre asked some good questions, but I didn’t think they were any more sophisticated than mine.
Now I was really ticked and thought about doing a post. But then there was Lance Armstrong and Manti Te’o. And I moved on.
Until today. I had a nice little Twitter battle with Whitlock. Not on the level of Whitlock-Richard Deitsch, or Deitsch-anyone, but still it was spirited.
Whitlock did do a chat with Deadspin readers today. My name came up. I swear I didn’t put Jon DePaolis up to it:
JonDePaolis: 52: Do you dislike Ed Sherman, or is he just a hater on you?
Whitlock: I don’t dislike Special Ed. Don’t really know him. The debate/discussion I’m having about the sportswriting industry is just above his ability to comprehend.
I’m trying, I’m really trying. And if anyone knows how I can get more sophisticated, please let me know.
APSE President replies to Whitlock’s charge: ‘Great lengths to ensure integrity of judging’
This just in from Associated Press Sports Editor president Gerry Ahern regarding Jason Whitlock’s charge the writing contest is biased against minority columnists:
“The Associated Press Sports Editors contest has long been recognized as one of the premier honors for sports journalists. Our contest goes to great lengths to ensure the integrity of the judging. Bylines and newspaper affiliations are redacted from the entries. Any judge that sees an entry from their news organization or from their market recuses themselves from judging that entry or discussion of it.”
Chuck Culpepper, gay sportswriter, thanks Ravens player for his stance
In case you missed it, my old friend Chuck Culpepper wrote a great column yesterday for the Sports on Earth site.
Culpepper writes, “I am that exotic creature, a gay male sportswriter.”
Later, he writes: “I am believed to be the only gay male extant who can recite the final scores of all 47 Super Bowls, and if we’re together and you’re unlucky, I might start it up.”
Culpepper wrote about being in the Baltimore locker room Sunday and whether he should thank Baltimore Ravens lineback Brendan Ayanbadejo, who defended gays in the wake of comments by San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver.
Finally, Culpepper did:
As we walked out together, he told of hearing Tom Coughlin speak at the previous Super Bowl about love, a remarkable turn of American life I had missed while abroad. He told of applying Coughlin’s concept to a note he placed in head coach John Harbaugh’s suggestion box. And as he said this, we turned left from the locker room out into the cold tunnel, where it seemed just about time to part, and where I surprised myself.
“You don’t know me,” I said, and he grinned at that, “but you have done a lot for me,” and his eyes told me he knew what I meant. “And I just want to tell you that I am so grateful. You are a good man.”
Whew. There. I had spit it out. With reasonable concision, even. As we let go of our handshake, he said simply and unemotionally, “It’s the right thing to do, plain and simple,” whereupon I mustered a closing, “Thank you.”
Do yourself a favor and read the entire article. Culpepper is one of the best anywhere. And forget about the gay aspect, I bet he is the only sportswriter who could recite the scores for all 47 Super Bowls.
Pulitzer wannabe Jason Whitlock accuses APSE contest of being biased against minority columnists
Jason Whitlock thinks very highly of himself. Yesterday, he did a column on Ball State’s website (he’s a 1990 graduate), bemoaning the fact that he isn’t eligible for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize since he writes for Foxsports.com.
Before I touch on the questionable notion of Whitlock winning a Pulitzer, there’s another item that needs to be addressed.
Whitlock claims in the piece that the Associated Press Sports Editors are biased against minority columnists in the judging of their annual contest. He writes:
The annual Associated Press Sports Editors awards do not generally and/or consistently recognize the kind of columns I regard as courageous, honest, original and opinion-driven. The APSE prefers storytellers. Its awards also consistently reflect the anti-minority-perspective bias pervasive throughout the sportswriting industry. Sportswriting is a good-old-boy network. It’s very difficult — perhaps impossible — for a person of color who writes from a minority perspective to be recognized as the best at anything in sportswriting.
That’s not a charge of racism. It’s a charge of bias, an affliction we all have.
As best I can tell, no non-white has won the APSE’s column-writing contest. Google “African-American winners of the Pulitzer Prize.” The list is deep and goes back many years. The Pulitzer Prize is far more prestigious and competitive than an APSE.
You can examine almost every aspect of writing as an art form and find examples of minorities being recognized as the best in any given year. Sportswriting is the exception.
Oh, there have been great minority candidates. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Miami Herald’s Dan Le Batard (a Cuban-American) was as talented, insightful and provocative as any columnist working in America. Before Michael Wilbon became a television star, he wrote some of the best sports columns I’ve ever read. Bryan Burwell had a run in the 1990s and is strong again in St. Louis. Shaun Powell laid it down at Newsday. When I showed up at the Kansas City Star in 1994, I shook the entire Midwest and eventually the country.
