If you’re a football fan and haven’t found Gregg Easterbrook’s column, be sure to check it out. He used to write for Slate, but has now switched to ESPN.
Gregg is what Dennis Miller should have been for Monday Night Football: crazy knowledge about the game matched with an off-beat sense of humor.
Enjoy his observations about the game, his quick wit, or his reader submissions of football cliches translated into a foreign language and back into English (courtesy of Babelfish), like:
P.J. Knight of Lewisville, Texas, translated “We have to give 110 percent all the time” into Korean and back and got, “We all hours only one hundred things and gave 10 percent to do, Oh! it does.” Oddly, TMQ can hear Jim Mora hollering that.
Oct. 21, 2003. I just saw a note posted on ESPN stating that TMQ will not longer be on ESPN.com. What happened? Will it be available elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteDo a search on google news on Gregg Easterbrook.
ReplyDeleteHe got fired from ESPN, I hope TMQ appears somewhere or my Tuesday is uncomplete.
Political correctness run amok, I SAY!! I don't think his words, let alone his true intentions, were blatantly anti-semetic... I certainly don't think it warranted a firing. It wasn't even something he'd stated on ESPN itself (unlike Mr. Limbaugh). He was just going on an emotional rant on his blog.
ReplyDeleteBut, I guess this goes to prove the age-old adage:
"Don't go calling out the CEO of your parent company."
Well, it may not be age-old, but, still... whatever.
I'm bummed.
Here is my haiku in dedication to TMQ:
Today is Tuesday.
TUESDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK!!
Yay! Oh... where is it?
My haiku hommage to TMQ:
ReplyDeleteTuesday without TMQ
is like Monday
Without MNF. Ye Gods!
Easterbrook said nothing anti-semitic. While what he said mentions Jews, he merely asserts that perhaps they should be more sensitive to violence in movies considering what they have gone through as a people, especially in the last century. Here is the actual quote:
ReplyDeleteDisney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence? Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice.
It seems to me he is berating every studio exec for their use of movie violence to pad their own pockets, but especially angry with the Jewish execs who should have even more of a commitment to not portray violence, due to their own culture and history.
It seems to me that Disney (ie Michael Eisner) is merely ticked off at being called out for being a money grubbing scum bucket and the fact the Jews are mentioned in the article meant he had a clear-cut excuse to bag Easterbrook, since most of the American public is too stupid to see beyond the mention of a race, ethinicity, or culture as anything but racsist and bigoted.
What article were these comments posted in? I look forward to his articles more than any other on the site. I hope he's able to continue them on a different site somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI agree that firing Easterbrook from Page 2 is an over-reaction. Does anyone else think that ESPN believed they had no choice, given what happened with Rush Limbaugh? How much tumult resulted from Easterbrook's comments, compared to Limbaugh's? And, since the comments were in his own Blog (vice on Page 2) - does this send an even worse message - If you want to be on our air/site/op-ed page, you better be simon-pure in all writings, postings, and comments at the local tavern.
ReplyDeleteI'm Jewish... I didnt read what he said, nor actually do I care. I just want my TMQB. I dont care if he's sleeping with David Duke, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. Give me back my TMQB. Disney is evil anyway. No more ESPN.com for me going to read DR Z. on si.com
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for these comments, or I would be vainly attempting to email ESPN.com and find out what happened to TMQ! As for his "comments" they must have appeared elsewhere, because I don't recall them showing up in TMQ. If Easterbrook is indeed gone, Page 2 is going to be somewhat hurting. Bill Simmons is only writing occasionally thanks to the Jimmy Kimmel show, and now with TMQ's absense, what was once a mecca for sports fans who appreciated the written word, is now just a "ho-hum" website full of boring jokes. Long live TMQ!
ReplyDeleteMy thought is what a chicken-shit way to do it. If you are taking a stand for what is right then let everyone (someone?)know you are taking a stand. If you fire him without any editorial or news comment then you haven't taken a stand you've only tried to cover your rear end. It is a sports network, I guess, I should expect this from big corporate media but it is frustrating. Hopefully he shows up somewhere!
ReplyDeleteI read TMQ every week, and really enjoyed it, but did find what he wrote offensive.
ReplyDeleteFirst, he clearly played up to the "money grubbing jew" stereotype in an article in which the religious faith of ANYONE was completely irrelevant and had no place. He brought the Jewish faith in for a reason.
The assertion that Jews should be more sensitive to violence given their history is absurd. It would make just as much sense to say that Protestants should be overly sensitive to marketing violence because a largely protestant Germany perpetrated the Holocaust, and they don't want to be thought of in the same vein. Or that studio execs of German, Italian, Polish, French, or Russian descent should somehow be sensitive to the issue of violence in the media because their nationalities were complicit with the Nazis. These arguments are inane, just as Easterbrook's claim that Jews should somehow be "more" sensitive.
