Winners and losers concerning Favre coverage?

No. The deal was in place, and you only have to listen to the other writers who were saying they were surprised when it was the Jets who landed him.

For whatever reason, the Glazer family decided to take their finger off the trigger between midnight on Tuesday and 11 p.m. on Wednesday. From everything I've heard, this was the Glazer's deal far more than Allen and Gruden's.

 

This is right on the mark. All of ESPN's outlets got their asses handed to them by Jay Glazer/Fox. We were practically cheering that fact even as we had to tear up three pages to remake the section.

Smith, Clayton, Mort, etc., have all been mentioned so far. I don't think Rachel Nichols came out of this looking to swell, either.

Someone mentioned, rightfully so to a degree, that who really cares who breaks these things. Generally, I agree with that -- it's gotten out of hand with all of the "ESPN has confirmed" B.S. But this was a much different beast -- ESPN had devoted a ridiculous amount of resources to this, relocating to Green Bay enough people to probably run a good-sized local network. AND THE WWL GOT ITS ASS KICKED, by more than an hour, before it could finally get up off the canvas.

They got beat so badly that they actually had to put up a credit to FoxSports.com that was on the screen for several minutes. I've never seen ESPN do that, at least to that extent. They always get one of their guys to "confirm," trying to make it sound like they didn't get beat. Well, they got pummeled this time, and there was no getting around it.

 

Obviously ESPN and everyone else went way — ESPN especially — went way, way, way, way overboard, BUT there was a hell of a lot of drama in the whole thing, and a lot of twists and changes and plots. It's not like they said "Brett Favre is thinking of returning to play football" 7,500 times. With all the rumored trades, the payoffs, the reinstatement, the Packers' feelings, Favre's feelings and how all those things changed pretty much daily, I thought pretty heavy coverage was warranted.

 

True. This was one hell of a strange story.

 

Jay Glazer on WFAN about an hour ago, referring to ESPN: "Nine out of the 10 things that would scroll at the bottom of the screen were wrong.''
There was definitely a hint of disdain in his voice

 

My favorite Glazer scoop still is when he had Bill Parcells returning to coaching (or maybe it was interviewing to be head coach) - and Parcells was working for ESPN at the time and ESPN had no sniff of this story. Mort had to do an uncomfortable interview with Parcells way after the fact. Beautiful.

Glazer was the man behind all the scoops CBS (TV) used to have years ago (although he wouldn't get credit at the time, I think horrible Greg Gumbel would say something like CBS has learned); the man is good.

 

That's beautiful.

 

Nichols doesn't look so bad. She's a reporter, on any number of assignments, and certainly wasn't front and center like Nix. Not even sure why she was called in.

And, ultimately, neither does Mort. I mean, he sucks Favre's teat, and the Jets story clearly wasn't leaked by Favre. PK was nowhere to be found, either, and he tugs on the Jets' chain all the time. I don't even know whom Mort has an in with. Tuna?

But Smith looks just moronic, flouting his certitude. And Clayton should be banned from comment on east coast teams. He doesn't work those teams and sure as hell wouldn't know.

The real problem here is that there were too many cooks in the kitchen. It becomes very hard to bust any story when you've got seemingly 39 folks commenting on it.

 

I remember awhile back Prisco had one of the coaches before anyone else did and Mort went on the air and dismissed the "rumor" like it was rampant speculation and irresponsible reporting and the guy got the job the next day.

It doesn't happen often, but it's nice to see someone stick it to the WWL.

 

I thought Mort looked bad, not just because he got beat, but because he tried to spin the whole story like Favre was such an innocent victim in all of this.

 

Favre On Verge Of Joining Bucs
Posted By Ira Kaufman at Aug 06, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Updated Aug 06, 2008 at 08:44 AM

The Brett Favre saga could end with the NFL icon in pewter.

The Tribune has learned Favre will not stand in the way of a trade from Green Bay to Tampa Bay and the deal is likely to be finalized within 24 hours.

The chances of the trade unraveling are remote and Favre has indicated to the Bucs directly that he is willing to change teams after 16 years of growing his legend in Green Bay.

The Packers, unwilling to deal the 3-time league MVP to an NFC North rival, view the Bucs as a compromise in this ugly impasse. The Bucs view Favre as an upgrade on QB Jeff Garcia, who made the Pro Bowl in 2007 while leading Tampa Bay to an NFC South title.

Once it became clear to Favre that he wasn’t welcome back in Green Bay, he became more flexible in terms of accepting a trade to clubs outside the division. The Bucs have been interested in Favre since last month, when he announced he wanted to play again.

The Bucs could make the trade announcement official by Wednesday, but Favre will have little time to learn Coach Jon Gruden’s complex system because the Bucs open the regular season Sept. 7 at division rival New Orleans.

 

That's because Glazer works the other end - the front offices. ESPN massages the stars. And the NFL is a front office league.

Of course, ESPN got Scott Van Pelt, who'd never do it otherwise, to milk Tiger Woods for a comment on the Favre situation. So there's that.