A Worldwide Schism

By John McMullen

Philadelphia, PA (The Phan) - Jay Glazer is sort of like the national version of Howard Eskin. He kisses ass but he breaks stories.

That isn't going over well with The Worldwide Leader.

ESPN digs deep into its seemingly limitless pockets to hire every "big time NFL insider" not named Glazer, but still are beaten to the punch time and time again by Jay.

Of course, that doesn't stop the Mothership from taking undeserved credit. Often you will see the phrase "Chris Mortensen reports such and such" on ESPN's bottomline long after Glazer or Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio first broke the story.

It seems like Mortensen and his compatriots like John Clayton, Sal Pal and Adam Schefter are under some serious pressure.

So, why not make up some news?

Schefter is the new kid on the block, having moved over from the NFL Network. Clearly he needed to earn his bones and "broke" the Brett Favre "schism" story earlier this week.

In case, you missed it, little more than a week after Favre ended his latest retirement, Schefter posted a story on ESPN's Web site Wednesday afternoon, citing the ever present anonymous source, saying there was a "schism" in the Vikings' locker room over who should start at quarterback and that Favre has "little support" among his new teammates.

Wow, a narcissist like Favre isn't liked by all 80 of his teammates...stop the presses!

Pick two of your friends and then gather 80 people that know both. Then ask all 80 who they like best and what do you think the outcome will be?

Do you have a schism in your circle of acquaintances?

I hate to pick on Adam put that report was the most ridiculous piece of journalism I've ever seen.

At practice on Thursday, Vikings punter Chris Kluwe took a not-so-veiled dig at Schefter's report saying there was a "schism in the camera crew" as various photographers stumbled around.

Few remember when ESPN launched in 1979, the letters were actually an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Yep, the fledgling ESPN actually ran movies, business shows and exercise videos in between SportsCenter.

Needless to say it wasn't a great mix and the station slowly evolved into the juggernaut it is now. Today, however, they are closer than ever to their original acronym.

Schefter's report was pure entertainment, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Real world news outlets may be even worse. Last night, FOXNews' Glenn Beck had over three million viewers, second only to Bill O’Reilly for the night despite airing during the afternoon. And, Beck actually had more viewers in the all important 25-54 age bracket than O’Reilly (888K to 876K), a stunning accomplishment for a 5 p.m. (et) program.

More entertainer than political pundit, Beck at least has the courtesy to call his show a "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment."

I can't wait for ESPN to admit they have sold out and gone strictly entertainment.

They can put all the "insiders" on an island. We can have challenges and immunity on the way to the big prize...

A spot on the bottomline, stealing one of Glazer's stories.