You know that I don’t trust most big corporations and executives. For years sports fans were dealt information they deemed necessary rather than giving us all the information to make an educated choice. In politics you have seen conservative and liberal talk shows work to expose inaccuracies in media, however sports always was unable to break through until the age of information. ESPN has recently been in hot water thanks to former Mets GM Steve Phillips. I mentioned a book called “ESPN: The Uncensored History” as a must read for anyone looking to know the dark underbelly of the organization.

This week one of ESPN’s stars, Bill Simmons, criticized WEEI in Boston on his twitter page:

“Hey WEEI: You were wrong, I did a Boston interview today. With your competition. Rather give them ratings over deceitful s***bags like you.”

ESPN, well known to frown upon its employees twittering, didn’t appreciate “the sports guy” criticizing one of their affiliates. Their response was a two week suspension. How childish can they be?

The funnier response was from ESPN.com Editor in Chief Rob King:

While it’s unfortunate — and sometimes painful — that not everyone outside of ESPN chooses to play by such rules, we choose to hold ourselves to higher standards. Regardless of the provocation, Bill’s communication regarding WEEI fell short of those standards. So we’ve taken appropriate measures.

What rules Rob? What higher standard? If he means the colorful term used by Simmons  I would agree, but you and I know it’s about the criticism of an affiliate which is the problem. Does Mr. King honestly believe that fans trust his organization? This is a typical corporate empty suit response. Remember what I said yesterday: rules are used to control people and keep the status quo. There are no longer any rules in media – they blew their chance to have a monopoly. Freedom scares the heck out of ESPN because they don’t want their customers to think.

The problem we have in this country is that big companies are out of ideas. They have too much bureaucracy and politics to be innovative. They want to embrace new media, but only if it follows the same failed principles of their current news setup. Additionally, they ask websites (like this one) to promote products as a “favor” without any compensation. I had a major sporting goods chain do this right after the World Series. Needless to say I sent them a rate sheet and, surprise, no response.

As the new media aka “the wild west” becomes tougher the response by big companies, like ESPN, will be to bully their employees. Fortune 500 has the market cornered on bullying employees and suppliers. The last line of defense is you – the customer. The problem is they can’t bully you because you have free will to read, buy, and watch what you want. Simmons is one of the few ESPN personalities left that I enjoy and they are taking him out of the public eye for two weeks. Doesn’t that seem insane?

As a customer ESPN is telling me that anyone who does business with them is given special treatment. There are “rules” that need to be followed. Do these rules include not reporting Ben Roethlisberger’s legal problems?  Now I have to cast a doubt eye on WEEI because are they “on the take” when reporting news? Is ESPN not allowing them to criticize certain stories? All legitimate questions.

Next time an executive in the mainstream complains that sites without fact checkers, editors, and corporate infrastructure are kicking their tail remind them of this story. They won’t get it, but instead will look to legislate against competition. At least you know you ruined their day. Here is the million dollar question: how long does Simmons have left at ESPN? Maybe it’s time for Team Chernoff to make a call and see if he is interested in becoming Francesa’s new partner. Someone has to inject life in that god awful show.

Tags: Bill Simmons, ESPN, ESPN.com Editor in Chief, ESPN: The Uncensored History, Mike Francesa, Rob King, The Sports Guy, Twitter Suspension for Bill Simmons, WEEI, WFAN