When exactly did ESPN lose its journalistic integrity?  It's a difficult question to answer, but one that certainly needs to be asked in light of the Bruce Feldman fiasco.  Granted, trying to sort through the answer to this question is an exercise more suited for an educated journalism professor or the Poynter Institute instead of a sports fan who's a grad student in chemistry.  Although, I will spare you ten minutes reading Poynter's response to the situation by summing it up in one word... weak.   Our own Ben Koo took down Poynter's lame response in grand style yesterday.

In fact, any critique of ESPN, either by bloggers or their own ombudsman, may be entirely fruitless.  Attempting any criticism of ESPN at this point is like attacking a battleship with a BB Gun.  Quite simply, ESPN is a monopoly sports fans can't live without.  Many are of the mindset that we as fans should just accept ESPN's faults and learn to live with them, no matter how glaring they grow by the day.

But, stop to consider what we've been through the last several days.  Even though the #FreeBruce revolution on Twitter will quickly be forgotten, ESPN sat (we can play semantics all we want) a man with supreme journalistic integrity for merely doing a job he'd already been approved to do.  So why the "enforced period of inactivity?"  Apparently because writer Bruce Feldman helped confirm the worst fears about fellow ESPNer Craig James and shed light on the shady practices of supposed straight news reporter Joe Schad.  As if the "suspension" alone weren't bad enough though, ESPN's lame PR statement failed to hide their mistakes throughout the Mike Leach story.  

Apparently, ESPN and Poynter would like all of us to get caught up in the semantics of the word suspension and feel guilty for being bad bloggers by spreading mean, nasty rumors.  And while no amount of blog posts, boycotts, and hashtags will make a sizable dent in what's left of the mothership's appearance of integrity, we as sports fans have a right to examine the credibility gap now present at ESPN.  Ask yourself, how long will it take to fully believe ESPN again when it reports the news?  How long should your skepticism last?  If the lessons of #FreeBruce aren't forgotten within our ADHD 24-hour news cycle, the credibility gap between ESPN and its viewers should be permanently at the forefront of fans' minds...

In the newest AA Podcast one of the funniest men in all of sports, David Feherty of CBS Sports and the Golf Channel, stops by to talk about his acclaimed new show Feherty on the Golf Channel and countryman Darren Clarke's win this past weekend in the British Open.  AA also chats with David about... 

-The recent successes of golfers from Northern Ireland and the dominance of European golf.
-Opening up about his battles with alcoholism and depression.
-The challenges of Feherty the television show.
-The chances of Tiger Woods breaking Jack's major record.
-The future of the game of golf with or without Tiger.

In between, David shows his incredible sense of humor that got him through the lowest points in his life and has brought him to being one of the most likable announcers in sports.  This is a candid, reflective, hilarious, and insightful interview from one of the absolute best in the business.  You can also download all of our podcasts on iTunes as we will hope to bring you more of the best in the sports media in the future.  Hope you enjoy!

Two dark horses face off in our second Elite Eight matchups as ESPN's lightning rod for present criticism, Craig James, takes on ESPN's lightning rod for past criticism, Stephen A. Smith.  Thanks to the 2900 of you that voted yesterday in our first E8 matchup!  Quite frankly (see what I did there), Stephen A. is much less visible than he was in his heyday, yet his screaming still resonates with sports fans years after his peak of visibility.  Craig James has been the scorn of the blogosphere in the last couple weeks with the documented revelations of his true sleaziness revealed in Mike Leach's new book and #FreeBruce.  You will choose who faces Chris Berman in the Final Four of the Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament.  

Stephen A. Smith vs Craig James



Stephen A. Smith

Fact File: ESPN NBA reporter/analyst/debater... well, actually he's not around that much anymore

Why He's Here: Stephen A. is a hard man to find these days.  After the mistake that was Quite Frankly and his period of overexposure, Smith faded away.  Somehow, he has a job hosting shows on ESPN Radio in New York and Los Angeles and still makes the sporadic TV appearance appearing on First Take, subbing for Jim Rome, and in other various nether regions of the leader.  It's enough for us to give Screamin' A. a place on the list.

