Tag: Sports Columns

"Professional franchises don’t have to agree with a media member. They don’t have to like the questions being asked or the opinions being offered. But when a credential is pulled immediately after pointed criticism and no explanation is provided, it creates the appearance that a dissenting voice is being punished for being dissenting."

"With a potential $60 million-$65 million annual extension reportedly waiting in the wings, ESPN is clearly wanting to make a significant investment in his future. Whether you love McAfee, tolerate him or cannot stand him, there is little denying his ability to generate attention."

"When the measurement system changes every NFL season, eventually the numbers become less useful for answering the question everyone wants to know: Are more people watching?"

"There was something comforting about turning on ESPN and seeing that ticker crawling across the bottom. It told you that you were plugged into the sports world. Today, the sports world isn't waiting at the bottom of our television anymore."

"There will only ever be one Lee Corso. And for the first time, college football begins a season without him anywhere around it. That’s going to take some getting used to."

"This was Michael Jordan. The face of the NBA’s greatest era. The man who helped make the original NBA on NBC a cultural phenomenon. The opportunity to put him back in that environment should have been impossible to screw up. And somehow, NBC did."

"It was one of the best football shows I have seen in quite a while. While different in format, the program reminded me of the old Jon Gruden’s Quarterback Camp on ESPN. It was in-depth, all-encompassing and quite entertaining."

"Programming is supposed to be about developing talent, building brands, creating opportunities and preparing the next person to take the next step. When the person responsible for doing those things becomes part of the talent lineup, the priorities inevitably become blurred."

"YouTube’s willingness to pay creators to stay should be a wake-up call for sports radio. Stop giving the platform millions of hours of content every month for free."

"When a broadcaster can create the kind of reaction that Mulligan’s departure generated, and when a brand can withstand decades of change and still command that kind of attention, there is still plenty of life left in both."