My Letter to the ESPN Ombudsman Regarding Coverage of LeBron James
Don Ohlmeyer
(I went to ESPN’s homepage and filled out this form to send the following to ESPN’s Ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer. Feel free to let them know how you feel about ESPN’s coverage of the Cavs vs. Knicks game.)
ESPN’s coverage of the most recent Cavaliers vs. Knicks game deserves some scrutiny. As a Cleveland fan, I am not delusional enough to think that the impending free agency of LeBron James isn’t a big story. It is a giant story in the NBA. Even still, the coverage that unfolded last week with regard to LeBron James and him playing ANYWHERE but Cleveland was over the top to say the least.
I don’t think it is a product of my Cleveland-bred inferiority complex to say that ESPN’s coverage amounted to little more than a smear campaign against Cleveland. This coast-centric coverage makes it seem like every life lived between the excitement of the east coast and west coast is somehow worth less. My point is that it is one thing to cover the story. It is another thing to create and foster the story while simultaneously unabashedly trying to influence the outcome.
I sincerely hope you look into this with the producers responsible for your NBA coverage.
Regards,
Craig
November 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Good job, Craig.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Co-signed
November 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Concise, balanced, and most importantly, 100% true. That was a disgrace.
I am not nearly delusional enough to think LeBron is staying here for sure. In fact, at this point in the year, seeing his blase attitude and the team’s lack of chemistry so far, I’m inclined to believe he will probably be leaving.
But even still, that was a joke.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Do they even accept mail from people in the midwest?
November 9th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Couldn’t have written it better myself.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Well-written piece, Craig. Hopefully it receives the respect it deserves from Mr. Ohlmeyer.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Send Amar from Cavalier Attitude to CURB STOMP those foo’s!!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
That said, ESPN hasn’t listened to one thing from their ombudsman over the years. They think they can do whatever they want…and basically tell you what to think.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Co-sign. Good job, Craig…let us know if you hear anything back.
@Jordan…LMAO. Chris Sheridan is tops on that list.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Haven’t you noticed that when ESPN shows clips of a football team/player playing well, they always show AT LEAST 1 clip of that team/player beating the Browns. Even if the clip is from a game that the Browns dominated (admittedly there are few, but I’ve seen it).
They just showed a clip of Lawrence Taylor sacking Bernie Kosar when covering Taylor’s arrest today. Really ESPN?!?! Are you that blatant about hating Cleveland? They don’t even try to dance around it. I don’t understand it.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Jeez, I don’t know.
I’ve read both your letter and TD’s rant, and in neither do I see any evidence of what ESPN did wrong. They have analysts who can give their opinion, and often their opinion is useless, baseless, wrong, etc. But I’m not sure how that affects their coverage of a factual story. That is to say, James will be a free agent, there is much excitement over this fact, perhaps the only nationally televised sports network should cover it.
For example, what exactly needs scrutiny? What exactly did the network do that was inappropriate? In reading your summary, there are plenty of vague assertions, but what specifically is bothering you? You do understand why this is a national story, right?
November 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
@ 10 Ryan:
Does ESPN obviously have a giant slant in their coverage of LeBron to NYC? Yes.
Is there a vast network wide conspiracy among the plethora of completely different people who compile their various montages to be anti-Cleveland? Absolutely not.
Ever notice that as soon as you get a new car you start to notice each and every other person on the road with your same car? Same deal here buddy.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I’m glad you wrote this, but it won’t get noticed. I’m sure the ombudsman gets thousands of coastal bias e-mails every day. You’re right, but the same arrogance that allows ESPN to cover middle America sports the way it does will also get in the way of Ohlmeyer lending any credence to your point.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
@ Jon
The point of covering a basketball game used to be to look at the performance live. Talk about the teams playing as it relates to the world. Instead of spending 100% of their time talking about LeBron being a free agent, why not talk about this year’s Cavs and how they are in the top 5 in the league as they make a run at a championship? ESPN just skipped over this entire season and barely talked about LeBron, Shaq and company competing this season for a championship so that Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy could blather on about media-created conjecture. They are spending all their time talking about a story that THEY have created. It is perverse.