Links:

Stephen A on Kwame Brown
Stephen A voted AA/AOL's Worst Sports Announcer (2007)
Stephen A Says Goodbye To ESPN
Stephen A Has Heard Something Terrible About LeBron James

Round 1 Result: Defeated Stuart Scott 51.45% - 48.55%
Round 2 Result: Defeated Tony Siragusa 63.91% - 36.09%

Craig James

Fact File: ESPN college football game and studio analyst

Why He's Here: James became an integral part of one of college football's biggest stories when his son Adam's allegations of being locked in a closet led to Mike Leach's firing at Texas Tech.  This led to an awkward series of revelations made by Leach about Craig's meddling in his program, lawsuits, and other developments.  ESPN was put in the position of having one of their analysts be an integral part of the controversy.  How did Craig James respond?  Well, rumor has it he wants to be a Senator of course.  And now that his coverup and controversy briefly resulted in the "suspension" of respected CFB writer Bruce Feldman, James is more despised than ever.

Links:

The Mike Leach Book Excerpts Make Craig James Look Like An Even Bigger Douche
Craig James Wants You To Help Texans Help Save America
Announcer working Alamo Bowl gets Alamo Bowl coach suspended
Craig James running to the Senate
Craig James loses it

Round 1 Result: Defeated Mike Patrick  75.17% - 24.83%
Round 2 Result: Defeated Rick Reilly 66.32% - 33.68%

Results:

Craig James defeated Stephen A. Smith 60.76% - 39.24% 

In my opinion, Jay Bilas tweeting Jeezy lyrics provides tremendous upside and potential to the internet. I picked a couple highlights from his twitter feed, but I highly recommend going to his page because there is so many to enjoy from these last couple of days. Obviously, many were suspicious and the prevailing thought had to be that Bilas had been hacked...I mean, just soak this in.

I mean, no way that could be this guy, right?

I follow Jay on twitter and he's definitely an interesting follow. The majority of Bilas' tweets usually deal with the always controversial issue of amateurism and the legality of the NCAA to enforce their rules. You know, typical nerd Duke stuff. It always seemed liked Bilas was kind of reinforcing that other ugly Duke stereotype, that one where those who attend school in Durham are a bunch of L7 weenies that are destined to be the next generation of Judge Smails'. Well, Jay kind of shattered that one here.

I can't help but think that Bilas being a Jeezy fan isn't somewhat a product of him rebelling against the terrors of his work environment. Jay has the extremely unenviable position of spending the majority of his time with Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament bubble snub, Digger Phelps. Digger's idea of cool is wearing ties that match his highlighter and picking Notre Dame basketball to win it all every year. Digger is so obnoxious he even somehow makes me do the impossible, feel sympathy for a Dookie. Traveling around on a bus with him just might be how we should punish prisoners in the future.

No doubt in my mind that the Jay Bilas and Young Jeezy combination has to go down as one of the highlights in the history of this "series of tubes" that we call the internet.

Here is your 2011-2012 NBA on TNT crew and schedule [via press release]. Seeing as there is currently a lockout and it's unlikely the season will start on time (if at all), this will obviously need updating. Let's just hope there is a season, so we can see Shaq and Sir Charles in business together sooner, rather than later.

The NBA on TNT’s marquee roster of NBA announcers includes the studio team featuring two-time Emmy® Award-winning host Ernie Johnson, two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith, four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, along with select studio appearances by five-time NBA All-Star Chris Webber.  On-site game announcers include: Marv Albert (play-by-play), Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), five-time NBA champion Steve Kerr (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst), Mike Fratello (analyst), David Aldridge (reporter), Cheryl Miller (reporter) and Craig Sager (reporter). 

TNT’s 52-game schedule is listed below. All times shown are Eastern.

