On Friday, I caught a few moments of ESPN's "SportsCenter" and was struck by a comment by the announcer, whom I did not recognize. He said that the South African sprinter known as the Blade Runner was guilty of murder.

Well, he didn't use the word guilty. But he called the slaying, killing, shooting death of model Reeva Steenkamp a "murder."

Oops.

Murder is a legal term, and it is often misused by journalists, especially when talking on radio, audio or video reports. Typically, or really, most of the time, the impact is minimal or non-existent.

For instance, today in Farmington, there's the story of the court employee who was killed over the weekend, her dismembered body found and her boyfriend awaiting charges. It's pretty clear a crime was committed, considering the act to hide the body. But, it may still be an accidental death (a manslaughter or even a non-criminal accident) and the only crime is the destruction of the body.

Ultimately, it is a jury or possibly a judge who will rule that a slaying is a murder, or a judge accepting a plea from a defendant.

But with the Oscar Pistorius case, she was shot. He admitted it, it seems, claiming it was an accident. And he has been charged with murder.

To call her death a murder is to take the next step and convict him.



Even with all the sources in the world, it is not a news outlet who gets to convict the sprinter. It is the judge or jury. Otherwise, it's not murder. It's a slaying, a killing, a shooting, a homicide, a tragedy. Lots of other ways exist to describe the taking of a life, but murder is not an option. 

The Toledo Blade is a very respected newspaper, where they've been publishing the news for more than a century, almost two in fact.

They showed their age on Wednesday when they began waving their canes at the new generation of journalists, many of whom no longer work at the newspapers that laid them off, cut their positions or just stopped paying them.

Their specific targets were at Deadspin.com, famous now for not just its humor, insight and occasional profanity but for breaking and fully reporting the Manti Te'o lies. The Toledo Blade was beaten to a story in its own backyard by Deadspin, which did not name a woman who was the subject of a coach's improper affections. The Blade later named her, and in their comments defending the naming, they said you can trust the Blade and its named sources more than some web site.

Ooops.

They're sounding very old-timey here, dismissing the new media.

Now the folks at Deadspin weren't necessarily laid off from newspapers, though several come from very respected newspapers. They are top-notch journalists who are professionals working on an online platform. The web is not just the future of publishing, it is currently the primary format, where the format does not dictate the quality of journalism. The format is just how the consumer sees, views, hears, reads, watches the story, and the format merely involves the method (and speed) with which they receive the news and the price they or others pay for it.

Less money is going to newspapers' printed products and more money is spent online. That's all there is to it.

But to 'diss' the new media as less reliable is an outright lie and deception on its readers. It's spin, it's a PR stunt and it's being properly called out.

Note, the editor who made the comment said he did not mean to diss the Deadspin guys; rather, he was just praising his guy. He referenced them being sensitive. He appears to be lying.

From the Atlanticwire.com is that comment that sparked the controversy:
The difference between the coverage of this story by The Blade and Deadspin is that (Blade writer Ryan) Autullo is a professional journalist who has named sources and you can believe what he reports.

Again, if he later says he didn't mean to say anything about the winning competitor's story, he appears to be lying. And, I suspect, he was initially covering his own blunder, holding the story out of fear his writer had something wrong.

Deadspin does fabulous work. They are quick, funny and sharp. And they get the world, sports is not just sports, news is not just official statements and reaction. They are profane. They do not hold back. And they call people out. Some of their best work is the constant analysis of the 'journalism' that goes on at ESPN, which is more brand promotion and event sponsorship than journalism.

Put down the cane and just cover your community and write your stories.

An eighth-grade student at Rochester Hills' Van Hoosen Middle School got his first action when he took the court last night in the team's final game.

He nailed his first shot and then drilled his second, making two three-pointers and driving the crowd wild. Owen Groesser has Down syndrome, inspiring his team and his school by accomplishing these season-ending scores.

Social media kicks in with someone starting a Twitter handle of #GetOwenonSportsCenter. And it worked, giving the student a slot on the night's top ten highlights. Sensing they had seen something special, they knew to share it and to give Owen an extra boost, a national spotlight.

