Why ESPN's Statement On The LeBron Story Is Probably Bullshit

If you don't buy ESPN's line that Arash Markazi's spiked LeBron-in-Vegas story "was inadvertently put on the server" and didn't go through "the usual editorial process," here's yet another reason not to: The story pretty much went through the usual editorial process.

We're told that Markazi's story "apparently" went through ESPN.com's copy desk — the last link in the chain, after which point a senior editor would've been free to publish it. Our source adds that there's little chance that higher-ups at ESPN weren't aware that the site was about to publish a relatively sensitive piece about a very famous basketball player, and there's little chance that it hadn't already been vetted by at least one of those editors before reaching the copy desk. The story was ready, in other words. Of course, "the usual editorial process" is an airy enough phrase that it can mean just about anything, especially at a shop like ESPN, where the "usual editorial process" frequently entails making its own reporters look like towering asses.