TNT 2011-2012 NBA REGULAR SEASON TELECAST SCHEDULE

Nov. 1 Tuesday 7 p.m. TNT NBA Tip-Off ‘11 presented by Autotrader.com 
8 p.m. Chicago Bulls @ Dallas Mavericks 
10:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ L.A. Lakers

Nov. 3 Thursday 8 p.m. Orlando Magic @ Miami Heat
10:30 p.m. Denver Nuggets @ Portland Trail Blazers

Nov. 10 Thursday 8 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ Chicago Bulls
10:30 p.m. San Antonio Spurs @ Portland Trail Blazers

Nov. 17 Thursday 8 p.m. Boston Celtics @ Orlando Magic
10:30 p.m. New York Knicks @ L.A. Lakers

Nov. 24 Thursday 8 p.m. Philadelphia 76ers @ Atlanta Hawks
10:30 p.m. New Orleans Hornets @ L.A. Clippers

Dec. 1 Thursday 8 p.m. Miami Heat @ Boston Celtics
10:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ Denver Nuggets

Dec. 8 Thursday 8 p.m. L.A. Lakers @ Miami Heat
10:30 p.m. Boston Celtics @ Portland Trail Blazers

Dec. 15 Thursday 7 p.m. Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks
9:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers @ Dallas Mavericks

Dec. 22 Thursday 8 p.m. New York Knicks @ Boston Celtics
10:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers @ Denver Nuggets

Dec. 29 Thursday 7 p.m. San Antonio Spurs @ Orlando Magic
9:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Oklahoma City Thunder

Jan. 12 Thursday 8 p.m. New York Knicks @ Memphis Grizzlies
10:30 p.m. Orlando Magic @ Golden State Warriors

Jan. 16 Monday 8 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ Boston Celtics
10:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ L.A. Lakers

Jan. 19 Thursday 8 p.m. Chicago Bulls @ Miami Heat
10:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Utah Jazz

Jan. 26 Thursday 8 p.m. Miami Heat @ Orlando Magic
10:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers @ L.A. Clippers

Feb. 2 Thursday 8 p.m. Chicago Bulls @ New York Knicks
10:30 p.m. Phoenix Suns @ Golden State Warriors

Feb. 9 Thursday 8 p.m. L.A. Lakers @ Boston Celtics
10:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ Sacramento Kings

Feb. 16 Thursday 8 p.m. Boston Celtics @ Chicago Bulls
10:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers @ Portland Trail Blazers

Feb. 20 Monday 8 p.m. Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks
10:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers @ Golden State Warriors

Feb. 23 Thursday 8 p.m. New York Knicks @ Miami Heat
10:30 p.m. San Antonio Spurs @ Denver Nuggets 

******NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND ****************

Feb. 24 Friday NBA Rookie Challenge
Feb. 25 Saturday NBA All-Star Saturday
Feb. 26 Sunday 2011 NBA All-Star Game from Orlando

********************************************

Mar. 1 Thursday 8 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ Orlando Magic
10:30 p.m. Miami Heat @ Portland Trail Blazers

Mar. 8 Thursday 8 p.m. L.A. Lakers @ Chicago Bulls
10:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns

Mar. 19 Monday 8 p.m. Chicago Bulls @ Orlando Magic
10:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Denver Nuggets

Mar. 29 Tuesday 8 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Miami Heat
 10:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder @ L.A. Lakers

Apr. 5 Thursday 8 p.m. New York Knicks @ Orlando Magic
10:30 p.m. Boston Celtics @ Chicago Bulls

Apr. 12 Thursday 8 p.m. Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls
10:30 p.m. Dallas Mavericks @ Golden State Warriors

Apr. 17 Tuesday 8 p.m. Boston Celtics @ New York Knicks
10:30 p.m. San Antonio Spurs @ L.A. Lakers

The NBA on ABC/ESPN schedule is after the jump...

Here is the national MLB TV schedule for the week.  Sunday Night Baseball will be in Cincinnati to see Brandon Phillips and the Reds host the Braves.  It will be interesting to see how Fox treats their broadcast of the same game with Reds pbp man Thom Brennaman being joined by former Red Sean Casey in the booth.  The early week is highlighted by the Cardinals visiting New York to take on the Mets.