None of us has ever been quite good enough to reach the top. It’s my belief that our minority perspective is off-putting to predominantly white male judges.
OK Jason, here are a few facts: That “good-old-boy network” network has awarded the best columnist award in the large circulation to the Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins for two straight years; she also won in previous years. The same Sally Jenkins, who happens to be a woman. When it comes to minorities, women still are rare in the press box. Who would have thunk it from a “good-old-boy network?”
Also, Whitlock probably isn’t aware that the judges see entries that are devoid of all names and any identifying marks for a newspaper or website. It is just plain type. So it’s hard for the good-old white boys to know if they are slighting a minority columnist.
Finally, Whitlock probably should take a look at the APSE website. The sports editors, “the good-old-boys,” have an extensive diversity program, which outlines scholarship programs and seminars aimed at prospective minority journalists. The association knows it has to improve the minority presence in the profession.
And it isn’t as if Whitlock has been shut out in this contest. In recent years, he finished third in 2009 and tied for fourth in 2007.
I know many members of the APSE. I don’t think they have bias. I believe they have been fair in their judging.
*******
As for the Pulitzer portion of the column, Whitlock’s entry was returned because the contest isn’t open to “broadcast media” outlets. Now that seems ridiculous given the content that is being generated on those sites. But that’s a story for another day.
Anyway, Whitlock believes he’s worthy this year.
Last year, it’s my belief, I had my best year as a columnist. It all came together. I perfected my column style. For years, I’ve tried to take sports headlines and transform them into lessons about American society at large. Royko’s columns helped shape my view of America. In 2012, I was like Mike.
OK, now he’s comparing himself to Mike Royko. As I said, Whitlock thinks highly of himself.
Whitlock notes that the Pulitzers suck when it comes to sportswriters. I lamented about the shabby treatment when last year’s winners were announced. Among columnists in the last 40 years, only Red Smith, Dave Anderson and Jim Murray have been given the award, and the last one was more than two decades ago.
Whitlock, though, thinks he has the goods if only he was considered. Now he wants to add his face to this Mt. Rushmore of sportswriting legends. Think about it: Smith, Anderson, Murray….Whitlock?
Yep, hard for me to picture too.
Rob Parker re-emerges: Writes about RGIII comments for Shadow League site
Rob Parker is back. The now former ESPN personality has hooked up with a site called The Shadow League.
His first column carries this headline: “Allow me to reintroduce myself; I’ve learned lessons, but I’m still Rob Parker.”
Parker opens by addressing his First Take comments on Robert Griffin III, which is why he no longer is on First Take:
I was Robert Griffin III.
I am RG III.
That’s because I’ve faced questions, too—always will. I faced them when returning home from college. I faced them when I first went to an NABJ conference as a young, ambitious cub reporter. I faced them recently when trying to convince the editors of The Shadow League that I wasn’t too old-school to resonate with their readers.
We are black men. This is what we do. We challenge each other. It will never stop, nor should it.
Continuing on that theme:
In no way did I mean to do any harm to Griffin III, the Redskins’ starting quarterback. By all accounts, he’s a good guy and had a tremendous rookie season.
When brothers talk to and about each other, it’s usually not intended with ill will. And that certainly wasn’t the goal of ESPN’s First Take, a show I proudly worked on for six years. I say ‘proudly’ not because it was regular loot, but because the show honestly gave black men a real, strong voice on a national platform.
No wonder it connected with so many brothers who have had to put up with all-white, sports-talk radio stations in a town near you. Yep, we didn’t have a voice there, but had one on First Take.
That was my goal: bring that voice to the forefront; give it an audience, some airplay. Stop just agreeing with the other guys at the table because it is easier, safer.
Nope. Not me. Never will be me.
You can’t be afraid of dialogue, talking about things that some people just might not know about. That’s how we learn, get educated and grow. Muting differing voices is hardly what America was built on. You don’t have to agree.
And here’s his lesson learned and sign-off:
Through the years, I have remained pretty consistent with my approach: be honest and fair. The Shadow League is getting the hard-hitting, thorough me.
I’ve learned something from the Griffin III situation. I learned, even more, that when you talk about race you need to be especially careful. However, it hasn’t changed me. And, I definitely won’t be muzzled here at The Shadow League. Trust me, those guys from the neighborhood will know it’s still me, still Rob from Jamaica, Queens.
So basically, Parker learned the lesson of being careful what you say about race on national TV. He’s now a long way from ESPN.
Top executive confirms what we already knew: Fox Sports 1 is on the way; Regis Philbin to be part of it?
An official annoucement still hasn’t been made, but News Corp COO Chase Carey confirmed the new Fox Sports channel during a conference call yesterday with analysts.
