ESPN aired their latest 30 for 30 last night, I Hate Christian Laettner. While the film’s title and subject matter are obviously supposed to bring out emotional responses, the network probably didn’t imagine it would do so with one ESPN on-air personality calling out another.
New York Daily News scribe and Around the Horn panelist Frank Isola had this to say during the film, calling out one of Duke’s rivals at the time – the Fab Five and Michigan – with a couple rather innocuous tweets.
Sure, Duke won all those titles but Michigan wore baggy shorts.
— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) March 16, 2015
The idea that Michigan’s Fab 5 was cooler and more influential than the UNLV teams with Larry Johnson is a pure fantasy.
— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) March 16, 2015
Naturally, that led one of those Fab Five members, Jalen Rose, to subtweet Isola with the following, telling him to just be happy with being on TV at ESPN:
I see you former NY writer
now "analyst" (HA!) taking shots. Be happy you are on TV and with Espn.— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) March 16, 2015
I see you NY writer taking shots & working for Espn. Be happy newspapers lost luster & you can be on TV now.
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) March 16, 2015
Isola, probably thinking he’s met ESPN’s version of James Dolan, replied thusly.
Hey, @JalenRose I was simply comparing Larry Johnson to Eric Riley.
— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) March 16, 2015
Geez… thin-skinned much, Jalen? A sportswriter can’t have an opinion that the Fab Five was the coolest and most influential and most successful team that has ever lived? That’s not allowed from ANYONE who even appears on ESPN television? Yeesh.
ESPN has been very kind to Rose and the historical narrative of the Fab Five. Let’s not forget that it was Rose himself who produced the 30 for 30 on the Michigan group and launched all sorts of controversy over his comments towards Duke recruiting “uncle Toms.” Rose also has a nice cushy job as an analyst and Grantland sidekick to Bill Simmons, so I don’t know why he has to take a shot at Isola and the entire newspaper industry over a fairly harmless tweet. Maybe hanging around Simmons so much has inspired him to fire shots at colleagues at will.
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