Tuesday July 19

Philadelphia Phillies @ Chicago Cubs (MLBN 8PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Atlanta @ Colorado - 8:30PM]

Wednesday July 20

St. Louis Cardinals @ New York Mets (ESPN 7PM) Dave O'Brien, Nomar Garciaparra

Thursday July 21

St. Louis Cardinals @ New York Mets (MLBN Noon) Local Broadcast [Alt: San Diego @ Florida]
New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays (MLBN 7PM) TBA [Alt: Detroit @ Minnesota - 8PM]

Friday July 22

Atlanta Braves @ Cincinnati Reds (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: San Diego @ Philadelphia]

Saturday July 23

San Diego Padres @ Philadelphia Phillies (FOX 4PM) Kenny Albert, Eric Karros
Atlanta Braves @ Cincinnati Reds (FOX 4PM) Thom Brennaman, Sean Casey
Detroit Tigers @ Minnesota Twins (FOX 4PM) Dick Stockton, Rod Allen
Chicago White Sox @ Cleveland Indians (WGNA 7PM) Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone
Milwaukee Brewers @ San Francisco Giants (MLBN 9PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Colorado @ Arizona - 8PM]

Sunday July 24

Seattle Mariners @ Boston Red Sox (TBS 1:30PM) Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, David Wells
Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros (WGNA 2PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Atlanta Braves @ Cincinnati Reds (ESPN 8PM) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine

H/T Sammy! 

We've been closely following the Bruce Feldman suspension "timeout" due to his involvement in Mike Leach's autobiography. Matt had a great piece last week and things have moved fast since the story broke, as ESPN has scrambled to try to save face. Today, they got some good air cover, as the Poynter Institute, who serves as ESPN's Ombudsman, jumped in with a thinly veiled defense of ESPN's handling of the situation. The piece included feedback from only ESPN personnel and failed on many levels to have an honest conversation about the incident, the fallout, and ESPN's continued involvement with Feldman or Craig James.

AA editor, Matt Yoder, sent me this note when I asked him for his thoughts, as he can be the voice of reason whenever some of us at AA get a little riled up:

"Read the Poynter piece and all I can say is that it only leaves more questions.  Without word from Feldman or Brooks, are we just supposed to believe ESPN's word passed down to Poynter that Bruce wasn't suspended?  That seems baseless and does nothing to fix the credibility gap at hand.  The Poynter piece is so nuanced and muddied that it really ends up saying nothing.  It also never speaks of the elephant in the room - if Feldman suffered a conflict of interest, what was ESPN thinking with Craig James?"

Matt's take was one of many in disbelief that the Ombudsman piece seemed like an extension of ESPN PR and damage control. In fact, here are some tweets that caught my eye in the hours after the article went live and a takedown of Poynter's disappointing article...

The Elite Eight of the Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament begins with two NFL studio stars and former NFL Countdown comrades going head to head.  Chris Berman has steamrolled through the competition so far on the backs of his tired catchphrases and nauseating performances at the US Open and Home Run Derby.  NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin may be a bit of a surprise to make it this far, but his pioneering of staged laughter is a testament to awfulness in sports on TV.  You can check out the Elite Eight and full Second Round results here.  The Elite Eight runs with new matchups every day for the rest of the week, vote now!

Chris Berman vs Michael Irvin

Chris Berman

Fact File: Host of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, Home Run Derby, and golf's US Open, occasional SportsCenter anchor and baseball play by play man

Why He's Here: How much time do we have?  Chris Berman has been synonymous with ESPN for over 30 years, but his schtick of nicknames, bad jokes, and bellowing humor has grown old.  His protection of the NFL and the stars of the league leave his journalistic bite at zero.  The #1 best selling ESPN book painted him as a man drastically out of touch with the modern day world, and it shows.