From Deadline New York:
“I guess you could call it the world’s worst kept secret,” he said. CEO Rupert Murdoch wasn’t there to help. (He stopped appearing on the quarterly calls in mid-2011 when the company was barraged by questions about the UK hacking scandal.) Carey says that “sports is a huge arena that has room in it” for new services. “We can build businesses that capitalize on the other assets we own and we do think sports is an opportunity there.”
However, the surprising/weird development is that Regis Philbin might have a show on the new channel. John Ourand of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily reported:
Fox and Philbin have not agreed on a deal yet, but sources say talks are serious and an agreement could be close at hand. Fox declined to comment on the rumors, but sources say Philbin would serve as the main host of a show that would look like a sports version of “The View,” with Philbin serving in the Barbara Walters-role as the part-time host. Philbin is a known sports fan, and sources said the show would be a sports show, as opposed to a hybrid entertainment-and-sports show.
Why would Fox want to go with somebody who is 81? Perhaps it’s all about perspective. News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch also is 81.
Maybe in Murdoch’s eyes, 81 is the new 50. Let’s hope.
A broadcaster’s life: 64-year-old Coppock faces challenge of staying relevant in young person’s game
If you live in Chicago and New York, you don’t need an introduction to Chet Coppock, the one-of-a-kind sportscaster full of enough bombast and bravado to fill Soldier Field.
And if you don’t live in either of those towns, this story still is highly relevant. It provides a snapshot of a broadcast lifer facing the challenge of being 64 in a young person’s business. He hardly is alone as countless veterans try to stay afloat in the constantly changing market.
Coppock recently gave this advice to a young broadcaster: “I said make all the dough you can before the age of 50. After 50, all bets are off.”
At one point, Coppock was that young person, enjoying the good life at the top. He was the sports anchor for the NBC affiliate in Chicago; launched a highly-rated show that was the forerunner for sports talk radio; and then took his act to Broadway working as a host for Cablevision in New York. In between, he did commercials with athletes like Michael Jordan and Walter Payton.
“I made $275,000 per year when I worked for Ch. 5 (in the early ’80s),” Coppock said. “In New York, it was into the 5s and 6s (as in $500,000-600,000). I won’t see that kind of money from a single entity again.”
Coppock then joked, “I don’t blow as much money on fur coats as I used to.”
So what do you when the phone stops ringing? Retirement isn’t an option. Coppock says he still has the hunger to work.
In his view, the course of action was clear: Hustle his tail off.
“I have to accept that Ch. 7 (in Chicago) isn’t going to come and say, ‘We want you to replace Mark Giangreco,'” Coppock said. “I have to accept the opportunities in the past aren’t going to be there. The stations want younger guys. I understand that. Heck, I was 31 when I joined Ch. 5.”
So Coppock finds the opportunities where he can. He does video work for the Chicago Blackhawks and serves as the studio host for Notre Dame football on radio. Coppock wrote a book and is constantly on Twitter and Facebook in an effort “to keep my name out there.”
His big endeavor is something called Noozebox.com. Working with Mike Romano, it is a Chicago-based site that covers and comments on all things sports from high school hockey to the Super Bowl.
“We found our niche with high school hockey,” Coppock said. “I don’t think people realize how big it is in Chicago. It’s enormous. We put up a video with a kid, and we get 1,500 hits minimum. I’m very optimistic about where it’s going. I see it as part of the new age.”
In a previous age, Coppock was front and center in New York or the voice of sports radio in Chicago. As late as 2009, he had a presence working weekends for the ESPN Radio outlet in Chicago. Then he took an offer to work at a web-based sports talk station founded by sports radio personality Mike North. The enterprise blew up quickly when the Feds learned that the owner, David Hernandez, was using a Ponzi scheme to fund the station and other businesses.
“That hit me like a left hook,” Coppock said.
Suddenly out of a job, Coppock had trouble finding a landing spot on Chicago radio. As he would say, “Everyone’s dance card was full.” He admits it was painful.
“There was a great deal of anger,” Coppock said. “It became obvious I was no longer in big demand. I began to literally think, ‘I’ve been called the Godfather of sports radio. That should give me a license to work until the day I die.’ Well, it didn’t work that way.”
Eventually, Coppock said acceptance of his situation helped him change his outlook. It has helped him to forge on.
Yes, it’s been humbling for a man who never has been humble. But you do what you have to do, Coppock said, especially when retirement isn’t on the agenda.
“You can’t beat yourself up,” Coppock said. “I’m proud of my legacy. You should be comfortable in your own skin. I have no bitterness. Disappointment? Hell, yes. But this business has given me more fun than any one person should be allowed to have. I’m looking forward to having more.”
And then in typical Coppock overstatement, he said, “With that being said, I’ll probably jump out of the window tonight.”