What the HELL is up with ESPN?I’m on travel again, back in DC again, and I’m sitting at the bar in the Ragtime restaurant (okay, so I’m actually staying in Arlington, VA), and I’m sippin’ my brew while waiting for my chew, watching ESPN.
The sound is down, and Closed Captioning is on, and I’m reading about critics talking ‘bout the Congressional hearings on baseball & steroids. This is what I read (as best as I recollect; I wrote it down on a bar nap, cuz I was just on my 2nd Bud – if I had tried to remember later (now), I would totally draw a blank):
“Why aren’t they (Congress) investigating the President’s ties to Enron, or the massive contracts awarded to Haliburton in Iraq?” [
This is a VERY close to verbatim quote - ed.]
Who the f*ck anointed some sports twit to opine about politics? IMHO, those dicks don’t hardly know sports (esp. apparent this college basketball season, when Duke loses two games, one to a ranked opponent and one to an complete basketball basket-case like my beloved Hokies, and they hardly drop one spot in the polls, whereas a proven winner like the Syracuse Orange-somethings lose to 2 ranked opponents and they barely stay in the top 20 - *puff* *puff* -
end of unrelated rant – ed.), so why are they pretending to know jack about politics – and why would anyone think this would be appropriate for ESPN? Is this why we’re watching a sports network, so we can get John Chaney-esque political pontifications? Chaney, who showed his true American spirit by sending in a “goon” to wreak havoc when he thought the officials weren’t calling the game his way? And the same Chaney who may have coached his last game in a loss to - the HOKIES!!! in the 1st round of the NIT? Ooops – how did that slip in?
It’s even more disturbing because said sports twit is rehashing the same stories that have been thoroughly investigated by professional journalists, and have been proven to be non-stories. C’mon, if Bush’s ties to Enron, or Cheney’s ties to Haliburton were real issues, John Kerry would be president. The Haliburton reference really sticks to my craw. Anyone who knows anything about gov’t contracting (which obviously does NOT include sports writers) knows that sole source contracts in emergency situations are only let to a company that can do the job. Does said sports twit have any other candidate companies that could’ve provided the services that Haliburton could at the time of contract award? No, of course not. Even the pro journalists – who desperately wanted to show the connection to VP Cheney couldn’t pull that thread. And believe you me – they tried!!
In conclusion, sports writing twits – stick to what you (barely) know.
Rant over – breath deeply…