Turn It Up/Turn It Down: A Weekly Review of the Media

Week of July 13–20

Every week I write a media column, giving the good, the bad, and the ugly of the week in media (print, radio, Internet, and television are all considered). Enjoy, and as always, feel free to comment and nominate your favorites too...

The Good

Jon Heyman, Richard Deitsch (KLAC AM 570)—Heyman and Deitsch filled in on Tuesday morning on the Dan Patrick Show and were a joy to listen to. Heyman is one of the top baseball writers in the country, and Deitsch is what I consider myself to be: a media critic.

The show became even better when Heyman interviewed his Sports Illustrated colleague Tom Verducci. Deitsch was the designated host and ran the show like a pro.

Jay Soderberg (ESPN Podcast Producer)—With no regular hosts for that day’s show, Soderberg played multiple interviews of baseball’s All-Stars conducted by ESPN Fantasy Guru Matthew Berry.

Prior to the interviews, Soderberg mentioned an emailer who read an article about Matthew Berry and sent it in to the show’s email forum. The emailer? Yours truly!

Peter King (Sports Illustrated)—The NFL master is back and better than ever.  King came back from a four-week absence, loaded with the latest Brett Favre updates. With King being one of Favre’s closest friends, he always gets the best stories and breaking news as soon as it happens. King is also taking suggestions from readers to improve his immensely popular “Monday Morning Quarterback” column. No wonder this guy is so loved.

Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports.com)—Whitlock did something most of America wished it could: write Green Bay Packer’s GM Ted Thompson a letter asking what in the world he is thinking by undermining Brett Favre. With the non-stop Favre coverage at an all-time high this week, Whitlock made the story interesting without all the butt kissing the rest of Favre’s supporters have done. Best advice from Whitlock to Thompson: “Don’t go down in history as the dumbest general manager in the history of professional sports.”

The Bad

Jeff Passan (Yahoo Sports)—On Tuesday, Passan wrote about Seattle Mariner’s outfielder Ichiro Suzuki’s annual tradition of a pregame speech before each All-Star Game. What exactly does a player who has used an interpreter since 2001 have to say to rile up his teammates?

Unfortunately, it has so many “bleeps” that Passan wasn’t able to get Ichiro to repeat it. Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz and Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young both were quoted in the article about the importance of the speech. The American League hasn’t lost an All-Star Game since Ichiro delivered his first one back when he was a rookie.

The reason this article found itself in the "Bad" section this week is the headline: “Ichiro’s speech to All-Stars revealed.”  Neither Passan nor Ichiro revealed anything!

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune also wrote a blurb about Ichiro’s ritual, but, like Passan, he failed to find out what was said.

The Ugly

All of the Brett Favre coverage. I can’t stand it anymore. The only real appealing image of Favre lately was the one of him in a Chicago Bears uniform. This image had the city buzzing all weekend.

Rants and Raves

If you haven’t heard that Greg Norman and Chris Evert were married, it’s time to climb out of the whole you live in. Does this marriage matter one iota to his success at the British Open? Why must America be pummeled with their marriage details every five seconds?

Dan Uggla had a bad All-Star Game, with three errors and multiple poor at-bats, but why must we hear about it a billion times from each writer? Uggla did his part to silence the critics Saturday night, hitting his 25th home run and helping the Marlins defeat the Phillies.

Has anyone seen or heard from Mel Kiper Jr. or Todd McShay in the past three months?

*Notes*

Big Ten Media Day 2008 will be held on July 24-25, and I will be covering it exclusively for the Bleacher Report. Look for a reaction column soon after.