Links:

Somebody Should Explain The Concept Of A Walk Off Win To Chris Berman
Real Tweets From Real People - Berman and the US Open
Tossed Salas Nickname
Classic Youtube Rant

Round 1 Result: Defeated Erik Kuselias 76.83% - 23.17%
Round 2 Result: Defeated Mark May 70.09% - 29.91%

Micheal Irvin

Fact File: NFL Network studio analyst

Why He's Here: The former Cowboys receiver is the poster child for the staged guffawing that has infested NFL studio shows.  Irvin has never lasted in one place too long, jumping from Fox Sports Net to ESPN and now to NFL Network.  Irvin can be sincere, honest, and moving when he wants to be (see his Hall of Fame speech and statements in Out Magazine), but it's rarely ever seen in his television work.

Links:

Michael Irvin Might Have A New Home
ESPN Fires Michael Irvin
Michael Irvin Says Something Stupid

Round 1 Result: Defeated Dick Stockton 71.61% - 28.39%
Round 2 Result: Defeated Pierre McGuire 69.1% - 31.9% 


Results

Chris Berman defeated Michael Irvin 58.9% - 41.1% 

When will ESPN finally realize that it's time to call a timeout or give a temporary/indefinite suspension to Colin Cowherd?  Through the uncertainty of the ongoing #FreeBruce story (more on that tomorrow), the ESPN Radio host was busy making more offensive statements.  I'm done wasting my time writing why ESPN needs to discipline slash rid the sports world of Colin Cowherd.  Why he is untouchable by ESPN management is beyond me.  It's equally infuriating to the whole James/Leach/Feldman debacle.  This time, Cowherd tries his hand once again at sociology while mixing in his perverse racial commentary, areas he's failed miserably at before.  This time, he surmises (without ever directly stating) that Roger Goodell is the first father figure in the lives of many black NFL players.  I'm sure he'll come out tomorrow and say that he never said "Roger Goodell is a dad to fatherless black NFL players," but it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out that's exactly where Cowherd is at in the clip below.  Bears safety Chris Harris and Steelers safety Ryan Clark sum up the outrage nicely on Twitter..


Do something about this guy, ESPN.  Here's the maddening clip from SportsGrid...



H/T SportsGrid
 

Round Two of the Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament is in the books.  We had a massive number of people vote throughout the last week as we cut a field of 16 First Round winners down to the Elite Eight of Awful Announcing.  If you still aren't aboard the Joe Morgan Memorial bandwagon, we are holding a month long tournament to place a current sports media personality on Awful Announcing's Mount Rushmore to replace not so current awful announcer Joe Morgan.  You can get caught up on everything that's happened so far with the full First Round results here and the full Second Round results below...

1) Skip Bayless defeated John Sterling  64.14% - 35.86%
2) Joe Buck defeated Deion Sanders  55.21% - 44.79%
3) Colin Cowherd defeated Joe Theismann  61.71% - 38.29%
4) Chris Berman defeated Mark May  70.09% - 29.91%
5) Jim Gray defeated Thom Brennaman  77.89% - 22.11%
6) Craig James defeated Rick Reilly  66.32% - 33.68%
7) Stephen A. Smith defeated Tony Siragusa  63.91% - 36.09%
8) Michael Irvin defeated Pierre McGuire  69.1% - 30.9%

Our readers and voters have stayed with the spirit of the Joe Morgan Memorial and not limited themselves to the broadcast booth throughout the tournament.  Eight men remain covering eight different areas of the sports media.  The diverse field includes a play by play man (Buck), booth analyst (James), radio host (Cowherd), debater (Bayless), reporter (Gray), studio analyst (Irvin), studio host (Berman), and, well, whatever Stephen A. Smith does these days.  The Elite Eight has again been drawn at random, but the rest of the tournament is now bracketed out as well now that we've reached the quarters.  We start Tuesday with our first matchup below (Berman/Irvin) and will go right down the list through Friday with one quarterfinal taking place every day from Tuesday-Friday.  The semifinals and final will then take place starting Monday the 25th.  See you tomorrow for the beginning of the Elite Eight!

Tuesday: Berman vs Irvin 
Wednesday: James vs Smtih 
Thursday: Cowherd vs Bayless 
Friday: Buck vs Gray