A Nation of Supporting Players
ESPN.com attracts 21 million unique vistors per month, yet there were no checks and balances in place to prevent this headline from running.
I spent more time than I would like to admit this weekend reading opinion pieces and listening to commentary about New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.
Lin was at the center of controversy this weekend when some third-shift clown at ESPN.com decided “Chink In The Armor” was an appropriate headline following a Knicks loss to the lowly New Orleans Hornets — the first since Lin became a full-time starter. In an exclusive interview with the New York Daily News, former ESPN.com editor Anthony Federico, axed yesterday for his severe lapse in judgment, claims the headline was “an honest mistake” and “had nothing to do with me being cute or punny.” (If that’s true, you have to wonder what the four-letter network’s hiring process looks like. Are applicants handed a coloring book and a box of crayons? Perhaps a spelling test?)
David Carr, media reporter and pop culture generalist for the New York Times, took ESPN.com to task yesterday for allowing its Lin Pun Machine to spew out something racist and inappropriate, then followed with a delayed, half-assed apology.
But where Carr’s column really sings is when he tries to decipher why any of it — it, being Lin — matters. Why am I writing my second post in a row about some supposed flash-in-the-pan NBA player?
Carr offers this:
“The Lin story has broken out into the general culture because it is aspirational in the extreme, fulfilling notions that have nothing to do with basketball or race. Most of us are not superstars, but we believe we could be if only given the opportunity. We are, as a matter of practicality, a nation of supporting players, but who among us has not secretly thought we could be at the top of our business, company or team if the skies parted and we had our shot?”
Now there’s some Monday morning brain candy.
A Nation of Supporting Players
ESPN.com attracts 21 million unique vistors per month, yet there were no checks and balances in place to prevent this headline from running.
I spent more time than I would like to admit this weekend reading opinion pieces and listening to commentary about New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.
Lin was at the center of controversy this weekend when some third-shift clown at ESPN.com decided “Chink In The Armor” was an appropriate headline following a Knicks loss to the lowly New Orleans Hornets — the first since Lin became a full-time starter. In an exclusive interview with the New York Daily News, former ESPN.com editor Anthony Federico, axed yesterday for his severe lapse in judgment, claims the headline was “an honest mistake” and “had nothing to do with me being cute or punny.” (If that’s true, you have to wonder what the four-letter network’s hiring process looks like. Are applicants handed a coloring book and a box of crayons? Perhaps a spelling test?)
David Carr, media reporter and pop culture generalist for the New York Times, took ESPN.com to task yesterday for allowing its Lin Pun Machine to spew out something racist and inappropriate, then followed with a delayed, half-assed apology.
But where Carr’s column really sings is when he tries to decipher why any of it — it, being Lin — matters. Why am I writing my second post in a row about some supposed flash-in-the-pan NBA player?
Carr offers this:
“The Lin story has broken out into the general culture because it is aspirational in the extreme, fulfilling notions that have nothing to do with basketball or race. Most of us are not superstars, but we believe we could be if only given the opportunity. We are, as a matter of practicality, a nation of supporting players, but who among us has not secretly thought we could be at the top of our business, company or team if the skies parted and we had our shot?”
Now there’s some Monday morning brain candy.