Where do you get your news?

We like ESPN.

At least, we like them when they do what they're good at.

Sports.

For the most part, ESPN provides us with good coverage of all the breaking news in the world of sports, and ESPN.com is our number source for all things sports. When it comes to sports, ESPN are experts.

So stick to what you know. Please. Keep up with your 24-7 over-the-top sports commentary and analysis, but leave the political punditry to the folks who have actually studied things other than a play book and sports almanac.

More and more, we seem to find ESPN writers commenting on things other than sports, or worse, using a sports related story to advance a political perspective.

Consider this story from ESPN.com, where Pat Forde uses a story about Rick Majerus as a back-door promotion of stem-cell research, abortion, and (maybe?) even Hillary Clinton. Think its just a coincidence that Majerus' pro-choice views were highlighted during the week of the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade? We doubt it.

That's not all:

• There was the article (and Sportscenter segment) on the firing of the Univ. of Missouri lacrosse coach, which was unapologetically pro-gay in its emotive reporting.
• Speaking of lacrosse, how can we forget their coverage of the Duke lacrosse scandal? ESPN often seemed less concerned with the lacrosse team and more interested in exploiting the racial tension in Durham and pointing a finger at the white, middle class lacrosse players at an expensive private university
  
• Or this story about a kid athlete from Atlanta, in jail for having oral sex with a 10th grader. A moving story, no doubt. Nevermind that he broke the law -- ESPN finds it necessary to write this story using the oft-used political template of a "backwards South" with "archaic laws" that just can seem to catch up with the modern progressive society that ESPN lives in.
  

We thought ESPN had decided that sports and politics just don't mix. Isn't that why they fired Rush Limbaugh from Sunday NFL Countdown?

Yet it doesn't get much more political than this. When ESPN commentator Ivan Maisel reported on the alleged sexual improprieties recently surrounding (now former) Arkansas football coach, he wrote this:

A self-described supporter of Arkansas athletics acquired Nutt's cell phone records through a Freedom of Information Act request. Media members across the nation, including this one, received pdf files detailing Nutt's communications.

The innuendo came at no extra charge. Nutt's detractors have put him in the impossible position of proving a negative--he must have cheated on his wife because there is no proof that he did not.

It is a maneuver borrowed from national politics, Rovian in style and execution. Karl Rove, the chief political advisor to President George W. Bush, made his career on attacking an opponent's strength. In the 2004 presidential election, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth eviscerated Sen. John Kerry's stature as a war hero. Kerry's candidacy never recovered.

Rove had no visible affiliation with the Swift Boat Veterans, except that a tactic he made famous benefited his candidate.

Three years later, the tactic has been imported to Arkansas and used against Nutt.

Really, Ivan? We thought the openly biased anti-Bush reporting was something only the New York Times did.

Guess we were wrong.

Guess ESPN is no longer just an Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.

What do Jesus, MLK, and ESPN have in common?

I just read one of the better articles I've seen on ESPN.com. If you're like me, you probably get a little annoyed with the athletes who always thank God after winning the big game - its almost cliche. However, the two head coaches in the upcoming Super Bowl are anything but insincere, and although they will be the first black head coaches ever to take a team to the Super Bowl, it's character (i.e. Jesus), not color, that separates Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy.

While Michael Smith (no, not THAT Michael Smith), the author of the above article, is trying hard to get past race issues, the NCAA can't see anything BUT color. I'm not sure exactly what the NCAA actually does, but my impression is that it's one of three things: (1) Find and punish college kids who happen to play sports and also happened to accept some cupcakes from a tailgating fan (or other similar recruiting/compensation violations); (2) Seek and destroy any college that has a mascot that resembles an Indian in any fashion; (3) Beat the "America-is-still-racist-and-we-as-a-athletic- organization-are-personally-gonna-to-fix-that" Drum until it busts. And then beat it some more. It appears that the NCAA wants to further limit universities in South Carolina and Mississippi ability to host post season tournaments/games, simply because we "display the Confederate flag." And by display the flag, they mean that there is a monument on the state house grounds that commemorates that significant part of our history, and the flag flies there. The absurdity of all this warrants no more of my time than I've already given. NCAA - sub yourself out.

The front page of ESPN.com has a huge picture and link to an article about some 20 year old kid in jail in Georgia. The whole article is basically criticizing Georgia for having what the author believes is an "antiquated law," and caricatures the Peach State as a backwards, racist place, while making this kid out to be an innocent victim of biased white southerners. Nevermind the fact that the guy had oral sex with a 15 year old, or that he did drugs as a high schooler. How an article of this nature, that argues public policy issues and grossly stereotypes an entire state, fits in a sports magazine, I don't know.

This from the same ESPN that was so quick to jump on the bandwagon that berated the Duke lacrosse players for their alleged sexual assault of a dancer, making it out to be a huge issue of race. A Black dancer. Raped by White, Middle Class, SUV driving prep school Males. Turns out they probably didn't do it (they did maintain their innocence all along), meanwhile the relentless prosecutor who's main goal in life apparently was to bring down the Duke lacrosse players is facing ethics charges from the state bar. I may only be a 1L law student, but I'm pretty sure that that's about as bad as it gets as a lawyer.