ESPN invisible coverage
So I was doing my normal morning readings on Profootballtalk.com, the Buffalo News, and Fox Sports. All the sites had reported that Ben Roethlisberger was being sued in civil court by a Las Vegas hotel employee for rape. The women claims that Big Ben was staying at the hotel she worked at when Roethlisberger told her to come up stairs to fix his TV (or his Big Ben). The suit clams that Ben started kissing the girl and when the girl rejected him, Ben threw the girl on the bed and raped her. This encounter allegedly happened in July of 2008.You would of thought that the powers that be at ESPN would be salivating at this story since they've spent so much time on the Pac Man stripper tape and 2oth millionth scenario on which NFL team maybe interested in Mike Vick.
Alas, the network is responding with a "Do Not Report" alert. So what the hell is going on? Well from reading Pro Football talk (sorry I don't have sources) ESPN is clamming that they don't cover civil suits only stories. That's a crock. I remember ESPN doing stories on NBA Players who were being sued by their baby's mothers who were looking for child support. ESPN also got flack during the NFL season when Fox Sports reported that Brett Favre had called Detroit Lions coaches to offer tips on how to beat the Packers defense, ESPN responded with the same "Do Not Report" alert.
Being the s#$t stirrer that I am, Here is the reasons why I think ESPN is doing the "Do Not Report" alerts.
1) The network wants to maintain the good relationship they have with Big Ben when it comes to doing interviews (That was the same rumor why the Favre story wasn't reported).
2) The ABC network which is owned by the same people (Disney) who own ESPN are about to debut a new show called "Shaq vs" which will be featuring Big Ben and don't want to cast a bigger shadow on the show for bad PR. I'm not sure what the format of the show is, but if it's an elimination show look for when Ben gets eliminated for ESPN to have late breaking news on the suit.
3) Kobe vs Big Ben debate. When I first realized that ESPN wasn't reporting this, the first thing I thought of was how much coverage the Kobe story got. Hell, two months after Bryant was charged, ESPN voted him the 8th biggest story on their Countdown show "Headlines," showcasing the top 25 stories in the 25 years of ESPN. I know some will say Kobe was charged by police while Ben is being sued in civil. But I go back to the stories on NBA Players from above. Maybe ESPN sees Kobe as more of a lightening rod then Ben.
Any way you slice it, This makes ESPN look like fools, but in all honesty why would ESPN care if they are pissing people off. They are the only big sports entity on TV, so who are they going to compete with?
-joe-
"No means no People"
Update!!-ESPN.com and ESPN News has finally picked up the AP Story.
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