ESPN objectivity (1 Viewer)

[The Flying Elvis]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7296774/mlb-red-sox-one-kind-bobby-valentine

As a Red Sox fan I don't really know what to think about the hire but would atleast like some insight into it from sports outlets. I know the days of ESPN as a journalistic source are gone but this article on Valentine by Kurkjian is ridiculous.

He can be smug and he can be arrogant, but he has a right to be. Bobby Valentine has thrived at most things he has done in his life. He was a great football player; he once scored six touchdowns in the first half of a game at Stamford (Conn.) High School. He was heading to USC to replace O.J. Simpson at tailback, but he chose baseball over football after then-Dodgers general manager Al Campanis asked him, "What would you rather do, play against the best football players in the Pac-10 or against the best baseball players in the world?''

When I asked him what thrill was the greatest for him, making a great play to his right at shortstop, hitting a home run or running 75 yards for a touchdown, Valentine took the play in the hole, but not before asking, "You're not including dancing?'' There have been few ballroom dancers better than Bobby Valentine, just another facet that separates him from the average baseball guy. He had his shirts dry-cleaned when he was 16. And he was the king of the high school science fair. So when he explains the maximum break on a curveball, and explains the physics of bat speed, it's because he knows all about that stuff.

Valentine managed seven years in Japan. He won a championship, but he did much more. In some ways, he changed the way they played baseball in Japan. He changed the way players approached the game and he humanized the players, which wasn't easy given the structured nature of Japanese baseball. His stories from Japan are priceless, including the time he stood at the plate (a tradition in Japan) for the first ball ceremony featuring Nolan Ryan. Ryan accidentally threw a pitch at Valentine's head, and he hit the deck, narrowly escaping.

Humanitarian? Ballroom dancer? Science fair guy? Gourmet chef? Restaurateur? Director of Public Health? Valentine is all of these things. How? Where does he find the time? He told me 25 years ago, "Sleep is overrated,'' and it must be, because I don't know when he sleeps. Yet he fell asleep at the wheel late one night, nearly got killed, and, if possible, doesn't drive alone late anymore; sometimes he'll have someone drive him.

 

[the moops]

I know the days of ESPN as a journalistic source are gone but this article on Valentine by Kurkjian is ridiculous.

It's an opinion piece

 

[Leroy Hoard]

He was a great football player; he once scored six touchdowns in the first half of a game at Stamford (Conn.) High School.

Bobby Valentine >> Al Bundy

 

[Eephus]

He's a better dancer than Gene Lamont

 

[RnR]

He's a better dancer than Gene Lamont

True Story. I heard Cherington put them through a dance-off, and Valentine won in such convincing fashion the decision really made itself.

 

[badmojo1006]

He's a better dancer than Gene Lamont

I would think he would be a natural on Dancing with the Stars