Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Editor's Desk-Sports Blogs aren't to blame for the Erin Andrews Peep-Hole Video

Apple might be blamed next for creating the MacBook and Quicktime

I can say what I want to say ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it.
I can act like an animal ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it.
If I eat you like a cannibal ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it.
If I take you for granted ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it.
If I f**k up the planet ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it.
Ice Cube-"Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It"

First off, I am going to start off with this. What happened to Erin Andrews is a crime (if you haven't heard take a look at the backstory), and whoever did it should be and is going to be spending some quality time with Bogs and the Sisters pretty quickly. I would also hope it is not a hotel employee, because if it is, the hotel that the footage was taken at might be getting served soon, too. I hope EA bounces back from this and continues her career, but at the same time would not blame her if she just retired to a quiet island somewhere and said to hell with it. Now, onto what rips me about this situation, the fall-out.

Reading this column from Newsday's Neil Best is the reason why I get so fed up with society and much of mainstream media, this quote in particular-"I meant to implicate the entire sports blogosphere (this one included). Our playful obsession with Ms. Andrews - about which she consistently has been a good sport - surely helped set the stage for this."

Ok, let's also blame her parents for creating her, CMMC in Lewiston for letting her be born there, the University of Florida for letting her be a cheerleader, blame Dan Patrick for taking a picture with her and her sister during the Super Bowl and posting it on his website, and while we're at it blame ESPN for hiring her over a less attractive option that may have been out there. I searched the internet, and no blogger or writer has a post up offering a bounty for naked Erin Andrews footage. This is the act of some sicko pervert who apparently watched "The Susan Wilson Story" on Lifetime and thought this would be a great idea. If this had happened to Sharon Stone, for instance, would we blame Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas for directing and writing "Basic Instinct"? Do we blame anyone who has ever cast Jessica Alba in a movie if this had happened to her? There are celebrities that get stalked every day, and I don't see places like the New York Post's Page 6, Perez Hilton, TMZ, Us Weekly or the National Enquirer being blamed for stalkers, either. In my eyes, taking a swipe at the blogosphere is convenient, lazy journalism, and is used perfectly with a horrible act so that many won't argue. The act was abhorrent, but the swipe was uncalled for.

To call out the sports blogosphere and finger-wag is total horsecrap, and comes off as being very "Holier Than Thou." Is ESPN being taken to task for letting her host "Who's Now" a few years ago in a short skirt? No, and they shouldn't be. Let's face it, people are going to be fascinated by attractive people for the rest of time, regardless of who they are, what they do, or where they work. I highly doubt a blog post about EA getting hit on the chin by a baseball spurred this sicko to drill a hole in the wall, but to go online and you would think that everyone who has ever written about sports on the internet is to blame for this. So if you ever clicked on and read an article about Erin Andrews, in a way it's your fault too, because bloggers saw people were clicking those stories and generating traffic, so bloggers kept putting up more EA posts and stories. See how easy it is to pass blame?

I hope they find the person who did this, and I will be very interested to see if it was a sports fan who did it or just some sicko who saw an attractive woman in a hotel and wanted some footage. Keep in mind this video was sent to a porn site first, not to a sports blog. I have yet to read anyone write that porn sites are to blame, but those damn sports bloggers, you better watch out for them.

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