Good job, Owen, way to represent the school and community. Here's the video, from WXYZ's full report of the game action:

I was at an appointment Monday afternoon and they had the news on in the waiting room. Up popped a preview of the night's BCS National Championship game.

A man commented to his wife: "Oh, I forgot that was on tonight."

Bingo. I thought the same thing working that morning when I saw something cross the wires about the night's game. I, too, had no thoughts on college football after the Wild Card weekend for the NFL.

I wonder how the ratings will be as I only watched a little and Alabama quickly turned the game into a route. Perhaps they should just replay the SEC title game for the national title, but I think it's harming the ratings to wait so late into January.

Seems like it worked better when the season wrapped up on New Year's Day, perhaps just going one day extra for the finale. And I should note, I do like college football.

Of course, the way ESPN was schooled by NBC when it finally acquired Monday Night Football, as the NFL and audience switched emphasis to Sunday Night Football, ESPN's bowl season has been lackluster to say the least.

The national championship is not worthy of a week-long preparation, such as the Super Bowl enjoys.

"I love my game but I hate to hell what I'm seeing now."

That's from Ted Lindsay, the Detroit Red Wing great, who is now 87, speaking to the Detroit News yesterday.

He's right. One of the ambassadors of the game, Lindsay has long been a standup guy for the city, the team and the league. Now he is watching the National Hockey League implode with a second labor shutdown that continues to drive away fans and cost the league's owners and players.

It's amazing watching this again. It was just a few years ago that the NHL seemingly lost it all, losing a postseason and championship year due to labor strife. They had lost their deal with ESPN, perhaps one of the most valuable in sports to the exposure, which is doubly important because the teams are seen on games given added importance and featured prominently in the channel's sports news shows, both "SportsCenter" and the "NHL Tonight."

I remember fondly watching Barry Melrose each night during the Stanley Cup playoffs in the 1990s, when both ESPN and ESPN2 showed multiple games. All the hockey a fan could want was on TV, an interest that was born out of the Tie Domi and Bob Probert battles of the 1980s. Then the ownership decided to go for the short-term quick buck, refusing lower revenues and heightened exposure. Sure, it's not fair that ESPN could have them by their shorthairs but hey, we all should know life's not fair.

So they gave up the revenue, then tried to undo the high salaries they'd given and there was a lockout and a lost season. They were on a channel no one watched, but after a few years and promoting itself in the Winter Classic (a game I don't understand people would want to attend... an intimate game taken to a large stadium, who cares?) But nonetheless, they were pushed by NBC and they slowly made their way back, and now it's all lost.

I lost interest after the first shutdown. I didn't miss hockey. There's too much other entertainment. In the 1990s, I watched little network TV. Now, shows are better, by DVR is filled and when baseball and college football ends, I only have weekend football (English Premiere League in the mornings and NFL on Sunday afternoon.) That's plenty. I don't need hockey and really won't watch. I went to a game a year or two ago, saw the Wings beat the Calgary Flames. In two years, I maybe watched a handful, perhaps six or seven, other complete games worth of hockey on TV - in total.

And I'm a Wings and Canucks fan, and I'd check out their playoff games, flipping to them to see what the score was.

Now, if I would care at all, it would be a negative view of their brand, resentment at both sides. But I don't care. Too bad for NBC, which seemed on the verge of challenging ESPN (about the only thing I care about in this sorry story), by using its new sports channel, which used to be Versus (which used to be the Outdoor Channel), to promote the NHL. Now, I am thrilled that Comcast has added the Fox Soccer Channel's high definition channel to my line up. Oh joy. ESPN2 already has HD for its weekly one or two game. (Next, please, Comcast, add Fox Soccer Plus, so I can get the second game on at the same time.)

Some people in my family resented the baseball strike of 1994-95, when MLB lost a World Series, more than a decade later, angry at the lost postseason. "I'll never watch those guys again," I heard. And it was a real anger. This is different. I don't feel that with NHL. And that may be worse for the league, feeling nothing for something that will never matter again.

Oh, and Ted Lindsay is a class act. I remember when he changed his name legally from Theodore, knowing that Ted is how he is known and wanting to use his name and fame to help families in need. Shame the value has been lost in what he could offer, all his hard work flushed down the drain due to greed.