# ESPN--Please don't have your ex-jocks talk about labor **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787 "2002-05-19T04:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/1 "2002-05-19T04:01:59Z")
I did a lot of driving the past couple of days and listened to a lot of ESPN Radio. A good deal of their baseball talk was about the impending (or so it would seem) labor problems. And, a good deal of their baseball analysts are former players–Rob Dibble, Harold Reynolds, Mike MacFarlane. And I’m talking recent former players. 10 years ago, these guys were all active ballplayers. It’s not like they’re old and grey. Here’s my beef. Ever hear of **conflict of interest** , ESPN? I guess not, since you just aired that “Outside The Lines” show on sports video games that had quite a lot to do with Sega. Gee, think that had anything to do with ESPN teaming up with Sega to make video games? Today, Dibble and MacFarlane were both such apologists for the players’ union I wanted to punch my radio. I don’t blame them. Heck, Dibble was a union member during the last strike! It’s still fresh in his mind. Look, if you want to ask them what their personal experiences were during the last strike, that’s fine. They can recount their first-hand experiences, which are insightful. But DO NOT let them interject their opinion into what right now is a very muddled issue with a lot of rhetoric being spouted on both sides. What these ESPN guys are doing is simply trying to stick up for their buddies, and that’s a big journalistic no-no. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/2 "2002-05-19T04:53:55Z")
So you would have not complained if they had had the opposite opinion? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/3 "2002-05-19T21:57:46Z")
Snooooopy, please tell us the name of any member of the MLBPA (former or current) that’d be willing to go on the air and criticize the union. That’d be actual big new. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/4 "2002-05-19T22:00:15Z")
Or big news, if I could proof read. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/5 "2002-05-20T03:00:00Z")
I dunno … Bill “Spaceman” Lee? He always seemed pretty insane. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-please-dont-have-your-ex-jocks-talk-about-labor/109787/6 "2002-05-20T04:43:06Z")
If there’s a strike, and MLB replaces all the players with clones of Oil Can Boyd, I’ll go to every Reds home game.