DL535: Joke Referees, Villanova’s Madness, Tressel’s Cheating & Tiki’s TV Failure

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We have four topics today and while Jim Tressel is taking over every show in the world, we decided to start with actual sports first, then get into that whole cheating mess.

• First, Robin Van Persie called the referee that gave him a double yellow in Arsenal’s farewell Champions League match “a joke.” He actually said, “It’s just a joke. He’s been bad all evening. He’s been a joke all evening, whistling against us. I don’t know why he’s here tonight. I think it’s a joke.”

What happens to RVP, or his teammates who sarcastically tweets about how good a job the ref did? Sir Alex was slapped for questioning an EPL referee, but what does UEFA do about it? And how great is it when athletes just don’t care and say what they want? It’s really great.

• Next, we rip on Villanova. A lot. We also talk about ESPN putting the Big East women’s final on the mothership while the Big East men’s first round was on ESPNU. What do youREAD MORE

ETHICS: ESPN’S College Gameday Crew Had Super-Secret Nike Deals. Should We Be Concerned?

I’m not really sure how we’re supposed to feel about stories like this anymore. Richard Sandomir of the NYT with the dirty work:

Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso have deals with Nike that Corso described as a joint arrangement that largely involves speaking engagements for the athletic shoe and apparel company.

After an inquiry to ESPN about the announcers’ Nike contracts, Josh Krulewitz, an ESPN spokesman, said that Fowler, the host of “GameDay,” is “ending his minor association” with Nike “to avoid any potential perception issues.” Fowler was not made available for an interview.

Corso, Fowler and Herbstreit’s deals with Nike were never announced or disclosed to viewers. “We were unaware of these deals,” Krulewitz said.

There are two big reasons why this is news. First, a big deal was made about Erin Andrews signing a deal with Reebok, with some sports media types wondering if it could develop into a conflict of interest for the reporter. Second, and perhaps most importantly, nobody knew about these Nike deals? ESPN’s PR office didn’t even know? That’s crazy, isn’t it?

Or isREAD MORE

DL474: Slate’s Josh Levin On NFL Halfway Stories, Horses, Announcers, ETHICS & Live Podcasts

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Josh Levin from Slate’s podcast Hang up and Listen joins the show to plug the fact that they’re doing a live show next week in North Carolina. If you’re in the area, make sure to check it out as it’s open to the public. We talk about the logistics of doing the show live and if he’s concerned — or hoping — it comes off like a college seminar (and whether that was meant as a compliment or not).

We spend a lot of time on Slate’s running series that’s focused on the midway point of the NFL. Levin, et al talk about the prevailing storylines of the first half of the season which means we spend a lot of time talking about, you guessed it, concussions. Is the media outrage real, or is it just outrage because we’re supposed to be outraged? The ratings are higher than ever, so it’s not like all these injuries are turning anyone off. The players sign up for this, so is the moral indignation more aREAD MORE

DL384: Brian Cook of MGoBlog on BwB3 & Blog Ethics

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Brian Cook of MGoBlog and The Sporting Blog was on a panel at Blogs with Balls in Chicago. It was not the panel on ethics, but if you watch the video, his voice makes a cameo somewhere after Spencer Hall got into a little blog tete-a-tete with The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre. That’s at the 24:00 mark (or thereabouts).

Seriously, watch the exchange between Jason and Spencer, which spills into the rest of the panel and includes others in the crowd (including Cook). It will give you some context. Or, go to MGoBlog as Cook transcribed the entire thing.

Look, ethics are somewhat of a sliding scale, depending on the site, right? See, there are different kind of ethics. Spencer challenged McIntyre for his lack of ethics in checking sources and running a story based on a made up email and a cursory Google search on April Fool’s Day. Spencer claims that illustrates The Big Lead’s lack of ethics in checking sources and being a responsible journalist, making the case that other sitesREAD MORE