More Le Batard hijinks

[Scott Carefoot]

Do people really think LeBatard should have been suspended for this?

No ... but then again I would have fired his ass over it.

Really? This is a fireable offence? To me, it's no different than the "(your city) sucks" columns Woody Paige wrote for 100 years.

To me it is. He's stepped out of a role of being a journalist and started acting like a whiny fan. Paige does it within the context of his column, much like Jim Murray did, but this is a step beyond, in my book.

But, then again, I'm not running ESPN. I'm a bit old school when it comes to objectivity.

LeBatard did this as a joke. He is not really broken up about LeBron leaving Miami, as you can see by this completely sincere column where he expresses his gratitude for what LeBron brought to Miami: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/12/4233191/dan-le-batard-lebron-james-gave.html

With this billboard, LeBatard is trolling both Cleveland and Miami fans over the sense of entitlement they have both felt about LeBron needing to feel gratitude about what they supposedly did for him. On top of that, he used Comic Sans in the "YOU'RE WELCOME LEBRON" line at the top of the billboard, mocking the font Cavs owner Dan Gilbert used in the letter he posted to the team website after LeBron spurned Cleveland in 2010.

Whether or not you consider him to be a good journalist or entertaining, LeBatard is operating at his own level in his field, as evidenced by when he sold his Baseball Hall of Fame vote to Deadspin. Too many people treat sports as life or death, while LeBatard rightly sees it as what it should be -- an entertaining diversion from our dreary lives. He's made a living pulling people's strings over how seriously they take sports and I admire him for it. I'm not saying everybody in the business should be like him, but my enjoyment of sports is greater with the addition of his ingredient into the stew.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Woody Paige once ate dog food on TV.
He's not an exemplar of any kind of dignified behavior.
Some will actually eat **** for big money. ESPN proved it.

 

[HanSenSE]

Do people really think LeBatard should have been suspended for this?

No ... but then again I would have fired his ass over it.

Really? This is a fireable offence? To me, it's no different than the "(your city) sucks" columns Woody Paige wrote for 100 years.

To me it is. He's stepped out of a role of being a journalist and started acting like a whiny fan. Paige does it within the context of his column, much like Jim Murray did, but this is a step beyond, in my book.

But, then again, I'm not running ESPN. I'm a bit old school when it comes to objectivity.

Why do you think he is a journalist? He is not a journalist. He did this "within the context" of being a talking head with radio and television shows.

And if he were confining it to his show, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But the bulletin board turned him into an attention ****. Either that or he's got a hell of a lot of disposable income.

 

[Walter Lippmann]

The saddest part is La Batard comes off as one of the most insecure dudes out there.

 

[Scott Carefoot]

And if he were confining it to his show, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But the bulletin board turned him into an attention ****. Either that or he's got a hell of a lot of disposable income.

There is no question Dan has a lot of disposable income. He could have used that money on pointless luxury goods and you would have never known about it. Instead, he spent the money on these billboards (six of them!) that he knew would get under the craw of humorless people who take sports too seriously. It's certainly not more noble than donating the money to charity, but I enjoy his spirit of getting under the skin of people who neither know his shtick, take the time to research his actual views on the subject, nor do they actually realize how ridiculous it is to burn jerseys or wish physical harm on LeBron for his perfectly understandable career decisions. Whether or not you respect Dan's routine, he's unquestionably one of the sanest people in the business and I enjoy his success and how it irritates so many people.

 

[SnarkShark]

It was a joke. Taking this seriously, as ESPN did, is an overreaction. Take a deep breath, it will be OK.

 

[Fran Curci]

I guess I don't understand why this was a problem at all. LeBatard is purely a commentator, so there's no "objectivity" issue. It was sarcastic but not offensive. If he did a long rant on ESPN radio on the same subject, it would be lauded. It's the height of subtlety compared to some of his co-workers' baloney.

 

[BTExpress]

LeBatard is having a ball and making a ton of money. And not doing anyone any harm.

All of us should be so screwed up.

 

[JC]

Lebatard takes sports with the levity it should be taken, he doesn't take himself so seriously like so many others do.

 

[Brian]

I'll chime in and say I too find his perspective refreshing. His show the week of LeBron's departure was like performance art, pointing out the hypocrisy and luncacy all sides showed about where one man chose to go to work.

 

[Pancamo]

He has a lot of disposable income but $90K for an ad in the paper?

 

[Alma]

Lebatard takes sports with the levity it should be taken, he doesn't take himself so seriously like so many others do.

Oh, he takes himself seriously.

When people try hard in life to make sure you know they think most things are a farce, they're a lot more wound up than they'd have you believe.

The most self-serious writers in the business work at Deadspin.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

I'll jump on the pile that wonders what the big deal is here. Just don't see where that reaction from the 4 letter behemoth was warranted.

Only rationale I can surmise is it's a big smooch on the backside cheeks to LeBron, if not a true King slurp job.

 

[Iron_chet]

Lebatard takes sports with the levity it should be taken, he doesn't take himself so seriously like so many others do.

I think this is spot on. Of all the yapping heads on sports radio I enjoy Lebatard the most. His show is a fun listen. Count me in as one of the people who did not see what the big deal was.

 

[HanSenSE]

He has a lot of disposable income but $90K for an ad in the paper?

Perhaps he expensed it, which is why the WWL came down.

 

[Fran Curci]

$90,000 for a full-page ad sounds outrageously high. I doubt that it's accurate. More like $9,000. Maybe.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

The more I think about it -- especially with the ESPN statement that the organization didn't know about it -- the more I wonder if the issue was he used company money.

 

[Riptide]

$90,000 for a full-page ad sounds outrageously high. I doubt that it's accurate. More like $9,000. Maybe.

Yeah, this.
I thought the same.

 

[SnarkShark]

There is no possible way he used company money without authorization for this. If he did, the suspension would be too light, not an overreaction.

 

[MileHigh]

The more I think about it -- especially with the ESPN statement that the organization didn't know about it -- the more I wonder if the issue was he used company money.

Had a former co-worker in Miami e-mail me from Africa to say she found it extremely hilarious.

There are many problems with this story, namely, Tard -- by the way, it's three words; Dan Le Batard -- has been trying to do something like this for the past month and -- gasp -- all of a sudden, ESPN didn't know anything about this? Um, is anyone listening to what's going out on its airwaves? That and the suspension came down within 12 hours after this happened and yet the SAS fiasco took four, five days to land him on the bench for something 10,000 times more egregious.