We Put The Fun In Disfunctional
What an absolute bizarre week in the Minneapolis/St. Paul sports scene. I know, you're asking how could it get more bizarre than a sex cruise, right?
In the middle of the week KFAN personality Dan Barreiro absolutely laid into WCCO Radio (a competing station) host Mike Max. Max and basically all of the employees at WCCO are sort of known for being homers who don't really like to ask the tough questions. Everybody in Minnesota pretty much takes this for granted, but it came to a head this week after a question and answer series with Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett and Barreiro couldn't help himself.
Star Tribune beat writer Steve Aschburner started questioning Garnett about missing a team function, which Garnett never does. There is chatter in the Twin Cities that if the Wolves don't turn things around soon that Garnett is going to get antsy and want to head elsewhere. Aschburner asked Garnett if he missed the team function as a way of making a statement, much like former Wolves Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell did last year.
After Garnett said it was just a scheduling conflict, Max told Garnett that he "cringed" when he heard Aschburner ask Garnett the question. Barreiro responded on his radio show by calling Max a suck up who would be laughed out of the media if he worked in cities like New York, Boston or Chicago. Barreiro went on to say that Max is the type of media guy who would do an hour show from Gophers football coach Glen Mason's kitchen and not even approach the subject of a recent Gophers loss. Barreiro concluded by basically saying that Max has no business being in the business which I tend to agree with.
The second unthinkable media story this week deals with KSTP Channel 5. Since the Vikings alleged sex cruise, there has been about a two week period without any new information about the event. So channel 5 appears to have tried to create some news by following up on a tip from the general public.
Somebody saw Viking's Bryant McKinnie and Mewelde Moore dump several trashbags into a construction site dumpster. So channel 5 drove to the dumpster and sifted through the trash (I would have paid money by the way to see Rob Leer wading through garbage bags) and pulled out several interesting items. Among the things found were a list of female names, a liquor receipt with McKinnie's credit card number and an apparent marijuana bud.
Channel 5 reported that one of the names on the list was Ayana, who they identified as Ayana Angel - a "prostitute with upper-class clientele" from Atlanta who has starred in XXX movies. First of all, who's defining upper class here? Secondly, channel five's attempt to link this garbage (both literally and figuratively) to the sex cruise without any evidence is unprofessional and sensationalistic in my opinion. How many Ayana's are there in the world? They were also very iffy on whether it was actually marijuana or not. What news station goes on the air with a report and says "well it might be marijuana that we found." So they go to all the trouble to sift through a dumpster, but couldn't find someone to verify if something was marijuana or not?
The kicker is that channel 5 is the Vikings broadcast partner and a corporate sponsor! They host a pre-game show before each Viking game and have Mike Tice live in studio every Sunday night. Vikings players have responded by saying they will now boycott channel 5 and no longer appear on any of the station's braodcasts.
Finally, it comes out today that Mr October - Reggie Jackson - wants to "buy" the Minnesota Twins. It's no secret that Jackson would likely try to move the team to Las Vegas. I guess it makes sense as I'm sure many people have conceived twins in Vegas.
So Sincere Terrell
Did everyone feel the deep sincerity in Terrell Owens voice today as he issued a three sentence apology for ripping his own quarterback again. I keep thinking how great it would be if the Eagles released Owens and no team offered to pick him up. I know it would never happen, but boy that would be great.
Early Bloomer
The man who interviewed Terrell Owens this week - Graham Bensinger - is 18 years old! The kid has his own radio show in St. Louis and is a regular contributor on ESPN.com. How depressing is this to me and fellow hard-working sports journalists trying to make it? Quite depressing. At 27 it makes me feel like a couch potato. Yeah, while Bensinger was rubbing shoulders with Owens, I was sitting in the glorius press box at Maple Grove High School covering a section final high school football game between the Crimson of Maple Grove and the mighty Trojans of Wayzata. Well at least I can shave!
