Welcome To The Apocalypse, The Yankees Are Mad At ESPN!
Friday, October 19, 2007
I don't know how you could ever get mad at a machine that is basically your own PR hub, but alas this is the case.
According to and article by Newsday's Neil Best, The Yanks' Media Relations Director is pissed at "The Leader" for acting "above the law".
The conference call yesterday during which Yankees executives announced the end of the Joe Torre era was surprisingly matter-of-fact and unemotional.At any and all costs Mr. Zillo...that's how all media is these days. While it is shocking that ESPN did this without approval...How can you be THAT shocked that they did it in the first place? This is the same company that takes other reported items and claims them as their own, and buries harassment under the carpet (allegedly). Now not EVERY person at ESPN does this, but it seems those that do don't really receive any repercussions for their actions.
The fact that a national television audience was able to hear it live, though, produced a reaction from the team that was anything but calm.
Media relations director Jason Zillo reacted angrily to the fact that ESPN2 carried the call live in violation of rules the team set beforehand. Other media outlets that abided by the policy also were upset.
"It's disconcerting that ESPN thinks they're above the law," Zillo said. "Their explanation to me was, basically, 'We took it upon ourselves.' If that is how they need to get their competitive advantage, then you certainly have to question it."
ESPN's official response about the situation....."The most important thing to our fans was for us to provide this major sports news as it was breaking."
Riiiight.
Yankees not happy with ESPN's handling of coverage (Newsday)
16 Comments:
The Yankees are 'made' at ESPN?
Who knew?
Did your spell-checker reject a one-year, $5 million deal with performance-based incentives?
Will your spell checker return to the Angels broadcast booth, or perhaps go back to manage in St. Louis?
Is your spell-checker happy it no longer has to kiss Steinbrenner ass?
Enlighten us, AA!;-)
Sorry Anon....spell checker doesn't notify you when actual words are spelled correctly just used wrong.
Why aren't you liveblogging espn right now. Donald Trump and Jeff Nelson? Gold Jerry, Gold.
The Yankees are mad that YES didn't have the exclusive...
Also, can the next anonymous poster that pretends they are a High School English teacher please punch themselves repeatedly in the balls.
Thanks You.
The Yankees are mad at ESPN for doing whatever it wants no matter what anyone else thinks or how bad it might be for competitive balance between networks?
Hello Kettle? This is Pot. Just want to call and say, "You're BLACK!"
Typical unwarranted Yankee arrogance.
I like how ESPN is putting 2 hours toward this Torre stuff today. I know it's New York and all, but come on. I want to throw up sometimes.
Hmmm, good call Anon....I didn't even think about that angle.
Phil- I wish I was watching that. Sadly I'm at work.
Thank you as well Simon. Although annoying it actually does help me fix things....whether they're asses about it or not.
Tell me again, who won the game last night? All ESPN tells me is Joe Torre has left the Yankees. Also, what does a compelling interview with Donald Trump have to do with Joe Torre leaving the Yankees? My head hurts from the ESPN Confusion.
ESPN.com for about 3 minutes yesterday put up that he agreed to be with the team for one more year and then retracted.
And yet ESPN still got it wrong initially -- Schaap broke in saying that Torre had signed the deal and then they had to correct themselves 15 minutes later.
The only surprise about the wrong contract statement is that it wasnt Chris Mortensen doing the reporting.
and for the record I too hate the anonymous tag. I mean for christ sakes if you're that worried that you cant list your first name make on up.
I thought it was a little odd that they got this "conference call" on the air. It was NOT a press conference at all.
Are we going to get wall-to-wall coverage and retrospectives when other coaching legends retire?
They have now set the precedent, you know.
The way ESPN covered it you'd think somebody had died. Not a baseball manager turning down a new contract.
If it had been anyone else, ESPN would've had a one minute blurb and moved on, not two hour wall to wall coverage.
They're committed to us, the viewers, and we have a covenant that states that ESPN cares about us, will make us whole when we fall down and fix all our problems with women and gambling.
Thanks ESPN!