I’ve written way too many ugly things about people in this space over the years. Mean-spirited, nonsensical rants targeting innocent media members that had no purpose except to exorcise my anger at an industry I couldn’t conquer on my own terms. (Though millions of you apparently loved every inch of it.)
With that admission, I confess that rarely has a column affected me the way a piece by Jason Whitlock on FoxSports.com affected me today. I was truly saddened to read his unprovoked, unexplained rage against a wide variety of his media colleagues.
Whitlock is one of the sports journalism’s most prominent originalists. A man who has parlayed true talent to the height of the biz. Yes, we warred for a very short time while broadcasting on Kansas City radio waves, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for what he’s done in print and the electronic media.
Until now.
Whitlock’s piece today, designed to embarrass virtually every prominent media member whom he’s crossed paths with over the years, only served to permanently mar his own reputation as being an eminently fair, well-measured sports and cultural commentator.
His cowardly, unprovoked attacks were a direct contradiction to the guy we’ve grown to admire. A man who has shown unimaginable courage in standing up for the oft-times unpopular societal standards he believes in.
His lede in the FoxSports.com piece, comparing himself to Erin Andrews because both have now appeared on Oprah, was largely incoherent and came off as a flimsy excuse to unleash a torrent of toxic commentary aimed squarely at his sports media peers.
Perhaps some found it oddly amusing, but my takeaway was decidedly different.
The paradoxal paranoia that is Whitlock’s Foxsports.com work tells me that he has officially been broken down by a business he once owned. Less three years ago, Whitlock was one of the most prominent personalities occupying ESPN airwaves. Tony Kornheiser? Michael Wilbon? Jay Mariotti? Whitlock was bigger than all of them for my money.
But thanks to petty, public comments about largely anonymous colleagues (Scoop Jackson, really Jason?) that should’ve been beneath him, Whitlock was eventually shown the door by Bristol.
Amazingly, almost immediately following his ESPN firing, Whitlock was able to gain his most widespread acclaim yet - thanks to his courageous stand against gangsta-rap in the wake of Don Imus’ Rutgers-fueled firing.
But without all-encompassing ESPN behind him, Whitlock eventually faded to being the lead columnist for sports websites with a shadow of influence of ESPN-TV and ESPN.com.
Now re-read his piece today and tell me what you think.
It’s a sad day when a former titan of an industry is reduced to petty cheap shots fired from the margins of that medium. But that’s what we saw today.
Jason is still a very young guy. Hopefully he’ll learn that his talent and instincts will always trump his currently out-of-control, unjustified ego.
10:49 pm on September 3rd, 2009
His column made me laugh, but then I realized that he just committed career suicide.
11:25 pm on September 3rd, 2009
Pretty funny stuff, in my opinion? A little sensitive, Brooks?
11:45 pm on September 3rd, 2009
Read it and found it to be very funny.
Am sure the backlash will be great in our hypocrite politically correct culture but i will continue to follow his column.
11:59 pm on September 3rd, 2009
I just thought it was boring. Nothing inventive, nothing clever.
12:02 am on September 4th, 2009
I thought it was a great column. Awesome and clever line about Barkley’s fav five. I think you missed on this one, Brooks.
12:28 am on September 4th, 2009
Jason once worked for me and he has always been about himself. Even his stances that gained him national notoriety were more about making a name for himself than actually making a stance about something he believes in.
He loves to assail people in sports for having out of control egos when NO ONE thinks more highly of himself than Whitlock. The most important thing to Jason, is Jason. He leaves a trail of broken promises and cheap shots wherever he goes and this article is a perfect example of that. I’m not surprised in the least.
1:27 am on September 4th, 2009
i don’t think you missed at all brooks. in fact, you were right on. these topics should be beneath him and he just took cheap shots at people bigger and badder than himself. it all seemed like a big ploy to mention that at one point he was on oprah. he seems bitter that he is not in the national spotlight anymore, and is taking it out on others, sad, just sad.
1:28 am on September 4th, 2009
I don’t always agree with Whitlock, but I always applaud his courage and admire his style. Not this time, though. This column just rambled; it was as if he just wanted to remind everyone that he, too, was on Oprah. Then the rest was filler. Confusing and sad. But hey, they can’t all be gems.
4:29 am on September 4th, 2009
Yeah. He was going for funny and missed. But the biggest thing he missed was Oprah. (Huh?) She is huge. (Ratings etc. heh heh) But the overlap of Sports Viewers and Oprah Viewers has to be less than 1%. In other words, zero impact on the sports world. Zero reason to write about it on a sports blog.
5:14 am on September 4th, 2009
BOWL FULL OF FUN
7:09 am on September 4th, 2009
For as much as Jason rails against rap music, his column was basically what rappers would call “a diss record”.
Taking shots at ANY and EVERYbody, I enjoyed it, because no matter how much truth there might be in some of those comments, it came across as petty, bitter, vindictive and smacks of a guy whose ego has gotten out of control.
Almost Stephen A. Smith-like in that regard.
8:57 am on September 4th, 2009
Jason Whitlock - Obese, blowhard hack journalist hopes by hating on all his former coworkers he will get some more readers. In fact, lack of talent will lead him to Burger King where he will be terminated for trying to eat fries while still in fryer…
9:13 am on September 4th, 2009
I find Whitlock to be very hit or miss. One column I agree with everything, the next I wonder what planet he’s from. This one he is from Mars. He was not trying to be funny because he has said stuff about the peephole incident before this column that were very negative towards her.