What an absolute bizarre week in the Minneapolis/St. Paul sports scene. I know, you're asking how could it get more bizarre than a sex cruise, right?
In the middle of the week KFAN personality Dan Barreiro absolutely laid into WCCO Radio (a competing station) host Mike Max. Max and basically all of the employees at WCCO are sort of known for being homers who don't really like to ask the tough questions. Everybody in Minnesota pretty much takes this for granted, but it came to a head this week after a question and answer series with Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett and Barreiro couldn't help himself.
Star Tribune beat writer Steve Aschburner started questioning Garnett about missing a team function, which Garnett never does. There is chatter in the Twin Cities that if the Wolves don't turn things around soon that Garnett is going to get antsy and want to head elsewhere. Aschburner asked Garnett if he missed the team function as a way of making a statement, much like former Wolves Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell did last year.
After Garnett said it was just a scheduling conflict, Max told Garnett that he "cringed" when he heard Aschburner ask Garnett the question. Barreiro responded on his radio show by calling Max a suck up who would be laughed out of the media if he worked in cities like New York, Boston or Chicago. Barreiro went on to say that Max is the type of media guy who would do an hour show from Gophers football coach Glen Mason's kitchen and not even approach the subject of a recent Gophers loss. Barreiro concluded by basically saying that Max has no business being in the business which I tend to agree with.
The second unthinkable media story this week deals with KSTP Channel 5. Since the Vikings alleged sex cruise, there has been about a two week period without any new information about the event. So channel 5 appears to have tried to create some news by following up on a tip from the general public.
Somebody saw Viking's Bryant McKinnie and Mewelde Moore dump several trashbags into a construction site dumpster. So channel 5 drove to the dumpster and sifted through the trash (I would have paid money by the way to see Rob Leer wading through garbage bags) and pulled out several interesting items. Among the things found were a list of female names, a liquor receipt with McKinnie's credit card number and an apparent marijuana bud.
Channel 5 reported that one of the names on the list was Ayana, who they identified as Ayana Angel - a "prostitute with upper-class clientele" from Atlanta who has starred in XXX movies. First of all, who's defining upper class here? Secondly, channel five's attempt to link this garbage (both literally and figuratively) to the sex cruise without any evidence is unprofessional and sensationalistic in my opinion. How many Ayana's are there in the world? They were also very iffy on whether it was actually marijuana or not. What news station goes on the air with a report and says "well it might be marijuana that we found." So they go to all the trouble to sift through a dumpster, but couldn't find someone to verify if something was marijuana or not?
The kicker is that channel 5 is the Vikings broadcast partner and a corporate sponsor! They host a pre-game show before each Viking game and have Mike Tice live in studio every Sunday night. Vikings players have responded by saying they will now boycott channel 5 and no longer appear on any of the station's braodcasts.
Finally, it comes out today that Mr October - Reggie Jackson - wants to "buy" the Minnesota Twins. It's no secret that Jackson would likely try to move the team to Las Vegas. I guess it makes sense as I'm sure many people have conceived twins in Vegas.
So Sincere Terrell
Did everyone feel the deep sincerity in Terrell Owens voice today as he issued a three sentence apology for ripping his own quarterback again. I keep thinking how great it would be if the Eagles released Owens and no team offered to pick him up. I know it would never happen, but boy that would be great.
Early Bloomer
The man who interviewed Terrell Owens this week - Graham Bensinger - is 18 years old! The kid has his own radio show in St. Louis and is a regular contributor on ESPN.com. How depressing is this to me and fellow hard-working sports journalists trying to make it? Quite depressing. At 27 it makes me feel like a couch potato. Yeah, while Bensinger was rubbing shoulders with Owens, I was sitting in the glorius press box at Maple Grove High School covering a section final high school football game between the Crimson of Maple Grove and the mighty Trojans of Wayzata. Well at least I can shave!
posted by PulseofMN at 4:05 AM
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