'How Sports Illustrated Botched the Michael Sam Story'

If you sub "Jim McGreevey" for "Michael Sam," I might agree with you.

Probably not, but I could be more easily persuaded.

 

They compete for news. Sports Illustrated frequently beats them. Sports Illustrated, Tom Verducci notwithstanding, has more journalistic credibility in its pinkie finger than ESPN, as an overall organization, has in its Andre the Giant-sized body, owing to ESPN's partnerships with the leagues it covers.

The notion that Jon Wertheim should defer to ESPN because ESPN is bigger is absolute nonsense.

 

If Michael Sam were the legislator behind that law in Arizona that says you don't have to serve gay people, there is a public interest in outing him. As a football player, there isn't, any more than there was a public interest in identifying how much Rex Ryan loved his wife's feet. There's no harm being done, and no reason to feel like you've got to beat the competition.

The thing with SI's strategy, though, is that it was perfect for revving up the click rate, which is what it's all about.

 

A friend who works at ESPN said 20+ years ago a baseball player agreed to come out and filmed the interview with Dick Schaap. The next day, he changed his mind and asked them not to air it and ESPN agreed to it, in part because Schaap said he wanted nothing to do with it if the guy didn't want it out there.

Two decades later the player has still not publicly come out.

 

So?

 

This has nothing to do with broadcast vs. print. It has everything to do with ESPN's financial relationships with its sources. That taints everything it does.

 

Exactly.

"Breaking" the story before your source announces it serves the reporter's selfish ends and nothing more.

 

Did you wait until police press conferences to break news?

 

No idea. Which is why I'm so back and forth on this.
I'm more curious to how the second player who comes out in the NFL or NBA gets treated.

 

It'll be big-time diminishing returns, particularly if it continues to be unknowns like Jason Collins and Michael Sam.

 

My goodness.

Is this just midday mental gymnastics, or do you really hold no difference between a person coming out and the various analogies you're posting here?

 

I think that MisterCreosote is making statements about breaking news in very generalized language.