Only when a player plays for a city like Cleveland or Milwaukee is this a story. Nobody talks about Dwyane Wade’s impending free agency this way. Granted LeBron is the highest profile player in the league, but it certainly seems slanted away from Cleveland, doesn’t it?
November 9th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
With all due respect, that’s just not true.
A lot of sports coverage (including a lot of coverage on this site) is not about covering “the performance live.” For example, two articles today dealt with ESPN, neither a team nor a sport. There was also an article speculating on where Mike Holmgren might end up. Sound familiar? Sports stories are, by definition, what sports fans want to read about. That’s why WFNY speculates about future GMs and ESPN speculates about power forwards. It’s the nature of the game.
If you don’t like their coverage, don’t torture yourself with it. I certainly don’t.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
You forgot to caress his fragile ego. No way he’ll take your letter seriously without a little brown nosing
November 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@Jon – Coverage of a LIVE sporting event should consist at least a little of the LIVE sporting event … with some conversation about subplots, but not exclusively about subplots. ESPN coverage isn’t always this way, but Friday night was certainly over the top.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I felt sick to my stomach watching that game. I mean, do you think, at any point, someone (cameraman, analyst, producer, executive) thought – damn, this is very disrespectful to Cavs fans? We’ve spent the last 2 and a half hours pimping New York to LeBron.
you know what’s going to happen? Lebron is going to sign like a 3 year deal with the Cavs in 2010. And the MINUTE he signs it, the story is going to be “LeBron ONLY signed a THREE YEAR DEAL” Translation: He’s gone in the summer of 2013 when he will be 28 years old.
I think LeBron’s rookie season was the only season where there wasn’t an incessant push by the media outside Cleveland to speculate (push) LeBron elsewhere. It will never stop. They will never feel that Cleveland is good enough for him.
People talk about Cleveland’s “inferiority complex” as if it’s our fault. Like, we should have thicker skin or something. The thing is, most of us care less about trolls on boards living in their parents basement telling us that their city is superior. Most of us care less about people like Chris Sheridan spouting off nonsense. But when we feel like we get a raw deal in professional sports thanks in part to media coverage – it’s infuriating.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@Jon
While I tend to agree that a lot of sports coverage is not covering a live performance, when I am watching I live performance, that is what should be covered. WFNY does not cover live performances, ESPN does. Next time I tune in to watch a game I would like some commentary about… THE GAME
November 9th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Fair point Cromeo. I thought the complaints were about pre-game festivities and photoshopping Knicks jerseys on LeBron (which is kind of funny, considering the picture in the WWW from this morning). Like I said, I don’t do the ESPN telecasts if they can be avoided, but it sounded like most of the griping was directed at non-game stuff. And also, none of the complaining was very specific, so it sounded kind of like the “woe-is-me” Cleveland stuff that gets old to me.
During the game, I agree with you that sticking to the action is best, but it’s hardly something to contact the ombudsman about. None of ESPN’s announcers do this, nor do any announcers that I’ve ever heard.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Kudos!
November 9th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
@Jon, did you watch ESPN’s coverage of the game?
Considering the person I was sending the email to is the ESPN Ombudsman, I don’t have to be very specific. The job of the Ombudsman is to take the pulse of the ESPN consumers. Once a complaint about a certain topic reaches critical mass, it is their job to research the issue and address it with appropriate parties.
As a part of the job of being ESPN Ombudsman, you are expected to consume the product as much as possible. And anybody who watched that broadcast knows what I am talking about.
There was almost NO play by play during the game as they blathered on and on about what LeBron might do and also what he SHOULD do.
Also keep in mind that the largest complaint I have is ESPN creating a story and then “reporting” that everybody is talking about LeBron. They and their sportscasters and writers bring it up all the time, and then the amount of talk about it becomes the “story” that they feel they can report on. It is incestuous and disingenuous.
