Some Think ESPN's Rosenhaus Ad "Crosses The Line"
Monday, May 04, 2009
I've never thought of the "This Is Sports Center" ads to be biased in any way, but apparently there are a few people out there that do. Namely, Phil Mushnick of the NY Post. The latest and greatest Sports Center commercial, features agent Drew Rosenhaus negotiating meal prices for Scott Van Pelt and Neil Everett. And while most thought the ad was humorous and harmless, Mushnick seems to think there is a deeper issue....
But while cute is one-shot deal, ESPN is left with a large, unsealed can of ESPN Brand worms. ESPN's in the sports news business, Rosenhaus and his long list of pro football clients are newsmakers, and ESPN and Rosenhaus are now forever joined in an advertising cross-promotion, the kind of special relationship that even minimally vigilant journalists avoid.I can sort of see his point, but are we really breaking new ground here? Rosenhaus knows as well as anyone that ESPN is the "leader" in getting information out to the masses, and he has always used them as his first choice. The guy has been doing bits on "First Take" for years, and anytime something goes wrong, ESPN is the first to report it.
The next "scoop" ESPN lands connected to a Rosenhaus client becomes highly suspect, as do the following 100. Rosenhaus, after all, has some funky clients, including Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Shockey, Terrell Owens and Browns WR Donte Stallworth, recently charged with manslaughter.
Is there no one at ESPN with the authority, foresight and fundamental sense of right-from-wrong to have killed this before it advanced beyond a bad idea? Why would ESPN do this to itself? Why would it do this to its anchors? Why would its anchors allow ESPN to do this to them?
But ESPN always wants it both ways. It wants to be America's leader in go-get-'em sports journalism, yet regularly provides proof that it can't distinguish journalism from a box of cookies.
It's certainly a line that ESPN has to straddle careful in regards to Rosenhaus, but they've certainly bashed the agent in the past, and don't always give him a free pass. I think this is much ado about nothing, if you ask me.
ESPN's Cute Ad Raises Questions (NY Post)
17 Comments:
What? No deep, introspective look at the religious connotations of the Devils mascot/elevator spot?
Oh, and the checkout clerk should have held out for $16 and an option on Van Pelt's dessert the next day.
Hey Phil, we do know ESPN is a shameless pile of dogshit that not even a billion shamwows could clean.
Christ, it's not new news that they are all scumsucking piles of rotting swine flesh. You mean to tell me that there isn't osmeone there who has taken a bunch of cash from that toad Rosenhaus?
Please.
It seems really pointless to bring this up after ESPN has had players in SC ads for years now.
If you're really concerned about being "clean" you don't do comedic ads with ANY sports figures you might cover in them, I would think.
Phil is ridiculous on this one. Why not start questioning athletes from different teams doing commercials together? Or using NFL coach's images to market beer when people complain about drunk and disorderly fans at games.
There's no story here, except that ESPN made a funny, funny commercial.
Everytime I see this add I try to figure out just what exactly is Van Pelt's tone of voice? he sounds almost disgusted and annoyed with Rosenhaus.
What is Mushfuck up to these days at that Vanity Newspaper that's lost 20% of their circulation over the last year, other than ranting his ass off on Vince McMahon's fake fighting organization?
Hollwood Wags should really think about changing his name to Fence Sitter. He's always beating around the bush and almost never takes a stand.
Mushnick hates anyone and anything. This is barely news.
And a douche comes out of the woodwork and takes his precious time to rip into me for having an opinion.
You wouldn't be an ESPN employee would ya?
ESPN sucks. It's one of the reasons I don't own a tv. Who needs that bullshit, really?
Easy does it Wags. I was just being sarcastic. I've enjoyed reading your little rants on this blog for a while now.
P.S. No...I'm not an employee of ESPN.
HEY - I laughed
that's all that matters to me
So can we get a definition of a "funky client"
Does it involve dancing?
I didn't know anyone actually read Phil Mushnick's columns. The only good thing he ever did was leak the NBC SNF games back in 2006.
FT, is there someone at ESPN that is tasked with cleaning up the drool that flies out of Berman's face on NFL PRIME! TIME!
Wags,
As a matter of fact there is an intern that handles that for CB.
The same intern was also responsible for getting Berman's meds straightened out during the NFL draft because "Boomer" was visibly dazed & confused at times
(a lot of stuttering, stammering and lengthy pauses).
ESPN used to be beyond such allegations when they were building their empire, and now this kind of crap is just another day.
I personally have hated this commercial since I first saw it during the draft because it hypes up that bloodless jerk Rosenhaus' reputation, which is currently damaging the way contracts are written up anymore.
ESPN does lose credibility by engaging in such partnerships with player agents, not to mention that this particular agents reputation is exceedingly deserving of the boot.
But hey, I didn't expect anything more than this from either of them, just waiting for everyone else to catch up.
Dallas Cowboys Nation
Mushnick must be bored. This is pointless.