Mort and Favre

I posted this on one of the Favre threads on the sports and news board and no one bit. It's probably more of a journalism topic anyway. Here goes:

I watched Chris Mortenson's reports on the Favre situation Friday on ESPN and read his reports on ESPN.com. The dateline on the online story was Hattiesburg, Miss., where Favre lives, and his TV report mentioned how good he thought Favre looked as he practiced with the high school kids. Yet, there was not one quote from Favre. Nothing Mort reported was attributed to Favre himself; everything from Favre was attributed to the agent. There was no mention of speaking with Favre, no mention of what he actually said, no mention of Favre NOT talking.

So what was Mort doing? Doesn't he have to say whether or not he talked to Favre? Doesn't it seem odd that he was there and watched him play and didn't speak with him or didn't even attempt to speak to him? If Favre wasn't talking, isn't it important to say that?

One more thing, after watching Terrell Owens lifting weights in his drive way last year (or was it two years ago?), isn't it strange that there hasn't been a camera crew hanging around southern Mississippi or around that high school practice field, trying to get a statement or a peek?

 

Mort, on radio the other day, described Favre wearing a sleeveless shirt on the practice field and joking that his "guns" looked pretty good. I certainly got the impression Mort was on the scene. Maybe Favre would only acknowledge Mort but not talk to him. I could envision that.

 

Uh, Kato, you might want to go back and read Mort's story again:

 

Mort is reporting whatever Bus Cook tells him to.

 

Agreed.

This whole saga is unnecessary sensationalistic.

BREAKING NEWS: Brett Favre ate dinner with his family Sunday night...

 

i've always greatly admired favre, the most down-to-earth superstar i've ever met. also greatly admire mort and SportsJournalists.com whipping boy peter king.

all that said, everyone's guilty of being way up favre/cook's butt on this one. a lot of penis-measuring goin' on with this one.

 

Chris Mortensen reports Favre passed on the ice cream, which may be another indication he's serious about reporting to training camp in shape.

 

Mortensen also reports that Favre's daughter, Breleigh, intercepted the mashed potatoes intended for his wife Deanna during the second course. Favre, who had tried to fling the potatoes a spoonful at a time to Deanna, said, "I was just trying to make a play. I am Brett fuckin' Favre, man."

 

I may have missed that. If so, my bad. Maybe it was added later. I don't recall reading that orginally, and when I saw Mort's TV report Friday night, he made no mention of talking to or trying to talk to Favre.

Still, it does seem crazy that, with everything being reported from other camps -- Cook, the Packers -- that someone couldn't get something out of Favre -- even an on-the-record, even on-camera no comment -- if they're right there with him.

 

Doesn't "Favre did not wish to speak publicly about his situation" suffice as a no comment? A quote from Favre saying, "No comment" wouldn't have furthered the story. Hopefully, Mort spoke with him privately and gained some insight for his reporting.