The real story is that LeBron is going to be a free agent next year and that he plays for a very good team this year. They hardly ever report on the second half at all. And to think that play by play of a live sporting event should be dominated with nothing but a manufactured storyline is disgusting.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
The only thing I do not love about this website is the extreme overreaction reaction people here have to what media outside our little hamlet say on this subject. I get the aggravation of not hearing an emphasis on play by play, but it wasn’t a competitive game, the pre-production planning anticipated that and ESPN is geared toward keeping the interest of a national audience. We need to stop flinching like bullied children. If this type of coverage is not itself actually creating a reality that induces him to leave, then just stop it. Hard to imagine any other city’s fans rock back and forth like this in the fetal position when their superstar’s contract comes up.
The pre-production for next week’s Monday Night Browns game is starting up, and you can be sure they are not focusing on the interesting match ups. For the same reason. They have to drum up interest in their show. Everybody breathe.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
@Jon
For the purpose of ending this conversation I’ll keep this short. Listen to any basketball game hubby brown calls or any MNF game this year with grudan and jaws. They converse about things only coaches and players see. I love insight into what is really going on out there. I watch sports for what goes on when they play, not for some hacks opinion about what players may or may not do at a later time and date (that’s what the rest of espn’s shows are for). The purpose of contacting the ombudsman is to express the opinion that the quality of espn broadcasts are being diminished by blatantly disrespecting cleveland at the expense of providing quality analysis.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Nope, I didn’t watch it. Like I said, I avoid ESPN when possible.
And to your second point, an ombudsman’s job is to respond to criticism. That job is made infinitely easier by making that criticism specific in nature, rather than: “this coverage sucks and hurts my feelings!” emails. Here are the specifics you asked him to address:
“ESPN’s coverage of the most recent Cavaliers vs. Knicks game deserves some scrutiny…the coverage that unfolded last week with regard to LeBron James and him playing ANYWHERE but Cleveland was over the top…ESPN’s coverage amounted to little more than a smear campaign against Cleveland. This coast-centric coverage makes it seem like every life lived between the excitement of the east coast and west coast is somehow worth less.”
This is not helpful, directional criticism. It’s an emotional rant without evidence. If you want them to change, you’ll have to do better than that.
Or try out that fancy mute button.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Ohlmeyer thought balloon:
“Hey, Ohio, when I want your opinion I’ll . . . well, I don’t want your opinion. Now go back to milking cows or mining steel or whatever it is you do there.”
November 9th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Right. Like Don Ohlmeyer will give a flying _____.
From Don’s wikipedia bio:
“During the 1997 World Series, Ohlmeyer caused a stir when he publicly wished that the World Series would end in a four game sweep so that its low ratings wouldn’t derail NBC’s primteime leading Thursday “Must See TV” entertainment schedule.[4] Ohlmeyer failed to get his wish since the series went the total seven games.”
As someone who works in NYC in the television business I can also tell you that Don Ohlmeyer was one of those guys that always wanted the Yankees in the World Series because of their supposed capacity to generate ratings.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
amen. sports is corrupted.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:02 am
LBJ and company just need to win it this year. They are by no means an underdog. They just need to step it up, wash out the negative press and win. If Lebron wins one for this city it won’t matter where he plays next year and it will give him good reason to stay. Lbj will make the best decision for him, not us, so just pray that the rest of the team sees this as their only chance to win and makes the best of it.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:54 am
*starts the slow clap*
November 10th, 2009 at 9:50 am
There was undoubtedly a bias towards New York during this broadcast. I thought the question for CC Sabathia was very odd. “LeBron James has got a decision next season, obviously, to stay in Cleveland or come to New York.” So according to that interview LeBron has two choices, Cleveland or New York. Just my observation from the night.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Great Letter! ESPN needs to devote as much time to keeping track of the goings on of their employees and Interns, as it devotes toward wanting LeBron to go to New York. And the only question they should have had for CC was to ask him why did he go 0-2 (on more than 3 days rest ) in the ALCS when he was Cleveland ?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Remember when CC was like “there’s nothing like winning here(NY)”
Winning in Cleveland and Milwaukee was great and all but….oh wait
November 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
The “Entertainment and Sports Tabloid Network, ESTN.” It is obvioius from watching any of their programming that they are more like “Entertainment Tonight” than a legit source of sports information. No surprise about the content of in-game comentary. Word.