Scoop Jackson's Not A Big Reader

Scoop Jackson, firebrand of ESPN's Page 2 and ignorer of all other media, has decided to weigh in on the big story of last week. He's writing about Roger Clemens' contract with the Yankees but he's got the media in his crosshairs.

The media -- the people who are supposed to be the voices of reason, the protectors of the sanctity of sports -- collectively have acted as if Roger Clemens' signing with the Yankees was about Roger Clemens' signing with the Yankees. The media is failing to recognize this is about how one man not only has put an "I" in team, but put a "me" in MLB and "myself" in professional sports.

Roger Clemens is without question the most selfish athlete of our time.

Either that, or he's the most celebrated pimp in professional sports...

He's a self-absorbed, beyond-arrogant, bigger-than-the-game, I-have-no-respect-or-honor-for-the-concept-of-team, I-only-pitch-when-I-feel-like-it, any-team-should-feel-blessed-to-have-me, Randy-Johnson-will-never-be-on-my-level, the-world-revolves-around-me, kiss-the-ground-I walk-on, worship-who-I-am-because-I-am-the-me-myself-and-I-in-MLB pimp.

The idea that the media are the voices of reason in this country is pretty laughable in the first place but that's less important than the fact that Jackson is suffering from selective amnesia about the reaction to Clemens and his deal with the Bronx Bombers. Did he miss Mike Vaccaro's tirade in the Post last week that accused the Yankees of selling their soul for making the deal with Clemens? Was he out of the country when David Wells' opinions on the deal were reported across the nation?  Or Phil Garner's reaction? Or Curt Schilling's or Dave Stewart's? Or those of any number of bloggers who have weighed in with their thoughts about Clemens' "what's best for me" approach to continuing his baseball career? Hell, even his colleagues Jemele Hill and Stephen A. Smith weighed in on how disgraceful they found the whole deal.

Jackson's ostensible point - Clemens is a sacred cow that the media are afraid or unwilling to take down a peg - is clearly without merit. His larger reason for writing the article, calling Clemens a pimp, is  impossible to take seriously. Sort of like Jackson himself. 

Comments

[extrapolater]

Am I the only one who has a problem with him coming down on the media as if he were somehow separate from it? He works for a huge media conglomerate, so he's pooping where he eats, in my opinion.

[JD]

Thank you,

Scoop Jackson is the most bizarrely incompetent sportswriter out there. From the moment I read that piece, I wondered where the hell he'd been, because I'd been hearing Clemens getting ripped left, right, and center (and by other sources beyond those you referenced), to the point where I was sick of it. His claim that he "waited for it" but it was nowhere to be found is utterly ludicrous. So its not enough that sportswriters get the facts wrong in their articles, now they no longer even have to worry about whether there's any truth to the central premise either?

[kingmaker]

Scoop Jackson's not a big reader, and he's ALSO not a real writer. He's a one note player who somehow parlayed a cheap gimmick into an ESPN contract because they thought his "gangsta writer" act might appeal to teenage black kids they wanted to attract.

Problem is now he's expected to actually occasionally write something of substance and he CAN'T DO IT. The result is pitifully false columns like this one.

[TJ]

Bill Simmons is blacker than Scoop Jackson.

[DeeEl9]

Scoop is probably the single most notable talentless hack in a profession overstuffed with talentless hacks.

[HeyNow]

Not only is Scoop all of the above, but he is also, like, a tiny person. Terribly irritating.

[Digger]

Scoop's 15 minutes should've expired a long time ago. He's been thoroughly exposed, its time for him to go away.