Dear ESPN.com editor

by Mike Prada on Sep 26, 2008 7:43 PM EDT in Agent Zeroisms

Why is a story about Gilbert Arenas ducking out of Wizards media day given the second-highest priority on your ticker at approximately 7:41 p.m. tonight? What exactly is the news there? Why does it matter that he skipped media day? What exactly is telling about any of the quotes that are in the article?

Do you realize you're only perpeptuating any Arenas backlash by doing this? There's no real news in there, and yet you're giving it a higher priority than news that Mariano Rivera might need shoulder surgery. Would you have done this with any other player in a similar situation? Be honest.

Sincerely,

(Note: My screenshot capturer isn't working right for some reason, so if anyone wants to do it yourselves, I'll put the screenshot in the main part of this post.

Update: As of right before the Presidential debate, the Arenas story, entitled, "Arenas, Wizards fined for Agent Zero's silent act," is number three on the list. -TAI

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My guess is....

That ESPN knows the traffic that Arenas’ blog attracts, hence, they expect some click-throughs for pretty much any story about him.

Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It Dot Net

by Kyle Weidie on Sep 26, 2008 9:02 PM EDT reply actions

Zzzzzz

Is this really the third-most important story on a night of pennant races in baseball and one day after a big upset in college football.

Come on! MJ and the Bulls were fined for this stuff all the time.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 26, 2008 9:10 PM EDT reply actions

duh

the world must be informed what a chemistry-killing cancer arenas is!

by joshp on Sep 26, 2008 10:57 PM EDT reply actions

Gil Won't Appeal Fine

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/outlet/2008/Sep/26/arenas-wizards-fined/

The team tried…but no luck.

It must’ve been funny to see the Media & PR people trying to scramble around for Gilbert.

Representing DC with Wizards & Stuff - Truth About It Dot Net

by Kyle Weidie on Sep 27, 2008 12:02 AM EDT reply actions

The Real Story

Its a laugh seeing all of these folks criticizing Gilbert for NOT talking. Next they’re going to be angry and indignant that he hasn’t blogged lately.

by hotplate on Sep 27, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions

The Media.

Remember that the media usually assumes that any story that is very interesting to them (“ZOMG! Arenas totally blew us off today at a MANDATORY MEDIA EVENT!!!”) is also of interest to us. In reality, no one but other media hacks (and don’t be offended if you are one – I’m sure I would feel the same if I was one such person) would think that a player not talking to them on a given day was eventful.

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on Sep 27, 2008 1:46 PM EDT reply actions

It comes with the territory

Of being a superstar. You know he’s become big time when he gets top billing for a non-issue.

by DT711 on Sep 27, 2008 1:47 PM EDT reply actions

Wow

You should see all of the Gilbert and Wizards bashing in the comments on that article. I love it though. The more they bash Arenas and the Wizards front office the sweeter it will be when Arenas comes back and the Wizards dominate the Eastern Conference.

The Wizards without Gilbert are already a .500+ team and when they had Gilbert they were on top of the conference. And that was with a bunch of nobodys coming off the bench. Now the Wizards have their deepest bench since they had the big 3. Of course there are a lot of other things that have to go right, but I think this will be a very good season for the Wizards.

by lj15 on Sep 27, 2008 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

comments

i love reading people’s comments on espn. it is truly the lowest form of sports-related communication in the world. funny thing is, most of the people there are bashing arenas for not wanting to play. clearly they dont know anything about arenas

by joshp on Sep 27, 2008 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree

Gilbert Arenas probably loves playing basketball more than anyone in the league and im sure he is doing anything possible to get himself back to 100% as soon as possible. Thats probably why he wanted to go rehab instead of talking to the media and he doesnt mind being fined for it.

by lj15 on Sep 27, 2008 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions

i saw it yesterday and i found it newsworthy.

the trend continues

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 27, 2008 3:52 PM EDT reply actions

I think Prada's point

Wasn’t that it was not newsworthy at all, but that it wasn’t deserving of a snarky headline and the number 2 or 3 spot on the newswire.

Update – in ESPN’s defense, they are now giving top billing (number 5 as I write this) to Arena’s reasoning for missing media day.

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on Sep 27, 2008 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions

I mean

I don’t think it’s particularly newsworthy either, but to give it the second spot on the ticker was just ridiculous.

Yahoo and Sportsline didn’t even make reference to it.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 27, 2008 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions

um

it’s the top story on the yahoo ticker right now in the nba section. it’s even got a graphic on the front page.

“Ducking out: Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards were each fined $15,000 after he left media day early”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AtVINpM7j9YoZ7iAGbJHv4.8vLYF?slug=ap-wizards-arenas&prov=ap&type=lgns

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 28, 2008 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions

I was referring to the front pages

Should have been more clear. I don’t see any graphic right now, but I admit I didn’t look yesterday and only looked Friday night. If I was wrong, apologies.

