Remember that whole Reggie Bush fiasco a few months back? Yahoo! Sports fell over itself trying to call attention to its exclusive investigation blowing open the deadly underworld of...um, Reggie Bush taking some money from an agent. Everyone blew a gasket for a day and then slowly but surely we all forgot about it. What I remember distinctly about it was the tenacity at which Yahoo! used to promote the story. It wasn't just the headline on thier sports page for a week, it was a Yahoo front page story. I can understand that it was the first big "break" for Yahoo! Sports in a world dominated by ESPN, Sports Illustrated and local newspapers. Still, I couldn't help but think they were using the story not as a way to tell the truth but more as a way to sell thier brand. You could see PR flacks stressing to anyone who would listen that "Yahoo! Sports broke this, you got it! And this time, don't forget the !"
Well, they're at it again.
Front and center on Yahoo!'s homepage this morning is a link to a story about instant replay and how it failed in last year's national championship game between USC and Texas. The conceit of the article is that the refs made a bigtime boo-boo when Vince Young's knee went down in the infamous pitch that led to a touchdown. From there, it becomes a catch-all into the instant replay process in college football and what's wrong with it.
Now here's the issue. First of all, this isn't something that we aren't all aware of. We remember the play, we disagreed, we bitched for a few days and we moved on. At the end of the day, USC has thier chance to redeem themselves and they didn't. Game over. Aside form some Trojan alums, I really don't think there was a huge outcry for reform on that. Yes, there was the Oklahoma-Oregon debacle a few weeks back and unfortunately that's going to happen every so often. You hope its not on a big stage when it goes down but its the chance you take when you involve the "human element." Just ask MLB hitters in baseball about umpire strike zones or NBA players about ref's tolerance this season for arguing calls.
At the end of the day, is this worthy of a front page "exclusive" article? Is this article nothing more than a trumped up version of what Colin Cowherd discusses on his morning radio show for fifteen minutes once every month? Isn't this just a collection of facts and figures and quotes we've already heard anyway?
I can appreciate that Yahoo! Sports is trying to make a name for itself. Look at Sports Illustrated...they're the grandaddy of 'em all and to this day they still have to puff out thier chests every once in a while.
I don't know if its coincidence that every time Yahoo! Sports does one of these "exposes" its about college football or what. I just hope they calm down over there and remember to put the "news" before the brand.
Well, they're at it again.
Front and center on Yahoo!'s homepage this morning is a link to a story about instant replay and how it failed in last year's national championship game between USC and Texas. The conceit of the article is that the refs made a bigtime boo-boo when Vince Young's knee went down in the infamous pitch that led to a touchdown. From there, it becomes a catch-all into the instant replay process in college football and what's wrong with it.Now here's the issue. First of all, this isn't something that we aren't all aware of. We remember the play, we disagreed, we bitched for a few days and we moved on. At the end of the day, USC has thier chance to redeem themselves and they didn't. Game over. Aside form some Trojan alums, I really don't think there was a huge outcry for reform on that. Yes, there was the Oklahoma-Oregon debacle a few weeks back and unfortunately that's going to happen every so often. You hope its not on a big stage when it goes down but its the chance you take when you involve the "human element." Just ask MLB hitters in baseball about umpire strike zones or NBA players about ref's tolerance this season for arguing calls.
At the end of the day, is this worthy of a front page "exclusive" article? Is this article nothing more than a trumped up version of what Colin Cowherd discusses on his morning radio show for fifteen minutes once every month? Isn't this just a collection of facts and figures and quotes we've already heard anyway?
I can appreciate that Yahoo! Sports is trying to make a name for itself. Look at Sports Illustrated...they're the grandaddy of 'em all and to this day they still have to puff out thier chests every once in a while.
I don't know if its coincidence that every time Yahoo! Sports does one of these "exposes" its about college football or what. I just hope they calm down over there and remember to put the "news" before the brand.