#michaelwilbon

[apollo-glove-repair-blog]

Do you agree? #JacobDeGrom #CyYoung @apollosports.inc #ApolloSports .. #LGM #MichaelWilbon #espn #PTI #Cy #DeGrom #Mets #NyMets @mets @realmikewilbon @espn https://www.instagram.com/p/Bny6HhvHrEH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=186xum1m1ytpl

[theteampodcast-blog]

Mr/Dr Tony has barz!! 😂😂🤣... #MrTony #TonyKornheiser #MichaelWilbon #PTI #ESPN #TheTeamPodcast #TTP ( via @pti )

[theteampodcast-blog]

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16 years of PTI... #PTI #YoBoy #MichaelWilbon #TonyKornheiser #ESPN #TheTeamPodcast #TTP ( via @pti )

[allpointsblog]

Random Rant #2483: Michael Wilbon is a Jerk

While listening to PTI tonight, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from Mike Wilbon (although I kind of could). During the session about the most important story since the moon landing, Lochte & Company’s bathroom stop at a gas station, they discussed lesser known swimmer Jimmy Feigen having to pay $11,000 to retrieve his passport from the least corrupt police force since [insert some shitty communist country’s notoriously corrupt police force], just so he could leave Brazil. Frank Isola, a New York Daily News columnist and real person, understood this for it was, flagrant, exorbitant extortion (it was originally $30,000, then over $40,000, then negotiated down to a “reasonable” $11K).

However, Wilbon, who apparently only understands the currency of fame, could not get past the fact that Jimmy Feigen is not Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps or Lebron James, in other words, someone rich and famous whose picture he could readily identify. He refused to acknowledge that Feigen got hosed, instead he repeatedly asked what he had lost, unable to grasp the glaring fact that he lost $11,000, or get past Feigen’s lack of fame, which, in Wilbon’s corrupt view, seems to be the only thing of value someone can lose. Finally, after his nonsensical, completely out of touch rant, Frank had to repeat that Feigen did, indeed, lose what 99% of Americans would consider a significant sum of money. Incredibly, Wilbon doubled down by dismissively saying he should make Lochte pay it, which would be “easy enough” (because after the week Lochte has had, I’m sure he’s itching to part with eleven grand).

The entire exchange was painful to behold and a dark extension of a consistent line of jokes between Wilbon and Kornheiser on PTI (which I listen to everyday, out of habit), about how much money they have. Hardly an episode goes by when one of them doesn’t crack a joke about how many houses they have or what 1%er golf courses they play. I suppose anyone who goes from a high five figure columnist gig to a multi-million dollar TV job can’t help but bask in their newfound wealth. But I hope one day a producer tells them to cut it out, that nobody is watching them to hear the equivalent of Scrooge McDuck diving into his vault of gold coins, and that they should act like the professionals they used to be.

[alexkungu93-blog]

New Platform, Same Issues: A First Strike for The Undefeated

Before I begin I just want to express that I’m a huge fan of the concept of The Undefeated. A site that looks at the intersection of race and sports is something that I’ve always been interested in, and I look forward to hearing how older African-Americans feel about certain topics. This morning I read the article that Michael Wilbon posted on the relationship of advanced analytics and African-Americans. If you’ve seen the Michael Wilbon story on The Undefeated, there’s a few things that you need to hear.

 1.     The thoughts of Michael Wilbon are not the thoughts of all African-Americans. It’s ridiculous that the site has portrayed this as the overall sentiment for blacks, because quite frankly it’s not anything that they’ve done enough to prove. Questioning a couple of colleagues, two NBA players, and being black doesn’t qualify as the amount of research necessary to make the claims that were made. For better or worse, this site is viewed as an African-American site, and it’s been given a platform that most can only dream of. With this platform, readers will consistently make the conclusion that the website has the “pulse” of the African-American community, and other minority groups. Because of this, The Undefeated has the burden of creating a perfect product for all race-related articles because it’s one of the few places that will be expected to always have it right.  

2.     The idea of blacks and disdain for advanced analytics may not be entirely proven, but it isn’t exactly unfounded. Blacks in this country have suffered from education inequality since the early 1900’s. Even today, blacks have substantially lower high school graduation rates than whites, and a little under a quarter actually complete a Bachelor’s degree. Of these few numbers, even a smaller percentage of blacks are completing degrees that are high-paying. According to the Center of Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, only 8% of black do Engineering, 7% in Mathematics, and 5% in Computer Science. These concentrations have heavy math backgrounds that blacks are uninterested in pursuing because of a mix of personal decisions, and not being well-prepared during their middle and high school years. Of course, advanced analytics don’t need a mathematics degree to figure out, but the overall sentiment is fields such as science and math have long been something that many African-Americans aren’t properly prepared to deal with. This was something The Undefeated could have expanded on since it actually has data to back-up.  

 I’m still a fan of the site, and think that it’s done some great work in first week. At the same time, it has a duty unlike any other extension of ESPN to accurately depict the pulse of the African-American community. This won’t be easy, and mistakes will happen a lot. However, unsupported opinion pieces should never become the normal no matter how respected the journalist is. Practical reasoning and Quantitative evidence must always remain consistent themes throughout the website as the following continues to grow. Otherwise, features like this may lead us to believe that maybe the website was made in the image of Jason Whitlock after all.