I still don’t think it’s particularly newsworthy.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 28, 2008 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

arenas has no rope right now

every little piece of misconduct or miscommunication from gilbert is going to get media coverage at this point. i think that’s fair. he put himself in this situation. all the guy has to do is show up to mandatory events and communicate with his teammates, coach, and GM. i don’t think it’s unreasonable to to ask him to do that, nor do i think it’s unreasonable to give it coverage when he doesn’t, especially with all the attention he draws to himself through his blog, etc.

as for espn, judging by the fact that both sportsline and yahoo have this as their top ticker item in their nba sections, this is probably one of the bigger pieces of nba news right now (doesn’t necessarily mean its big news) and if espn decides to put it on their front page, to me it says that 1- arenas is a big star, which you guys should be happy about, and 2 – espn is committed to hyping and covering the nba – most likely since it spent so much money on the TV contract. (that or for click-throughs from his legions of fans like TAI postulated)

rather than an arenas-backlash, what i worry about is this reinforcing the notion that arenas can do stuff like this and get prominent media attention… without even doing anything on the court… i.e., it’s all about the buzz, which pretty much sucks.

i’d love to see the guy shut up and fly under the radar until he gets back to making news for stuff he does on the court, not off of it. i’m very skeptical of how even when he’s supposedly trying to draw attention away from himself he seems to draw more attention to himself. maybe that was just an honest mistake, maybe it wasn’t. but to me, he shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt at the moment.

i mean, really, what did he think was going to happen?

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 28, 2008 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions

No, I understand why it was featured

You’re right, once the fine was reported, it was picked up on as it would have been. I could go on a rant against it, but it’s not worth the effort and it probably would read more like sour grapes. In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be newsworthy, but it isn’t a perfect world.

My issue is mostly with the fact that ESPN ran the story before the fine was reported. At that point, there really was no news to report.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 29, 2008 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions

unfortunately we disagree on this too.

rather than making it a story, the fact that arenas and the wiz got fined completely validated the story. looks like someone else thought it was a big deal too: the nba.

i remember a while back when mike jones was publishing something for the times before ivan printed it for the post, and this site intimated that jones scooped ivan and beat him to the story. in this case, it looks to me like espn was simply the first to the story. they scooped yahoo and the other sites.

i hear where you’re coming from with the media. that’s a huge issue and i respect your stance on that tremendously. i’m glad to hear that you have journalistic integrity, and i’m glad you bring that to this site.

however, i sincerely hope that was the cause of your outrage and that this post wasn’t the result of a totally biased, unflinching, non-objective pro-arenas stance (at least directed toward the national media), which, as i’ve expressed before but maybe in not so many words, is something i wholeheartedly do not want to see on this site. maybe on gilbertology, but not on bullets forever. if i’m wrong about that, my apologies, but i feel that i have to be candid about this. that’s the opinion of one reader anyway.

note that i’m not advocating an anti-arenas stance either, but in this case, i thought it was news that should be left for the reader to decide their own take on it. i believe that was espn’s stance too.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 30, 2008 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions

I guess I'm not the best judge of my own motivations

But I’d like to think that it was more a rant against media than it was defending Arenas, though I think it’s become pretty clear I’m a big fan of the dude, so make your own judgment.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Sep 30, 2008 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Not newsworthy?

by Rook6980 on Sep 29, 2008 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Not newsworthy?

Perhaps not to a Washington Wizards fan. Those of us who know Arenas, and his propensity for unique actions might not be shocked, or even think twice about it….

But a guy gets a $111 Million dollar contract…. and a month later refuses to show at a mandatory team event – and you don’t think the media isn’t looking for any excuse to find fault?

Obviously it’s not as bad as if he missed a practice (we’re talking ’bout PRACTICE *), or a game – but nevertheless, when you just signed a huge contract – any transgression will be magnified 111,000,000 times…

reference to AI

by Rook6980 on Sep 29, 2008 12:06 AM EDT reply actions

yay! someone here agrees

but even still

>>and you don’t think the media isn’t looking for any excuse to find fault?

i really dispute the idea that the media is out to smear gilbert. sorry to get worked up about this, but that idea pretty much offends me. i mean, goodness gracious, there is no media conspiracy against gilbert.

weren’t we just wishing for mike wise to be harder on the guy?

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 29, 2008 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

National Media

I didn’t mean to imply that the media was looking to find fault with ONLY Arenas… or that there’s a “conspiracy”… but rather: The media is looking at him….

Those guys (the National Media), LOVE controversy, dirt, scandal and indiscretion. It’s their JOB. It gets them ratings, web hits, readership, whatever ……. They love it when an athlete fails, falls or otherwise shows he’s human.

When you sign a $111 MILLION DOLLAR contract, you have to assume that there are Media eyes all over you – looking at everything… looking for anything. So that even a minor infraction, gets blown out of proportion.

You don’t see any front page articles about Antonio Daniels and his charity work…. or Antawn’s work in Hurricane ravaged Louisiana… Those bits are relegated to the second page…. the end of the broadcast…. the last few lines in the blog…

But, sign a big contract and then ………. get a speeding ticket……. or be at a bar at 1am when Police are called (even if you’re not involved)….. or miss an inconsequential media event, and watch what happens.

Like I said, Arenas (and all of the rest of us) should know that any transgression will be magnified 111,000,000 times…

by Rook6980 on Sep 29, 2008 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair?

Is it fair? NO

Would I trade places with Arenas, and take the negative press that he has to deal with? YES

Make that: hell YES !!

by Rook6980 on Sep 29, 2008 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions

fair?

my point is that in this case i DO think it’s fair. very much so.

there’s a lot going on with arenas right now and he’s a big star. so it is news and it is printworthy when the guy skips the mandatory opening media event of the season, especially when he’s developed a habit of skipping such social niceties as telling his organization beforehand he is returning to game action from months of rehab, or shutting it down for the rest of the season right before a playoff game, or having arthroscopic knee surgery…

the larger take on the media is spot on, but in this case i don’t buy it; not all news is good news.

even if espn is preying on gilbert being a polarizing figure, which i dispute is the underlying motivation for the story or its placement, he’s had a lot of say in doing that to himself. i really find it hard to feel bad for someone who generally seeks out so much media attention for himself. so it even seems fair to me in that sense as well.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Sep 29, 2008 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions