George Solomon's Blind Rage

ESPN "ombudsman" George Solomon announced yesterday that he's leaving his "post" at ESPN at the end of this month. No word yet on who will replace him — our suggestions are Harold Reynolds, George Grande and A.J. Daulerio — but the fine folks at Hurricanes Are For Drinking take a look back at some of his most heroic, activist stands against the network that kind of employs him but not really. Hop in the wayback machine of fury and relive these fiery rants:

• "In general, the network's producers and editors need to be more restrained. It's better to be right — even if it means being second to the competition. Meanwhile, many ESPN viewers, via e-mail, said the coverage of Owens this past week on ESPN was just too much — a belief that had merit." • "I understand viewer frustration at not getting more information from ESPN about Reynolds, whose popularity and competence have increased steadily, the result of which was a recently signed six-year contract."

Honestly, we're sorry you had to see him fly off the handle like that; there could be children reading this site, and we don't want to poison their virgin eyes. (Can you poison eyes? We think that you can.) We look forward to Solomon's final column; "Some readers were disappointed that Sean Salibury took out his penis and started waving it in Pam Ward's face, and it is possible that some readers might have had a point, in a general sense, though these situations are always more complex than they appear at first glance."

Our Farewell To ESPN's Ombudsman [Hurricanes Are For Drinking] Given Conflicts, Amaechi Coverage 'Over The Top' [ESPN]