Deadspin
For anyone who wondered just what sacrifices that legitimate journalists like Jeremy Schaap and Buster Olney have to suckle from ESPN's cash teat, look no further than this morning's "SportsCenter." In it, baseball analyst Steve Phillips answers mock questions in a mock press conference, pretending to be Boston's general manager. This is bad enough, dumb, pointless, harmless. But then, the people "asking" the "questions" to Phillips ... they're real ESPN journalists! Including Olney and Schaap, who both, after asking scripted questions to a co-worker, have considerable "I hate myself and want to die" looks on their faces.
If you missed this today, just catch the 7 p.m. "SportsCenter" tonight. They're going to do it again. Fake questions, fake answers, fake GM. At least they're not even pretending anymore.
Steve Phillips Archive [ESPN]
Comments
You know, watching Steve Phillips this morning makes me think he could be an actual GM somewhere. It's like he's so close to knowing what he's doing, handling the media, etc. Maybe one day he'll get a real GM job. What's that? Really? Oh. Yeah, I'm a Met fan, and I'll always remember that my cousin got married the day he got fired.
i watched the first minute of it this morning and i was stunned that anybody thought this was a good idea. garbage. idea i had for espn over the weekend: next year, for halloween, have the nfl countdown guys dress and act like the fox pre-game guys. michael irvin doing a terry bradshaw impression? pure gold.
does this have to do with ESPN's blinding love with the Sox? or will other teams be in the mix? is this similar to espn's "whaddya have?"
i think they're doing the yankees tonight? i hope billy beane jumps up from the audience and says, "ooh ooh. do me! do me next!"
That was the weirdest mock thing I've ever seen. How did all those mock people manage to do that with straight faces? I especially liked all the mock flashbulbs. Did they just go ahead and take mock pictures of that, and if so, where on the mock internets are they mock posted? mock.mock.mock.
It was probably still more real-sounding than the West Wing live "debate" last night...
Ok...I get it. They wanted to make fun of the fact that the West Wing was doing a live mock presidential debate. HarHarHar. Still, isn't it funny enough that Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda were debating political issues? I saw a little of the West Wing debate only to laugh and flip to ESPN where the same type of thing was on. I thought I had gone to hell. Hey Dex, don't you think Buster Olney wishes he was the beat writer for the Padres again after having to take part in that garbage?
When I first saw Buster Olney ask a question, I was wondering the same thing. What must have been going through his head? "ESPN is a step up. ESPN is a step up. ESPN is a step up."
My favorite part was the crawl at the bottom of the screen making it very clear that it was a mock press conference. As if Steve Phillips would be allowed near an MLB team anytime soon.
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