ESPN "Office Space" Lynn Hoppes

[mediaguy]

Hadn't seen this posted yet, but ESPN's in-house blog did a Cribs-style interview with SJ fave Lynn Hoppes, who is Page 2 editor for ESPN.com. Yes, former APSE president, showing off the swag he gets from interview subjects ...



Deadspin already chimed in:

http://deadspin.com/#!5789851

 

[The Big Ragu]

That was painful.

Just painful.

 

[Ace]

Self-awareness, thy name isn't Lynn.

 

[SF_Express]

OK (sigh)...

This was indeed hard to watch, but the only thing I'd point out in his defense(?) is that pretty much everything he points out is at that trinket level, the kind of thing that would cause "undue embarrassment," or whatever the phrasing is, to return. M&Ms, etc...The wakeboard certainly pushes it a bit.

I wouldn't have personally done this, but it's not like he's displaying major graft as a trophy. And this is a half-hearted defense, I'll admit.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Well, three separate issues, then.

One is accepting schwag. Agree that everyone gets crap. And most don't return stuff, particularly at the trinket level. But the reason schwag is an issue in journalism is that it is supposed to affect coverage. And that leads to issue two: given how he jizzes over people in that video, he actually makes it look like the schwag had an impact. So you can't write it off as a bunch of trinkets. He is gushing! Which leads to issue three. He is all giddy about a bunch of silly trinkets, and name dropping the Jonahs brothers and Nelly. Forget the journalistic issues. Self-awareness, thy name isn't Lynn, as a great man once said.

 

[Steak Snabler]

First comment on Deadspin is oustanding:

"And this was a gift from Shawn Kemp; his name is Julien."

 

[Fran Curci]

It's not the swag, it's the horrendous name-dropping. And it's not like this guy is Rick Reilly --- he's not a writer, he's an editor, so if he's meeting all these people it's because he's schmoozing instead of working.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

I really can't stop laughing. It may be days before I can see this as more than cartoonish.

 

[Den1983]

Wow. Simply ... wow.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

It's not the swag, it's the horrendous name-dropping. And it's not like this guy is Rick Reilly --- he's not a writer, he's an editor, so if he's meeting all these people it's because he's schmoozing instead of working.

To be fair, Lynn does produce quite a bit of content for Page 2. He likes to name drop on Facebook too, but I think a lot of the time he's meeting these people it is for interviews. In the interest of disclosure, I have done some work for Page 2. I was actually working today on some ideas to pitch to them, but to be honest it's more because the pay is decent than because I'm a much of a fan of the site.

But yeah, I probably wouldn't have done that if I was him.

 

[imjustagirl]

Do you know how hard it is to be one of the biggest tools there? Do you?

Lynn does.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Slobbering fanboy with snout in the trough.

 

[DK]

What an utter ****ing embarrassment.

 

[Turtle Wexler]

So much wrong with that.

Think Poynter's ombuds will write about that?

 

[Bob Cook]

When I saw the thread title, I thought perhaps someone had taken his red Swingline stapler.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I guess we know why ESPN didn't bust the Fiesta Bowl committee. John Junker? Seen his junk in the locker room.

 

[Boom_70]

I am an avid reader of pg 2 and had no clue who the editor is.

I do know that it has become a top flight site with great writers like Wright Thompson and Jeff McGregor.

The quality of writing is now on par with The New Yorker

 

[21]

Slobbering fanboy with snout in the trough.

I am an avid reader of pg 2 and had no clue who the editor is.

I do know that it has become a top flight site with great writers like Wright Thompson and Jeff McGregor.

The quality of writing is now on par with The New Yorker

I feel like Boom and Frank participated in an intricate neurological experiment, and some really weird stuff happened.

 

[Double J]

I am an avid reader of pg 2 and had no clue who the editor is.

I do know that it has become a top flight site with great writers like Wright Thompson and Jeff McGregor.

The quality of writing is now on par with The New Yorker

 

[daman]

I sat in on a presentation he gave to a group of college media people in New York City and I think he name-dropped Puff Daddy, Jeremy Shockey and some other semi-popular pop cultural figure, completely unprompted. He also used the F-word (in a professional setting) about three times and - as a side note - said he drove a Mercedes. I'm making none of that up.