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Sports
June 21, 2006
NYT: We Believe You, Chase
Phillies second baseman Chase Utley has signed a pledge stating, in part, "I pledge that I am not using any illegal or unethical performance-enhancing drugs." The signed statement can't be verified, isn't legally binding, and has nothing to do with his major-league contract (it's mandated by his training center, Athletes' Performance, which doesn't test its athletes, and might even make them sign the meaningless pledge for—cynicism alert—free publicity on the front of a major newspaper's sports section). Yet New York Times reporter Lee Jenkins seems to buy it, and think it a very big deal, after acknowledging and brushing aside some of the ample reasons for skepticism:
Sports
June 14, 2006
Sports Journalism's Odd Odds
In preview articles for major sporting events, one of the easiest ways for journalists to cover lots of teams or players is to rank them. But some writers, striving to be hip to many sports fans' fascination with gambling, like to give odds on who will win the championship. Take Gary Van Sickle's recent piece on this week's US Open for SI.com. In his quest to be entertaining and informative, though, Van Sickle succumbs to the innumeracy that still pervades much of journalism.
Sports
June 13, 2006
All You Other Dick Cheneys Are Just Imitating
In a recent post, Gelf discussed ESPN2 soccer broadcasters' factoid-finding mission into the heart of first-time World Cup participant Togo. But it seems the 2crew forgot the most important fact: Togo is coached by none other than Vice President Dick Cheney.
Sports
June 13, 2006
World Cup Commentators Go on Factoid-Finding Mission
In the US, soccer broadcasts are meeting the CIA World Factbook, and the result isn't pretty. On Wednesday morning's ESPN2 broadcast of Togo vs. South Korea, ESPN's Adrian Healey commented to his partner, Tommy Smyth, that Togo is "almost shaped like a finger." He added, "it's so thin they actually can't print the name on maps of the world." Tommy remarked, "Agriculture represents 65% of the labor force." And Smyth piped in, "It's considered the African capital of magic!" Later in the game, a graphic in the upper left corner fo the screen informed the viewer that Togo was roughly the size of West Virginia.
Sports
June 5, 2006
Why They Hate Us, World Cup Edition
The US media has come a long way in the four years since the last World Cup—and still has a long way to go. The good: ESPN is getting behind-the-scenes footage of the US team; Sports Illustrated and the New York Times's sports magazine, Play, both ran multi-part previews on their covers; and several newspapers, like the New York Daily News, already have reporters on site. The bad: Columnists who don't know much about soccer feel compelled to write about it.
Sports
June 1, 2006
Sports' Assault on Language
Imagine there's a goal you desperately want to achieve. If you succeed in reaching an intermediate goal, your chance of achieving the end goal rises from 50% to 66%. If you fail at that intermediate goal, it falls to 34%. Is that intermediate goal "critically important"? Absolutely, definitely, 110%, according to ESPN's SportsCenter.
Sports
May 19, 2006
Bonds and Firm Stool
The way things are going for Barry Bonds this season, even the things said about him that sound nice are, in fact, insults. Take this quote from an unnamed American League general manager, said to Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci about the gastrointestinal effects of seeing Bonds in the opposing batter's box:
Sports
May 17, 2006
ESPN enters the 1990s
A few days ago, Gelf poked fun at ESPN's plan to feature home-video clips on SportsCenter. What sort of videos would they receive, we wondered, if they only allowed old-school VHS tapes to be submitted? (Deadspin also got in on the fun with a post featuring a Bob Saget stamp.) Now, the folks over at ESPN seem to have realized their mistake.
Sports
May 17, 2006
Pujols Worship, From Afar
Gelflog noted last week that sportswriters were penning worshipful columns about St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols (19 homers and counting) without bothering to learn anything new about him. USA Today columnist Jon Saraceno wrote, "He cares less about personal accolades and individual statistics than he does the bottom line for playing the game: winning. … He has talent. A work ethic. And the humility not to get caught up in what other players do, particularly if it is against the law or unwritten rules of sportsmanship."
Sports
May 9, 2006
Who Is Albert Pujols?
Now that Barry Bonds is one homerun from tying Babe Ruth on the career homeruns list, a legion of Bonds-hating press turns affectionately to Albert Pujols. The 26-year-old Cardinals first baseman is on pace to hit about 80 homers, hasn't had a sub-40-HR season in his career, and hasn't been implicated in any steroid use. Yet for all the Pujols-loving we read (and I've written some of it), most is quite superficial. Consider Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Ted Miller's take today:
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