ShareThisA quick trip around the world of sports.
BEST WEEK
How did ESPN land Monday's exclusive interview with Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez? ESPN Senior VP & Director of News Vince Doria told Sports Business Daily that the network got in touch with A-Rod's agent, Scott Boras, almost as soon as the Sports Illustrated story about A-Rod testing positive for steroids in 2003 broke Saturday. A Boras representative got back to the network later Saturday and said Rodriguez was willing to sit down with longtime ESPN baseball reporter Peter Gammons.
Gammons went to Miami on Sunday and there was hope the interview would take place Sunday night, but Rodriguez decided to wait until Monday.
Doria told Sports Business Daily that it isn't unusual for players to request specific interviewers, and, in this case, no one should have a problem with it considering Gammons' reputation and resume. A-Rod did not place any restrictions on the interview.
"They didn't request any, and we wouldn't have accepted any," Doria told Sports Business Daily.
WORST WEEK
Not everything worked out well for ESPN last week. Two of their on-air talents are in trouble, though one's misstep is certainly way worse than the other.
First, the serious stuff. Jamal Anderson, occasionally an ESPN college football analyst, was arrested Saturday night after an off-duty police officer allegedly witnessed him snorting cocaine off a toilet in an Atlanta bar. Anderson, 36, is the former Falcons running back best known for creating the "Dirty Bird" celebration dance.
ESPN has not commented and probably won't until all the legalities are resolved, but it's a good guess that Anderson's career with the network is over. Then again, when you are snorting coke off a toilet in a bar, your problems run much deeper than losing airtime on ESPN2's First Take.
Meantime, SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt was thought to be suspended from his radio show Monday for comments he made last week about baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Van Pelt went on a rant about Selig's $17.5 million salary and took it a little too far. He started off with a few little insults then quickly digressed into calling Selig a "pimp."
"He probably has a chalice with 'B-U-D' spelled out in jewels and diamonds," Van Pelt said on the air. "You drink from a chalice if you're a pimp."
ESPN would not officially comment, but it is thought Van Pelt sat out Monday's show as punishment. For the record, Van Pelt told USA Today that he called Selig and apologized and that Selig "couldn't have been more gracious."
OVERREACTION OF THE WEEK
The Golf Channel has suspended another reporter. A year after it suspended Kelly Tilghman for making a comment about other players "lynching" Tiger Woods, the channel has suspended on-course reporter and former PGA player Andrew Magee for one week after an incident during Friday's second round of the Buick Invitational.
Not realizing he was still on the air, Magee told analyst Gary McCord about a T-shirt worn by a fan on the course. McCord didn't react. Now, we won't repeat the T-shirt's joke. It was suggestive and inappropriate, though it did not involve any curse words.
Magee has learned a valuable lesson: Even if you think you're off the air, don't say anything that will get you in trouble if you said it on the air. But that message could have been gotten across with a "good talking to" as opposed to a suspension, which seems a little extreme.
HE WROTE IT
Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum wrote about comments ESPN college basketball analyst Bob Knight made about Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps on a recent Mike and Mike radio show. Knight said, "Once you've become a participant in a sport that is observed by a lot of people, you then assume a responsibility to kids ... when you discard that responsibility then you have not upheld what you should be doing."
Knight is right, but McCallum was right, too, when he wrote: "A better paradigm for youth: Kick chairs onto the court, bully players, intimidate subordinates and colleagues and generally act like a horse's behind."
WHINER OF THE WEEK
Fox.com senior NFL writer Alex Marvez was talking on the radio over the weekend about the fact that many NFL players don't like the idea of the Pro Bowl moving from Hawaii to Miami next season. Marvez mentioned Colts star Reggie Wayne saying he would never get to visit Hawaii if not for the Pro Bowl.
Let me see if I have this right. An NFL player is complaining about getting a free trip to Miami in February because it's not Hawaii? And who exactly is handling these players' finances? What, they are NFL all-stars and yet can't afford to foot the bill for a Hawaii vacation?
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
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