NFL Nba Media Watch

Here's how Kobe Bryant spent his Tuesday and Wednesday this week: calling in to radio stations across the country and berating his front office. It's all because of this sentence that appeared in an outstanding article by top-notch LA Times NBA writer Mark Heisler: "Nevertheless, as a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess."

Kobe's all jammed up that someone inside the Lakers front office would throw him under the bus, and he's angry. First, he demanded the Lakers get Jerry West, the man who builds champions. Then, he stomped his feet and whined like a baby and said he wanted to be traded. Hours later, he backpeddled from that request.

Ladies and gentleman, meet the new Terrell Owens. A selfish, petulant athlete who doesn't understand the team concept. This is where Kobe Bryant vaulted himself this week.

Plenty of athletes have sounded off in an article (Shawn Marion about being respected by the Suns in a recent ESPN the Magazine piece comes to mind), or in a TV interview, or perhaps even a radio interview. Here's the difference between an angry/upset athlete and a petulant one - the non-babies know when to put a cork in it.

Remember how Tom Brady was upset last year that the Patriots didn't get any wide receivers, and it ended up costing New England a shot at the Super Bowl? He made a statement about it, and then quit. The Patriots responded this summer by getting one of the 10 best receivers in the league, Randy Moss.

I'm no public relations spin-doctor, but my advice to Kobe is to quit while you're ahead. You've made your point. You want out, you want changes. Now zip it. The Lakers are on the clock. Mitch and Jerry and Phil will sit down - perhaps with the help of West - and see what players they can bring in to fortify the lineup. If the Lakers don't improve, then you know what you can do - walk two seasons from now. You'll be 31, and still have 3-4 good years left.

And if you insist on the crying, then please get us some cheese to go with your whine.

Back when I was in high school, a marketing teacher of mine quaintly said that in the near future we will be able to pay for gas using cash at the pump, sort of like how a vending machine works. He said that the new credit card slots at the pump have been such a great addition that it is inevitable that the cash slot will come soon.

That was 1993. Instead, we have all kinds of stupid little things attached to our gas pumps to distract us [the best is that picture of a cop telling me that driving off without paying for my fuel is a crime]. Soon, we will have ESPN at the pumps to keep us busy.

According to USAToday, ESPNews will be coming to your gas pumping experience via something called Gas Station TV [click on that link to see happy patrons watching it].

There's a reason drivers pull out of traffic and park it at select high volume pumps: GSTV. Gas Station TV entertains, informs and advertises directly to customers as they fuel up their rides. Daylight viewable LCD screens perched above the pump provide a constant shout out of targeted, first-rate ABC and ESPN programming and sponsored messages down to each individual gas station. There are no clickers handy to surf with or DVR's to slide by the targeted ad content, just one channel, one driver.

Why not? We have TVs plopped throughout shopping centers, lines at the amusement parks, restaurants, banks, the doctor's office and pretty much every menial task we have to do every day. So why wouldn't gas stations try to avert us from watching how much our gas is costing us? The only cool thing here is that it's ESPNews up there and, well, when the wife makes you pump the gas you can catch up on what's going on. I mean, that's a bit better than the ol' sports-section-above-the-urinal trick.

In noting the death of David Halberstam yesterday, I said that while they weren't his most important works, his contributions to sports writing shouldn't be overlooked. Today, I've been struck by how many sports writers have mentioned Halberstam's influence.

Halberstam loved sports. Sometimes you see a "serious" journalist take on a story about sports, and you can't help but feel that he's out of place. Not Halberstam. He was a a true fan who just happened to be a brilliant writer.

After the jump are just a few of the examples of sports writers remembering Halberstam today. Read them all, but more importantly, read some of Halberstam's work. You'll be glad you did.

David Halberstam won the Pulitzer Prize as a reporter in Vietnam for the New York Times, and he was one of the most important journalists who covered the civil rights movement. He wrote about things more important than sports.

But Halberstam, who died today in a car crash at the age of 73, was also a sports fan through and through, and we wouldn't do him justice if we failed to acknowledge what an important part sports played to his life and work.

