04/18/24
February 25, 2015
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
How's this for a lede? "Early Monday, the Yankees found out Yoan Moncada wasn't coming to their minor league complex and Alex Rodriguez was."
If it's not passed the sniff test of the newsroom, it's not yet a story.
The "People Yelling at Each Other" side of ESPN won a long time ago. Anything they feel like talking about is a story. And if it's too risky, then they let ESPN Radio create a groundswell and report on the controversy.
posted by yerfatma at 04:25 PM on February 25, 2015
More info on Bryant - apparently, whoever has it has offered it to TMZ or Bryant's team, depending on who pays more.
Allegedly screen shots have been sent around to some folks in the media attempting to shake them down too. Hell of a way to get a payday.
Roger Goodell is viciously booking a trip to Antarctica as we speak.
posted by dfleming at 04:27 PM on February 25, 2015
Hard to imagine how it could be 5 times worse that the Ray Rice hit without someone ending up in a full length file drawer at the morgue.
posted by beaverboard at 07:06 PM on February 25, 2015
Hard to imagine how it could be 5 times worse that the Ray Rice hit without someone ending up in a full length file drawer at the morgue.
Punching 5 women in a row?
Punching a small girl in the face?
posted by grum@work at 09:09 PM on February 25, 2015
More rumours about athletes getting in trouble, Josh Hamilton has flown to NY to have a disciplinary hearing with MLB.
The top speculative reason is that he used cocaine a few months back, voluntarily admitted it to MLB, and is expecting to be punished for it (as he's a multiple-time offender when he was in the minors). However, because he voluntarily came forward, the belief is that he'll be treated as a first-time offender by MLB (minimal suspension, if any). It does seem that MLB can bring down an 80-game suspension on him, or even longer (as there was speculation that he was under some previous special agreement with MLB because of his earlier drug history, and there might not be any wiggle room).
In summary, Hamilton probably did cocaine, admitted it, and will either get a small suspension or miss most of the season.
(All we do know is that it definitely isn't PEDs.)
posted by grum@work at 09:16 PM on February 25, 2015
Punching a small girl in the face?
Oh...that's bad? Wait, you're Canadian. That's probably bad up there.
posted by NoMich at 09:41 PM on February 25, 2015
The top speculative reason is that he used cocaine a few months back, voluntarily admitted it to MLB, and is expecting to be punished for it (as he's a multiple-time offender when he was in the minors).
I kinda wonder how MLB classifies his suspensions. The final test that he failed in '03 (which was not the first) was during spring training, and it was not inconceivable that he made that Rays team. He also had the incident in 2009 where it seems his inability to actually get any cocaine one night while drunk was the only thing stopping him from failing a test.
I mean - on the one hand, non-PED drug and alcohol suspensions are draconian - but on the other, Hamilton's voluntarily admitted three times in the last five years to incidents and has had to hold press conferences to apologize to the fans. At what point does him coming forward stop being a good sign, worthy of consideration during discussions of his punishment?
posted by dfleming at 08:55 AM on February 26, 2015
Hard to imagine how it could be 5 times worse ...
Punching a woman in the face while wearing NFL-prohibited gloves.
posted by rcade at 11:20 AM on February 26, 2015
Hard to imagine how it could be 5 times worse ...
Punching a woman in the face while not talking to the press.
posted by grum@work at 11:45 AM on February 26, 2015
"Mr. Bryant, please proceed to the Sporting Goods department. Mr. Bryant to Sporting Goods."
posted by beaverboard at 11:56 AM on February 26, 2015
This has got to be the cagiest semi-leak ever - apparently there is a Dez Bryant video of some kind, showing him doing "something he shouldn't be doing" - but can't possibly be smoking pot or something that simple, because Adam Schefter has been working on it for a long time and there's "a lot involved" and may or may not ever be able to release anything. A source says there's some rumours it's "five times worse than the Ray Rice video."
I've gotta say, this feels insanely irresponsible to me as far as my take on media ethics is concerned. If it's not passed the sniff test of the newsroom, it's not yet a story. In the meantime, it's going to do a heck of a lot to Bryant's negotiations for his largest contract ever to have this come out right now with no actual substance.
Report on facts and stories, not on the media. This kind of hyping of things to come to me is bullshit.