ESPN Might Need To Review Its Mag's Fantasy Content
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Again, I always preface this with the statement that I'm not one to necessarily poke fun at typos and errors, but to have twenty seven found in a national publication is a tad bit too much. ESPN's Fantasy Mag is out in stores now and for the low low price of $7.99 you can see some of the errors found by Walter Football too! Here are some of my favorites....
Who the Heck is Greg Smith? (Page 55)It's rare to not get through an entire magazine without finding a mistake, but doesn't ESPN employ people to proofread? It's one thing to have a typo or two but if you read the WF post you'll find that no one took a second look at any of the sections. Things contradict each other and they leave players out entirely (Steve Slaton). If you have the magazine, also keep an eye out for Merril Hoge's sound fantasy advice including taking Braylon Edwards as your first WR because he's, "like [Terrell] Owens without the drama."
I have no idea why ESPN even ranked Chauncey Washington, a Jaguars rookie running back, but it says the following in his write-up: "It's possible he could emerge as the inside rushing complement to MJD, but he'd have to bump Greg Smith first." I searched high and low on NFL.com's Web site, but I couldn't find any player named Greg Smith. The man they were referring to, of course, is Greg Jones.
Spelling Error No. 1 (Page 45)
Taking a look at the first sentence of Jamal Lewis' write-up:
"Dust when you thought he was done, Lewis pulled us all back in."
Special News Alert: Steve Smith Has An Is (Page 66)
Sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, doesn't it? At any rate, you can find this grammatical blunder in the Steve Smith analysis:
"He's not a burner but has is savvy enough to make occasional big plays."
Quinn Sypniewski, Miracle Man (Page 81)
Just a slight contradiction here. In the Quinn Sypniewski write-up, ESPN writes, "He tore his ACL during Ravens minicamp this April and will miss the season."
Yet, for projected stats, they have Sypniewski catching 21 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown in 13 games.
Lorenzo Booker - Lost in the Mail (Pages 45 and 53)
In the Ronnie Brown write-up, ESPN writes:
"Ricky Williams is still hanging around in south Florida, and Lorenzo Booker should be a bigger part of the offense."
OK, so maybe this magazine was released prior to the Booker-to-Philadelphia trade? Or maybe not - on Page 53, they list: "Lorenzo Booker, PHI."
I'm sure fantasy owners really care about that, Merril.
2008 ESPN Fantasy Football Magazine: 28 Factual Errors, Omissions and Illogical Statements (Walter Football)
25 Comments:
I apologize for my intellectually lazy post.
sdsg, from what the text clearly states, AA does admit that errors take place. But he doesn't charge 8 bucks for you to read this site. ESPN should be a bit more responsible with their tips and advice.
The only pointers I want from Merrill Hoge is how to deal with constant headaches.
Apology accepted. Just put a little more effort in next time, OK? I mean
come on, I'm tired of hearing how hard it is for you to put together a few posts every day. I could do your
"job" in my sleep.
Your Pal,
AA Hates ESPN
Duly noted gmoney. However, you have to admit that AA's missed comma was absolutely reprehensible. In the grand scheme of things, what's worse:
a missed comma or 20+ mistakes in a national publication? In my book it's a grammatical oversight by that heinous ESPN Hater.
sdsg,
Ironically enough, you forgot to include a comma in your follow-up rant. It should read, "Duly noted, gmoney." Also, you made a handful of other errors in the same post (7/29/08, 2:04:00 PM). Since you demonstrate such hypocrisy and constantly rip on AA for criticizing ESPN, you have revealed yourself as an ESPN intern, and a rather stupid one at that.
I thought aa said he was going to delete all grammar comments. Oh, I guess that's only when they make fun of aa. I'm still trying to figure out what an ESPN magazine has to do with "announcing." Maybe this site needs to be called awful espn, instead.
Damn, any credibility that I had prior to today's display of ignorance is now gone. For my own edification, Anon 2:21, please advise regarding the handful of other errors that were made so that I don't make these egregious mistakes again.
Stupidly,
sdsg
p.s. AA, I just took the domain name for awfulespn.com so you're out of luck
The publishers of these fantasy magazines and annuals like Baseball Prospectus and Football Prospectus have accepted errors in efforts to reach crazy deadlines. It just reflects poorly on a publication when you're messing up for an audience that knows when you do so.
Magazines still are the in-person-drafter's prized possession. But as more people look for constantly updated Web reference materials, that could change in the near future. And, at least then, the errors can be corrected immediately.
"It's rare to not get through an entire magazine without finding a mistake, but doesn't ESPN employ people to proofread?"
What are you trying to say? That it's rare to find an error in a magazine? I beg to differ!
"Me fail English? That's unpossible"
Ralph Wiggum
Seriously, is this how every other thread is gonna devolve into? Jealous commenters (AA Hates ESPN, Jay & now SDSG) bitching about every improperly, placed comma and misused Capital letter? Good God.
AA,
Can you help a brother out? Now I'm being lumped in with the likes of AA Hates ESPN and Jay (who looks very similar to one my son's Mii characters). I was simply trying to have a little fun this morning...albeit at AA Hates ESPN's expense. Now I know how Bill Simmons felt when Bob Ryan criticized his satirical Celtics column a couple months ago.
Why you all wowy so mush abou spelwing! You no like magasine; you no buy?
I'm anonymous 5:26; I was following the lead of gmoney in thinking you were serious. My mistake.
FWIW, parodying a commenter once in a thread is usually the best way to go.
Yes yes....SDSG is just messing around. I do appreciate the backup, although it's usually not necessary. And if AA Hates ESPN doesn't realize that this is more than just a site that covers announcers....then I don't know what to tell him.
Thanks AA and Anon 5:26! I will certainly tone it down a bit in the future.
On this site, AA Hates ESPN seems to be my muse and I'm just going to have to cut the cord.
Hey, I enjoy the content of this blog a ton, and it'd take a lot more than grammatical errors to make me stop reading it.
But double-checking your spelling, grammar, and punctuation can only improve the chances for success for you and your blog. If you want MSM and the general public to take sports blogs more seriously, a great first step would be to make your posts read as if a serious journalist has written them.
this website rocks...espn does suck, thats the best part!
I have bad news for you, jay. But I'm about to turn you into a pariah on this site. That's because I agree with you. That's exactly how I feel about this site. When I see basic grammatical and, yes, punctuation errors, it takes away credibility. When I see poorly thought out opinions, it diminishes the site.
Thank you, jay, for taking two sentences what it has taken me two months to say.
"I have bad news for you, jay. But I'm about to turn you into a pariah on this site. That's because I agree with you."
"Jealous commenters (AA Hates ESPN, Jay) bitching about every improperly, placed comma and misused Capital letter?"
Too late.
On the way into work this morning I bought a copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style to ensure that all of my future comments are grammatically correct. AA, I'd be happy to buy one for you as an early Christmas present if you're interested. Just let me know...
This site is hilarious. On one hand it complains about comments that bitch about every improperly placed comma and misused capital letter. On the other hand, it whines that people don't take it as seriously as the MSM. Which is it? You can't have both.
Dunt lysten too dem, aa. Ewe rite gud! Reel gud!
I'm confused. Fantasy Football magazines stopped being relevant years ago.
Come on AA, why do you have such a hard on for ESPN? 27 errors is nothing. What, you've never made a mistake before? I seem to recall that you neglected to include a comma once and it changed the whole meaning of your statement. As far as Emmitt is concerned, I think you should just cut him some slack. In my opinion he's an adept linguist and deserves to be featured as much as possible.
Sincerely,
AA Hates ESPN