Halberstam's sports books include Bill Belichick: The Education of a Coach, Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made, and Summer of '49. Halberstam put just as much intellectual energy into covering sports as he put into covering Vietnam, and although sports will be just a footnote in most of his obituaries, his contributions to the world of sports writing shouldn't be overlooked.

With a few simple words on his radio show last week, Colin Cowherd used his ESPN microphone to shut down TheBigLead.com for more than 48 hours. Cowherd urged his listeners all to go to the site at the same time, and that was enough traffic to knock the site offline.

Now ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber says the Worldwide Leader has implemented a policy that ESPN's airwaves are not to be used to ruin anyone's business. I'm a little surprised that policy needs to be spelled out explicitly -- do they also have a specific policy against torturing farm animals on company time? -- but it's a good policy.

Still, there are some issues that are unresolved, starting with why Cowherd did this. Schreiber described Big Lead as "a sports blog that is sometimes unmercifully critical of ESPN," but I read Big Lead (who also blogs at FanHouse) and I've never thought his criticisms of ESPN are anything outside the norm in the sports blogosphere. (He did quote a former ESPN employee whose criticisms of ESPN were outside the norm, but if ESPN has a problem with that, its problem is with Jason Whitlock, not the site that interviewed him.)

And, unfortunately, there's one other issue we should note: Cowherd got what he wanted here. He showed that he's more powerful than a blogger. In Big Lead's first post after coming back online, he wrote, "we'll be spending the better part of today looking for a new host." So, congrats, Colin Cowherd. Your total number of listeners exceeds the volume of traffic that Big Lead's host can handle. I take it this makes you feel big. I think it makes you look small.

Previously at FanHouse:
Colin Cowherd has Listeners?
ESPN's New Ombudsman Another Tony Kornheiser Pal
Too Close to Tony Kornheiser? ESPN Ombudsman Responds

Suppose you're a second-tier ESPN radio host. Maybe one with a past history of antagonizing the blogosophere. You've got millions of listeners, many of whom are simply too lazy to change the channel. How should you spend your Thursday? How about crashing a high-profile blog just because you can.

Earlier today, Colin Cowherd decided to celebrate his power and virility by sending all of his listeners to The Big Lead. You may have heard of it--it's one of those edgy, investigative blogs that makes the mainstream media uncomfortable, and its author is a FanHouse contributor. Anyway, a few minutes into this audio, you can hear him order his audience to visit TBL right away, hoping he can shut it down. Cowherd has nothing against TBL, hasn't ever read it. He just wants to prove a point about ... I don't know, his need to prove his power and virility in public. Draw your own conclusions.

I can't even begin to describe what a cheap shot this is. I know that blogs scare people like Cowherd, and I get that if we tangle with them, there might be consequences. That would matter if, you know, Cowherd had any reason for doing what he did. Instead, well, let's just say that history does not look kindly upon bullies and intimidators.

Oh, and make sure to read Deadspin's seething take on the matter.

BET is getting its own sports talk show. Trust me, I have no idea why either.

It's going to be called 'Ballers', and the hosts will be former NBA player John Salley (who also works on FSN's The Best Damn Sports Show Period), former NFL player Hugh Douglas and some comedian that I've never heard of (Guy Torry). They'll be discussing sports inside the Platinum Live nightclub in Studio City, California.

"This really has a much broader appeal than most shows in this category," BET president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin said. "The interaction between these three personalities is unbelievable, and the format is very loose and fun. The nightclub setting really changes the vibe."

"I had worked a few Super Bowls for FSN, and one thing I noticed was how comfortable these guys were in a nightclub atmosphere," he said. "Many times I had an opportunity to be involved in conversations taking place at nightclubs, and I thought, 'Why aren't we rolling the cameras on this?' It also gives fans the opportunity to 'hang' with the athlete instead of just watch them play."

That sound you hear? Oh, it's nothing. Just me banging my head against my desk.

I've been in many clubs, and I can't tell you the last time I managed to have a meaningful conversation with someone, mostly due to the heavy drinking blaring music. The only way I'm going to give this show a chance is if it's one hour of Salley, Douglas and Torry shouting in each other's ears. 'Ballers' premieres April 20th on BET.

(HT: Awful Announcing)