ESPN Suspends Bruce Feldman Over Mike Leach Book "Swing Your Sword"

That’s about all I have to say.

I wonder if Craig James would be behind this, I know he is only a reporter but maybe he’s good buddies with those guys above him. If Feldman did indeed get approval for this then he should be fine and could probably sue and go work for a cool company (SBNation???).

…that we won’t really have a choice with respect to Craig James. You generally don’t decide which games to watch based on who the commentators are, and the networks each decide who goes behind the microphone.

That being said, I don’t know what Bruce Feldman’s work arrangement with ESPN is like, but if I’m USA Today, Sporting News, Yahoo!, or Sports Illustrated, I’m looking to hire him away from the Borg.

Truth be told, unless we learn something more about this that explains the suspension, Feldman’s going to come out fine long-term.

James’ behavior in the whole affair was beyond ridiculous. From reports I’ve read since the incident, it appeared that Adam James, after an initial tantrum, had decided it was no big deal and to let things blow over, but Craig James, stung over losing all his pssing matches with Leach over Adam;s playing time, pushed things to the limit with Tech and wasn’t shy about using his position at ESPN to do so.

ESPN’s coverage of the affair was hilariously one-sided. Current & former players and assistant coaches came out of the woodwork left & right to defend Leach, but ESPN’s story repeatedly focused on one disgruntled former wide receiver – at the end of which the anchor would mumble that many players had come to his defense. Unethical didn’t begin to describe their coverage as they didn’t even acknowledge Craig James’ role in the affair other than being Adam’s father.

Bring Bruce on board. I will happily donate half of my Corn Nation salary to him as an incentive.

if you’d like to help recruit Bruce to SB Nation (and I’D LIKE THAT A LOT) – please send a tweet to @BFeldmanESPN
 asking him to consider joining SB Nation. Use the hashtag #FeldmantoSBNation

I remember James and Leach both being interviewed, at least for Leach, it was up to the point where he couldn’t talk anymore because of the lawsuit. And I remember watching on College Football Live where they noted and interviewed former players coming to his defense. For instance, I think that Harrell was interviewed. That wasn’t swept under the rug. And they did acknowledge James’ role in this, James himself addressed why he was getting involved in this. Granted, it was a shitty answer, something like “we just want to protect the players.” blah blah blah, but its an answer. Granted, maybe they didn’t address everything, but to say they were unethical about it is a bit dubious. And understand, its not like we knew everything immediately. Much of the testimony that Leach mentions happened 4 months after he was fired in December. (Or January, somewhere around there). And even then, how much of it was OK to use in the public at the time? I am guessing little to none of it.

Having said all that, do I think Feldman is very good? Most certainly. And do I understand why it seems like James has so much sway at ESPN to make this happen? Absolutely not. Do I think James is right about any of this? Absolutely not. Do I hope that this torpedoes James’ political career? Absolfrickenutely!

James must have some sort of leverage at ESPN that we don’t know.

Yep. A celebration of arrogance. But wtf is wrong with all of us? Why do we view a smug persona as if it is some kind of commendable attribute? Because that must be what market research reveals to ESPN, for that is all they give us. Colin Cowherd and the like. It’s enough to make me want to strangle a kitten in front of schoolchildren, just so that someone else can be as upset as I am.

I’m tired of the bombastic self-glorification that runs rampant every single place we look these days. When was the last time you remember some TV personality saying something truly self-effacing, unprompted by some asinine “scandal” involving their meaningless dalliances with random strange? This ESPN thing is just a microcosm of the whole, murky nightmare surrounding us. Nothing we read is real. All news corporations are owned by a small fist of conglomerates, whose interest, I assure you, is not revealing truth through sound journalistic practices. It is creating reality, by falsely presenting a manufactured account of events as irrefutable truth. What you wrote Jon, and what I started this post with, is frighteningly accurate. The only word I would change is “they.” This is who WE are today…while slogging through our modern existence as materialistic Consumers meekly swallowing the swill from those who would have us believe in their falsehoods.

Sorry. What a weird rant.

would be if Craig James is the dedicated full-time broadcaster for the Longhorn Network.

ESPN said he was never suspended and that he would resume working, but you can’t resume something you were never told to stop, can you?