11/05/24
July 28, 2003
Bob Hope's dead: and the sporting media trys in earnest to jump on the news bandwagon - even with headlines like this. A case of celebration, or hubris? Besides, I get all my celebrity news from si.com.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey to culture at 12:57 PM - 12 comments
I didn't like seeing war news on ESPN.Com, but this is a bit different: Bob Hope's name is on a 42-year-old well-known golf tournament -- I would have expected ESPN to give significant coverage to his death.
posted by rcade at 01:23 PM on July 28, 2003
Yes, rcade, I agree - but the article is a little self-serving. I just thought it was interesting from a mass-media perspective. It seems that with the Dotson/Dennehy story, Kobe and the rest that the actual sports scores and events don't merit more than associated press coverage. What happened to the great sportswriters that used to cover teams?
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:30 PM on July 28, 2003
I'm just wondering how long all these sites had their "Bob Hope is dead" stories in the can while they waited for him to finally kick the bucket. Someone once posted a link to a series of web pages prepared for the inevitable deaths of several aging people like Reagan, the pope, etc. Maybe The Smoking Gun?
posted by mbd1 at 01:31 PM on July 28, 2003
I agree w/corpse. The Sadam's sons thing was a bit off-topic altogether. Hope was heavily involved in golf, so I can see that aspect...
posted by jerseygirl at 01:39 PM on July 28, 2003
The war coverage on espn would have been a better link - they were all over it because Uday was the former Olympic Chairman for Iraq (or equivalent title). That was a little strange.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:41 PM on July 28, 2003
kind of a stretch, eh weedy? either way, the saddam brothers thing was everywhere that day, so good job to espn for keeping the kiddies tuned in...i didn't click on it. as for b.hope, he was a bitter, old...i mean, i liked the guy, but i think the generational gap explains my lack of sincere remorse. having few memories of someone makes it hard to have personal memorial in my head. nothing bad to say, espcially about a USO guy, just not that attached is all.
posted by garfield at 02:04 PM on July 28, 2003
In defense of ESPN's story on the death of the Hussein brothers, they played a huge role in athletics in Iraq. I think ESPN would have been remiss if they hadn't said something about the deaths, especially since the two were a large reason the Iraqis haven't fielded an Olypmic squad since 1988. I would like to see something about how the Olympic teams are being handled in the aftermath. And as a matter of fact, here and here is a little info on just that.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:55 PM on July 28, 2003
Olypmic ... I think I have stock in that company.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:56 PM on July 28, 2003
I do believe the website in question, the one that had the prepared death announcements was CNN.com.
posted by Fluxcore at 04:08 PM on July 28, 2003
The Smoking Gun has CNN's ready-to-go obits
posted by andrewraff at 12:02 PM on July 29, 2003
Dick Cheney.... I wish. He's probably bionic.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:02 PM on July 29, 2003
I wish espn would stick to things directly related to sports. They also had a headline in their sidebar the other week annoucing the deaths of Sadam's sons. I don't want to fucking read that on my sports news sites.