ESPN turning into TMZ

I can't live without ESPN. It's where I get my news, my insight and my stats. I enjoy the majority of their opinion pieces, whether I agree with them or not, and they are always on the ball. While they had the same rubbish as everyone else concerning the Vick, Donaghy and Clemens stories, there were plenty of good articles giving the opposing (and correct) views. Compared to news sources such as CNN and MSNBC, they cover their niche better than most. In my opinion, there is more sports information coming out of Bristol than anywhere, save for maybe the Sporting News. But I'm not sure this will last.

The continuing trend of covering tabloid-style non-stories is embarrassing. Like when Terrell Owens jokingly told Jessica Simpson to "stay away", making fun of the idea that she makes Tony Romo play bad. That's not sad by itself, but what came after was. Apparently, ESPN took this story seriously, since a front page headline on ESPN.com today was T.O. reportedly says Simpson remarks just a joke. Reportedly? Gee, you think? Did they actually think T.O. seriously believed Simpson needs to stay away from games? I'm amazed that they employ people to cover these stories, and then pass it off as quality journalism by using words like "reportedly" and writing straight pieces on a joke. A joke that everybody was on but them.

I have no problem with "The Worldwide Leader" having fun with these stories, making them filler conversations on programs such as "1st & 10" and "Around the Horn", but let's stop with this so-called investigative journalism. This is US Weekly, Tom and Katie bullshit. Making these joke stories into actual articles is not only a sign of ESPN selling out, but it also shows how incompetent some of these writers actually are. Seriously: someone thought that Owens really wants Jessica Simpson stop coming to games. This same person either is currently or some time in the future going to be relied upon to gain actual information about things we care about. This is not a good thing.