After listening to Colin Cowherd's commentary on the death of Sean Taylor on Wednesday, I was motivated to actually send an email to Le Anne Schreiber, the ESPN.com ombudsman, which I'm sure will have no effect and join the pile of venomous correspondence that I hope his words have generated. Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog on washingtonpost.com, initially posted excerpts of Cowherd's comments and his reaction to those comments on Wednesday. Bravo to Steinberg for calling out this kind of hateful BS. Here's the comments I sent on, likely to disappear into the ether of ESPN.com:
Ms. Schreiber--
On Wednesday, November 28, Colin Cowherd provided commentary regarding the shooting death of Sean Taylor. Normally, I do not listen to his show in the mornings due to my experiences in having listened to his show when he initially took the time slot after Tony Kornheiser's departure from ESPN Radio. He is a stereotypical example of a sports talk show host, making inflammatory and absolute statements on issues, deriding those who disagree with his point of view. I feel that ESPN Radio greatly devalued its programming lineup when it brought him onto the air. ESPN Radio, to that point, seemed to provide a reasonable platform that made their bevy of knowledgeable experts even more accessible to the public.
Due to the death of Sean Taylor, I was listening to multiple platforms to glean information and listen to reaction. While former ESPN personality Dan Patrick attempted to not rush to judgment and encouraged others to not do so as well, Cowherd plowed forward, declaring that he was providing "big boy radio", insulting those who felt his "analysis" was insulting, unfounded, and out of place. Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, posted multiple excerpts of Cowherd's broadcast on his DC Sports Bog at washingtonpost.com. Based upon what I personally heard on Cowherd's broadcast, as well as what I subsequently read on the Washington Post website, Cowherd indeed seemed to take on a sanctimonious and superior attitude based upon his conclusions about the motivations surrounding the crime perpetrated on Sean Taylor, principally based on the widely reported comments of the Arizona Cardinals' Antrel Rolle. Listening to Cowherd's commentary, hearing him criticize and mock those who may have disagreed with his commentary and his timing, observing his interaction with multiple callers (one of whom had the gall to forward a theory that Taylor may have been the victim of a "love triangle" type situation, to which Cowherd responded by thanking him for the call and doing nothing to balance this outrageous, unfounded, and disrespectful theory), I was left open mouthed, shocked, and completely disgusted.
As in most cases where sports radio types such as Cowherd are shown to be incorrect upon further contemplation or the unfolding of events, I am sure that Cowherd will not revisit the issue now that his theories have been proven to be extremely detached from reality.
His representation of the issue was simply the final straw in the disappointing coverage of the Sean Taylor case, particularly in its early going when ESPN chose to keep its broadcasting emphasis on a re-hashing of one of its prized properties, Monday Night Football.
A disgraceful display was put on by many facets of the media on this story, but to see ESPN and one of its seemingly showcase members take the lead in this fashion is disturbing and will cause me to forego listening to ESPN Radio until Cowherd is removed from the lineup.
Thank you.
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