I think going after Erin Andrews is extremely tasteless. She was personally violated and laughs it off like it’s not a big deal because people didn’t make a big enough of a deal about the whole Stuart Scott thing. But then I would be jealous of someone who gets as much attention as her if I was as fat as him.
9:45 am on September 4th, 2009
I found some humor in this but at other points, there were cheap shots at some of my favorite sports media figures. I’m left appalled.
10:14 am on September 4th, 2009
I though the jay mariotti and Mike and Mike items to be pretty funny (and spot on). Is it trivial for jason to write a column like this? yes, i didnt really get the point othe rthan to trash people he doesnt liek. but isnt it just as trivial as what we read in sports blogs every day and that seems to be celebrated (how ofter does brooks champion blogs when tehy actually break a story or get public noteriety). I just dont have see the point of a hypocryte pointing out a hypocryte. Brooks and blogs can make fun of these poepe and make targets of peopel they have personal issues with (hello, Brooks with Whitlock, Dana white, ESPN, ect ect ect)l, but jason whitlock cannot? Blogs can imply Erin andrews whoring herself out for cheap cross over publicity (hi brooks had a post a few days ago about this same subject) but columnists cannot? If andrews was victimised, than she is beter served by putting it behind her but she is making the concious decision to publicise it once again. that deserves critisims and some to question her true motives. As for jasons aticle. yes he’s a petty guy, so what. arn’t we all?
11:55 am on September 4th, 2009
I think that Whitlock is a fool but the article is a bit tongue and cheek?
11:56 am on September 4th, 2009
Who?
12:55 pm on September 4th, 2009
well i guess he’s going to enjoy his new gig……covering cricket matches for the Jaunpur Times in India.
guy is a complete mess………im sure this is going to lead him to an apology and the time honored tradition of blaming this rant on alcohol or drug abuse……….and then checking himself into on of those posh rehabs…….where u get blown by strippers and eat filet mignon for breakfast.
1:14 pm on September 4th, 2009
It is interesting that Brooks believes he’s the arbiter of who should and shouldn’t be lampooned. And just because he grew up in KC. To me if this Whitlock piece were an 8th grade paper it would be a C- at best - not even sure why Brooks brought it up - he gave free publicity to a morbidly obese hypocrite. And like others Whitlock can be good - when he’s calling out black athletes for being idiots; but then he’ll turn around and give blacks, especially himself, free passes for bad behavior and blame it on Whitey trying to hold them now.
2:27 pm on September 4th, 2009
I have worked with the sports media and have dealt with Jason on several occasions. His ego is out of control. Fox Sports.com needs to fire him, just like ESPN did. Career suicide? Maybe. He has very few bridges left to burn.
3:46 pm on September 4th, 2009
Whitlock is the personification of a guy having failed to take his sports career to the next level, sat back on his ever expanding butt now spends his time bitterly back-biting everyone he figures has done him wrong. As much as Whitlock loves to hate on rappers for their minstrel acts, he’s becoming a clown as he cranks out nonsense for Rupert Murdoch’s sports page.
The man is not to be taken seriously.
7:22 pm on September 4th, 2009
I mean… you’re upset cuz its premised around you obsession andrews…. and i mean in this modern day media pc bs world that we live in where if u say anything that isn’t scripted u get villified for, i applaud the dude…
regardless of what he actually said but moreso the fact that he had the courage to say it…
i mean your blog is based on your ability to have a personal opinion because u dont have an espn exec in your ear telling you specifically what u can and cannot write today…. you’re being hypocritical brooks…. dude actually shared his opinion and u blast him for it…
plus the only real part of that article is hard to deny….u dont think andrews will be all over the news after she cries on Oprah?? watch….
9:45 pm on September 4th, 2009
Interesting that those who worked in media or seem somewhat media-savvy recognize Whitlock’s column for what it really was.
While typical sports media consumers either liked the piece or had no reax.
I can understand why typical sports fans would think the piece was amusing, no argument there. But if you’re part of the biz like I have been for so many years, you wouldn’t find it funny. More sad - on how it reflects on Whitlock.
Whitlock has turned in some truly stellar work over the years. It’s really hard to believe the same guy wrote the aforementioned column. Stunning really.
10:19 am on September 5th, 2009
wow, people actually take the “black men with tattoos scare me” guy seriously? yeah it takes such courage to look down your nose preaching conformity. now he crashes and burns on some stupid shit that apparently uptight white people dont like either. lol. him and bill cosby both can choke on a pudding pop…
12:50 pm on September 5th, 2009
Are the parties mentioned in the Whitlock column so hypersensitive as to give anything exceeding a rat’s ass? It’s simple, short, and funny; “rant” doesn’t describe it at all. I’m afraid that this particular at attempt molehill-to-mountain alchemy was unsuccessful. Better luck next time.
5:36 pm on September 5th, 2009
whitlock is a race- baiter and all around hack. it doesn’t surprise me to see him taking cheap shots at people who have actual cred. how can you tank a career that’s been in the tank for years?
11:43 am on September 6th, 2009
Whitlock isn’t well. The column in question is nothing more than a regurgitation of previous columns or statements within previous columns. Though piecing them together in this way does nothing to help his standing in the world of sports scribes, he his merely re-stating - “look at me, look at me…I’m the best, I’m the best!” - and re-using the sports worlds ’stars’ (media and players alike) to do so. His column is his couch and the responses are his meds - and the meds don’t seem to be working.
10:50 pm on September 6th, 2009
I loved it! The Peter King thing was a riot, if you have ever read him MMQB….Peter know one cares about your coffee or your griping about your free travel.