Boycott ESPN?

As one of the only 24/7 sports news companies on the airwaves, ESPN has a near monopoly on modern day sports coverage as we know it. However, many of their written articles on their website reek of muckraking and Yellow Journalism. Several articles from Forde, Mandel and Ivan "maizenblue" are highly critical of West Virginia University as a whole, including innocent bystanders that happen to live in or formerly lived in the state.

If ESPN had it's way, the whole state of West Virginia should not only be considered backwards, toothless and uneducated, they would paint us all as nothing but racists.

We all know (by now) the Rich Rod timeline and the facts as provided by the Freedom of Information Act. Cell phone records prove that Rod was calling on recruits for UM while still employed by WVU. ETC....ad nauseum.....

However, when interim Coach Stewart helped coach WVU to a whooping of the Sooners, he was named head coach. Before the dust had settled, ESPN released a ten year old story about Stewart being a racist. Coach admits using the N word, but the context was almost completely left out of the story. Thus, many readers did not realize his intentions of his statements. Instead, he was let go at VMI. I hadn't heard a thing about this story while Stewart was a Nehlen asst. at all. In fact, I never heard about it while he was a Rod asst. either. Not until he had a great game and a job offer did ESPN choose to run this story? Why?

ESPN now has comments forums available after most articles. Any yahoo can sign up and start posting about their opinions. These have become very popular with some articles reaching over 16,000 posts. I too, signed up so I could read what others have to say or make a statement myself. I read many comments about stories I have read at ESPN. Well, that stopped today. While I continue to read the articles, I will not discuss them with anybody except by phone or face to face. Why today?

The latest on the Rich Rod/WVU scandal is another racial accusation made by the agent for Rich Rod and Calvin Magee. Once again, it is the Pittsburg newspaper citing the anonymous sources. Rich Rod interviews with the Toledo Blade? Do what now? Why doesn't ESPN get it's Michigan news from the papers in Columbus, Ohio?

Agent Mike Brown basically makes the writer believe that somebody in the WVU administration actually told Calvin Magee that he would never be a head coach here because of his skin color (pointing to his black skinned arm). Ivan Maisel writes this without any other source except from the statement by Agent Brown. This is shoddy and Yellow to say the least. How many WVU football games were on ESPN last season? If you include ESPNU Gameplan, then all of them were on. All of them.

If you dare to go into the comments forum, you will read some brilliant posts. However, the majority of them are spouting trolls. Comments recently seen from some of the less gifted include, "Why don't you go and sleep with your sister in your trailer after you get your welfare check?" It would only be funny (for about the 200th time I ever heard it) if Eric Cartman was saying it.

If ESPN is the publisher that fans the flames, they should be held accountable as well. These articles are extremely biased against the new coach and the entire WVU administration. I'll admit, things could have been handled a little better, but ESPN wants you think that we are all racist hillbillies as a result.

My Momma would have called this type of journalism "Common and Shiftless"!



Good Luck to Steve Slaton. We will miss you! Sports Illustrated was almost right, but ESPN, include Corso, Herbsteit and that idiot Holtz only said, "See, I told you so".

I can't stop watching ESPN during ACC basketball season, but I can yell at the TV and stomp around if I want to.