some kudos must go to new espn ombudsman le anne schreiber, who was very critical of colin cowherd’s attack on thebiglead.com. for those who dont know the story, cowherd told his espn radio listeners to flood the big lead with so many hits that it would crush the blogs limited bandwidth. the attack had the site down for 48 hours, while the big lead scrambled to find a new server. for more insight, check out the big lead’s take on the situation. i sat patiently waiting for a response from espn.
cowherd is an idiot who, very simply put, did something illegal. espn cannot get away with bullying a sports blog, and cowherd’s actions must be placed in the same context as don imus’s “nappy-headed hos” comment. the big lead has been extremely critical of espn in the past, just like other sports blogs have been. hell, even my opinion of espn has changed since the company basically sold out in an effort to be internationally recognized and loved. espn played a big part of my life growing up, and i still check in to get the full spectrum of sports news. despite supporting espn for years, i would never want some huge-ego sports personality looking to score some ratings coming and shutting down my site. in this way, i would rather see espn hit the road, while independent sports blogs such as the big lead, deadspin, mondesis house and nation of islam sports blog rule the sports world.
schreiber must be commended for the stance she took on the whole situation. since she is so new at espn, she has little relationship with the so-called “personalities” on espn radio, tv, mag, or .com. zero tolerance must be enforced, and cowherd should be fired over this instance. the big lead can take legitimate legal action against cowherd and espn, which should send the message that any attempts to disrupt another person’s livelihood through any espn-related media cannot be accepted. espn terminated harold reynolds for supposedly acting inappropriate with a woman (caution: hugs = sexual harassment). if espn continues to employ cowherd after purposefully (and illegally) attacking an independent sports blog, then espn will continue to be viewed as a company with double standards, and any credibility it has left will be flushed away.
so good job, le anne, but your job will not end with a critical article nearly a half a week after cowherd acted like an idiot. legitimate action needs to take place to ensure the safety of us little guys. psamp looks up to blogs like the big lead, and i smiled so hard when the site was up and running again.
one last thing: what if some anti-mini pony espn personality publicly bashed psamp (it would probably be skip bayliss, but this is just a fake, rhetorical question), and crashed this site? zero tolerance must start with the initial problem, before it spreads like the plague. cowherd must be held accountable, and espn better take the appropriate actions against cowherd, before the sports-blog community rises up in arms against the once-heralded espn.
