Fixit

My letter to the ombudsman:

Ms. Schreiber:

It's disheartening to see that, despite your previous take on the subject, Gregg Easterbrook is allowed to continue his thoroughly irrational crusade against all things Patriots.

In his first few paragraphs alone he distorts some facts, outright lies about others, and dabbles in character assassination, to boot. Tom Brady, a "smiling sybarite" who is "hiding something?" How does something like that make it past what I assume to be several editors who should know better?

ESPN should be collectively ashamed of itself. Regardless of the teams involved, this type of journalistic McCarthyism should never be tolerated at any institution, let alone at the Worldwide Leader. I don't want to consider that ESPN not only condones but encourages him to continue writing his vitriol just to boost ratings, so to speak. However, with each passing week, it certainly looks more and more like that is the case.

What are the chances that ESPN would consider publishing a reader's response to Easterbrook? If so, I'd seek no compensation whatsoever, only an audience to point out how he has delved so deeply into rhetoric and lies that he can no longer be considered a sports journalist. All I want is an opportunity to set the record straight, because the people who have suffered through Easterbrook's ethical breakdown, yet have remained loyal to ESPN, deserve at least that much.

Thank you.

SVN

honestly.bill simmons has the access to do it but that idiot is more interested in writing about effin touchdowns.

Kato

Very nice. Well worded and articulate. I hope she actually reads it.

Tommysgirl

I just wrote Simmons begging for him to do something.

Pat_Nasty

Speaking on the publics' behalf is the definition of the ombudsman's job.

Asking her to publish a reader's response is, therefore, essentially asking her to let you do her job.

If she's as conscientious as she seems, she's already drafting her response to Easterbrook. The question is, whether ESPN.com editors will be willing to publish it promptly and prominently, or wait until the usual ombudsman's column is due, and bury it down on the page.

Fixit

If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But I have to at least make the effort.

mykl

Honestly TMQ is just getting pathetic and more and more irrelevant. At first I thought he just had a misguided view of the situtation. Then I thought he was just trying to drum up site hits with his position. Now I've got to wonder what BB did to his mother or something! :0

Seriously, even most people that think that the pats "cheated" don't hate them the way that Easterbrook does. It is ridiculous.

SVN

do the players get to read this somewhere ? iam more interested if they read this. Will be great to get them ticked off even more.

upstater1

This isn't a work of journalism. It's an opinion article. Not much an ombudswoman can do about it. So he calls Belichick arrogant and evil. What is she going to say? No, he's humble and good?

Richter

I'm tired of idiots and miscreants hiding behind the shield of "opinion". Opinion still colors other's perceptions of a situation, and when combined with supporting "facts" that are in fact lies, it devolves into slander. It's become fashionable for everyone in the media to spout whatever nonsense they wish, then when they are questioned on it, claim it's just an opinion and no one should care that they write in such a fashion. It's also become the death of traditional media, since opinions seem to garner ratings, sadly. Op-ed pieces are fine, but there's still a responsibility to deliver accurate facts to the reader when creating the foundation of the argument for your opinion, and Easterbrook fails miserably in that regard, and THAT is what the ombudsman/woman can audit.