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ESPN's Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

I know it's going to be completely forgotten about now that the TO suicide attempt has replaced it in the headlines, but the return of the league to New Orleans- along with the Saints' return as a contender- has been the best story of the young NFL season. Monday night was a great moment, with the crowd going crazy for the return of football, and ESPN even handling things somewhat respectfully.

But if you listen to one of the diarists over at the Daily Kos (and I'm by no means suggesting that you do), the game was part of an ongoing, clandestine conspiracy by the Worldwide Leader to help Republicans and hurt Democrats:

"For several years, ESPN has been manufacturing fake cheers and fake boos for politicians. It's a very simple rule. If you are a Democrat not named Joe Lieberman, ESPN will play a tape of boos previously recorded and insert them into the audio after the Democrat is announced. If you are a Republican and ESPN is expecting boos, ESPN will play a pre-recorded tape of cheers unrelated to the Republican.

I've witnessed for years former ESPN commentator like Chris Myers call home runs to right field "a Rush Limbaugh shot, right and fair." I've seen in studio college football analysts gush over Ann Coulter. I've listened to ESPN constantly hype individuals who are well known figures in the Religious Right. I've heard a basketball commentator call Jerry Falwell a good man during a basketball game.

I have no problem with these political views being uttered during a political broadcast. I do have a problem with hearing it during a sports show from the host. (They did hire Rush Limbaugh for goodness sakes!)

When John Kerry was shown on screen at a Red Sox game in 2004, ESPN played a tape of boos. It was NOT the crowd reaction. I knew the tape was fake by that quick click that transitions from live to pre-recorded. ESPN has done this stunt of playing fake cheers and fake boos time and time again. Last night, during Monday Night Football, ESPN did it again. I heard that same click.

It started with right winger Mike Tirico announcing George Bush Sr. to the crowd. Instantaneously you could hear an echo of cheers and not a single boo from the audio. But if you listen carefully to the audio, that audio was not live. ESPN shut off the sound of the Superdome crowd for a few seconds and played this audio of fake cheers. About ten seconds later ESPN had to shut their fake tape off and go to the NFL official on the field for the coin toss. That's when you could hear the REAL crowd noise."

Where to even start with this nonsense? Our author shares nothing of what us journalists and others in the legal profession refer to as "evidence," so we must take his argument apart circumstantially.

I can't tell if "Dave From Queens" (as the author calls himself) is arguing that ESPN played fake crowd noise in the stadium, or if it was merely piped in to the audience at home. If the former is true, the Saints organization itself would have had to do it, instead of just the network broadcasting the game. and if the latter is true, wouldn't that be a pretty easy thing for people there to determine? Wouldn't, oh, one of the couple of hundred reporters who were at the stadium have noticed that something was up?

Dave appears unaware, and even his commenters point out, that Saints fans regularly yell "Deuce" when their captain Deuce McAllister is on the field, which often sounds like "Boo" (McAllister was on the field for the coin toss), so perhaps that was alleged boo that he thought he heard. The "click" was the sound that is made, on every single sports broadcast, when the director switches from booth audio to the ref's microphone and the on-field audio.

This is also the first I've heard of the accusation that the anti-Kerry booing in 2004 was faked. Would Dave like to share some substantiation of that, as well?

It's possible that Saints' fans aren't big fans of Bush 41. True, his son handled Hurricane Katrina less than admirably, and his wife made that awful comment about how living in the Astrodome was "working out well for them." But Bush the elder, along with President Clinton, has raised millions of dollars for Katrina relief. And, since it was the pregame of the first game back in New Orleans and they were excited for it to start- might that be why they didn't all boo?

A few other howlers here: I've never heard any words out of his mouth, or anyone else's, that suggest in any way that Mike Tirico is a "right-winger." I've never heard Chris Myers- who left ESPN eight years ago, by the way- use that Limbaugh-based home run call. If they've been "constantly hyping" religious-right figures, I have no idea when that was or who it was, nor have I ever heard any college analyst "gush" over Ann Coulter, and I watch ESPN quite a lot. And yes they hired Rush Limbaugh- and then they fired him (deservedly) a month later.

Not to mention, why was Spike Lee- certainly no Republican apologist- allowed to appear in the broadcast booth, along with outspoken liberal Tony Kornheiser? And beyond that, why would ESPN give a low-rated, five-day-a-week show to Stephen A. Smith, who is clearly very much not a Republican?

As anyone who read this blog knows, I'm no apologist for ESPN. In fact, I rip the network constantly. But purposely manipulating crowd noise for partisan political purposes is obviously one charge to which they can safely plead innocense.

Posted by Stephen Silver at September 27, 2006 11:45 AM