ESPN (a bit long)

This is from a very good and very long read by ESPN's Omsbudsman Don Ohlmeyer. This bit roughly frames what ESPN thinks its viewers expect from their various shows and what ESPN expects from their side.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=ohlmeyer_don&id=4582425

When people choose to watch a sporting event on ESPN, they come to be transported via the competition and enjoy the cathartic experience it can provide. Watching a game can be an entertaining escape, a safe haven, a refuge from the problems of daily life. Even though sport has its own dark underbelly, people are drawn to it by what they perceive as the purity of the contest -- you win or lose based on talent, hard work and effort, not because of politics. They expect the telecast to be about the event and only the event, unless otherwise advertised. When they choose to come to ESPN for sports news they expect to see the key highlights of the day with informative interviews and analysis based on content that's well researched and factual. If they choose one of ESPN's opinion shows, they know they've chosen a different animal. Viewers revel in the heated and often hyperbolic debate, and they recognize that "political" issues can find a home here (though like news, they expect the facts to be accurate; while balance isn't the norm in sports opinion-fests, viewers do expect some form of fairness).

The bolded part is where most of the new wrath is coming from. Everybody expected Bayless to hate on the Saints. We didnt like it but we expected it. Few of us, for example, expected anybody to bypass all facts to the contrary and declare the Saints rushing game dead. If they never mentioned our success on the ground in order to fawn on our opponent then it would have been just another imbalance opinion show on ESPN and we'd grumble and move on. When they decided to be inaccurate with the facts then they crossed over into territory that even ESPN doesnt want them in.

A line was crossed. e-mails to Ohlmeyer can and do have more effect than e-mails to any other entity on ESPNs staff. Warm up your keyboards in hell and then send him some mail. Tattling might rein in Bayless and his minions just a skosh so they are back on the right side of that "factual" line ESPN has drawn in the sand. Even if it doesnt correct it will at least irritate the bile out of him if they have to have a word with him.