If you read any media columnist, including the two or three dozen that write on this site, you know one of our biggest pet peeves is how ESPN will often credit a story one of their writers didn’t break to “media reports.” It’s disingenuous and it reads as almost fear of the network not being seen as the be-all, end-all for sports news. Especially now that Fox Sports 1 will specifically credit sources like ESPN and Yahoo!, it appears especially petty.
Anyway, today’s a big day for NBA news. LeBron James has opted out of his contract again, as ESPN first reported today. Adrian Wojnarowski, a Yahoo! and Fox Sports 1 insider, credited the network with the scoop. That’s when one of ESPN’s NBA analysts, Amin Elhassan, decided to take a real risk.
@AminESPN You have 75 guys there. You really should break every story. I’d be more worried about that than me.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 24, 2014
When I read this, I literally put my hands in the air and reacted loudly, as if I was still in the high school cafeteria and someone had told a really good “Yo Mama” joke (Remember, I graduated high school in 2007, so this is not 100% embarrassing, and by the way, shut up). Anyway, I think we’ve all had fun here.
I really wonder why Elhassan decided to go there with Woj. He must know ESPN’s rep for pulling that sort of shenanigan, so was he taking a shot at ESPN himself? Either way, Wojnarowski showed off why he’s one of the internet’s most beloved sports people: a quick wit and an inability to suffer fools. Also, you know, all the hot scoops.
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