ESPN: No tweeting about sports for 48 hours

Bristol isn't that far from Newtown. Hits much closer to home.

 

What about Hoppes? Does he have to follow rules now?

 

So? ESPN has reporters in places other than Bristol.

This is pointless. Why 48 hours? Why not 72? Why not a week?

We all know why.

 

Yep.

I'm surprised someone hasn't suggested the NFL cancel their games this weekend.

 

In all honesty, as a Redskins fan, I'm allowed to be deeply troubled and saddened about the killings in Connecticut and still be curious about RGIII's availability.

Then again, as a Redskins fan I was already disgusted and pissed at ESPN to begin with.

 

Like I floated earlier on the thread, I think it's because of the nature of Twitter.

Yesterday, you'd have 14 posts in a row with updates from Newtown. Then you'd have one post along the lines of, "WTF are the Tigers thinking on the Anibal Sanchez deal? #Wasteofmoney #LOL"

Because of how Twitter just tosses all headlines into one stew like that, it made the sports Tweeters - and entertainment Tweeters, for that matter - seem insensitive. It wasn't the case, but the nature of the medium made it so.

 

I thought PTI handled it the right way yesterday ... opened without its usual fanfare music, TK opened acknowledging the tragedy and offering prayers but said this was a show about sports and that it would continue as such.

 

Not that they're the only ones. Jim Rome spent much of his show grandstanding about the tragedies, but remember he's also the kind of person who does this:

 

If ESPN held off on tweeting until Tuesday, it would mean something.

 

Grandstanding. Some folks take solace during horrible events in everyday crapola, like sports. MLB attendance during WWII was strong. Nothing insensitive about that. Tragedy and good times co-exist every day. It's possible to hold two thoughts, two emotions, two realities in one's mind and heart.

I'd be a lot more worried about the commercials for "shooting" video games we might see on ESPN or elsewhere in the coming days.

 

So, the gist of this thread seems to be "What a pointless policy -- And it ends so quickly!"

Tough crowd.

 

It might be a good idea for ESPN to do this. It affects people in Bristol, CT because it is closer. It affected me yesterday because as a parent, you think it could have been your kid. It would also be a question of clearing the wires so information about this can come through.

As for Springsteen and Bon Jovi, they are both Jersey guys. There's no indication that they didn't care about the hurricanes affecting the Gulf, but Hurricane Sandy affected neighbors. Having Springsteen and Bon Jovi play for a benefit about the Gulf wouldnt be the same to them, and people in the Gulf might get more feeling if artists from that area played in a benefit.

Also, Hurricane Sandy was much more unusual to New JErsey in terms of the degree of the disaster and how unique it is to the area.

A note about baseball - baseball did continue during World War II, but games were postponed on D-Day because it was so unique and important.