When I clicked on my television this evening, who did my eyes reveal to me on ESPN but uber-agent Drew Rosenhaus in the midst of a live interview about Terrell Owens' signing with the Dallas Cowboys on the 6:00 p.m. edition of SportsCenter.
All together, the piece was about seven minutes in length, which is about twice as much air time as NHL highlights will get on the late East Coast edition of SportsCenter in a couple of hours.
Now, if Rosenhaus had actually answered any difficult questions, or if the SportsCenter anchor had thought to ask any, I wouldn't have minded. After all, Rosenhaus is the premier agent in sports today. I'm sure if a skillful interviewer got hold of him, Rosenhaus might be able to offer some real insight into the way his game is played, why things happen, and why they don't.
Instead, what we got was about 420 seconds of relentless Rosenhaus happy talk, with Drew regaling us with content-free rhetoric about how poised Terrell Owens was once the Philadelphia Eagles suspended him last season -- as if sitting on your duff at your mansion in South Jersey with tens of millions of dollars in the bank could ever take even a scintialla of poise.
But that wasn't all. We learned about how much TO had grown because of the experience, how committed the two were to each other (expect a ring ceremony sometime this Summer), how Rosenhaus was so proud of Owens and how he, the mighty Rosenhaus, was just trying to be positive about the whole thing.
But the highlight of the interview had to be the moment when Rosenhaus was asked about a book Owens had co-authored with the agent's young brother. It was nothing but yuks all around the ESPN studio as Rosenhaus said everyone would just have to wait for it to be published, but that everyone should know that it would be great becasue his brother was involved.
Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada. Bottom line: It was a brauva performance for Rosenhausm, a spectacular showman if there ever was one. And while I knew I was watching ESPN, for seven minutes it was really RSPN, with Rosenhaus the ringmaster, and the producers, directors and on-air staff at ESPN nothing more than a bunched of well trained seals.
Congratulations, Drew. Next time you're in Bristol, don't forget to bring the sardines.
It also shows the casual contempt that ESPN has for its ombudsman, George Solomon. Solomon took ESPN to task for its cartoonish coverage of T.O. way back in November:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=solomon_george&id=2219746
At most news outlets, a smackdown from the ombud would lead to somewhat chastened coverage going forward. But for the clownhouses at ESPN who masquerade as journalists, it’s whatevs dude. (Peruse some of his other columns and ask whether ESPN took them seriously.)
Solomon has a well-earned reputation as a dean of the sports editors, an old-school newspaperman with high integrity. At ESPN, it looks like he’s squandering that track record. It’s like a serious food critic now relegated to covering the Nathan’s hot dog contest.
Solomon ought to do one last expose and then quit. He could turn the job over to someone more suited, say one of the writers from Bazooka Joe.