Was he fired because he took a swipe at Eisner? Probably. Was it deserved? Yes.
What ? No more TMQ ? Oh, I forgot that ESPN will only employ solid character people, like Michael Irvin, Rob (Dribble)Dibble, and that clown that urinated on people from a second story window of a Cleveland watering hole. With all the crap that ESPN delivers to us, TMQ was a brilliant breath of fresh air. Truth hurts doesn't it Eisner.
ReplyDeletePC run amok once again. Since when is life about walking on eggshells watching everything we say or do in order not to offend anyone?
ReplyDeleteLighten up everyone!
BTW, Thomas and Baker didn't get canned, did they? Selective persecution?
Bring back my TMQ!
So does anyone know where we can read TMQ?
ReplyDeleteMan ESPN sucks, the only thing I looked forward to reading on there and they took it away. Now how will we keep track the the NY Times predictions or the Obscure College Score of the week? Damn you ESPN!
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think Easterbrook missed the mark a little. Should those of the Jewish faith/heritage be more sensitive to violence, I don't know, I'm not Jewish, so I can't speak for what they feel. It's like asking if descendants of the slave trade are more sensitive to corporal punishment. I'm sure that if they are more sensitive, it probably diminishes a little with each generation. Does one, or two CEO's speak for the entire Jewish community, probably not. In any event, its a lose/lose argument. I'm sure Jewish people are buying some of those movie tickets, why not rail against them?
ReplyDeleteCEO's are in business to make money, which pleases the stockholder's, which in turn keeps the CEO's employed longer, making them more money. We still buy tickets to those movies, so why should they stop making them?
Overall, I think most everyone who posted to this site makes good points. It is comforting to know that all of society isn't insane.
Bottom line: Where's my TMQ?
Greetings to everyone coming here from Google (over 800 of you today alone). I posted a couple comments on this today here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rklau.com/tins/002493.html
Your comments, as always, are welcome.
I've not seen any word on where (if anywhere) TMQ will show up post-ESPN.
--Rick
FOR THE LOVE OF YHWH, WHERE'S MY TMQ?!?
ReplyDelete(i guess i'll get sacked for that, even though i don't work here....)
TMQ Sucks
ReplyDeleteNo, you suck! There are some newspapers that have TMQ online but you have to be a subscriber.
ReplyDeleteESPN is spineless and hypocritical. Easterbrook isn't really an Xs and Os guy (although he does do some of that). He's historically a social and political commentator. Why does ESPN continue to try to add social/political commentators to its lineup and then run and hide at the first sign of controversy? (see also: Rush Limbaugh) Easterbrook needs to know better that you can't insult the CEO of the company that's paying you, and Limbaugh's comment was just dumb (dumb as in "not correct", not dumb as in "morally wrong"), but ESPN is a bunch of cowards for not standind behind its commentators. Whether they're offensive or not, ESPN hired them and needs to stand behind them for their RIGHT to express sometimes controversial opinions. If ESPN isn't willing to do that, they need to stick to ex-athletes and reporters.
ReplyDeleteAnd, btw, what is ESPN's rational for booting Limbaugh and Easterbrook for racially-insensitive comments while the network continues to broadcast a show like "Playmakers" depicting drug abuse, infidelity, violence & violence against women, and any host of things much worse than suggesting that Jewish film leaders should be more sensitive to the depiction of violence in films. Ye Gods, indeed! Verily, the football gods will enact vengence on ESPN the Corporation!
Easterbrook as spoken about the future of TMQ here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.footballoutsiders.com
(with apologies to Dire Straits)
ReplyDeleteI want my,
I want my TMQ.
Thanks for the comments and helping me to get up to date, brothers.
What's really creepy that they excised all his past columns and any mention of his ever having worked for ESPN from the site. Those fucking Disney fascists are clearly out of control. Like that's news.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have been at a loss without my TMQ....and now that I know why I am without TMQ, I am not sure who I am more upset with: Gregg...You should have known better, and ESPN (ABC/Disney) shouldn't have reacted so harshly to someone you knew full well might go down such a critical path.
ReplyDeleteahh...by I digress. No TMQ.
Each Tuesday passes
at a loss I am
without TMQ
life's not worth a damn!
One of the few columnists that I sought out on ESPN and now TMQ is no more. This is devastating!
ReplyDeleteThe foolishness of political correctness. Can't anyone laugh at themselves anymore? Why do people overreact to opinions that even hint at a bias, whether or not a bias is truly present or not.
Well I for one will boycott ESPN and their products due to this foolish overreaction, I'd much rather spend my time and money with companies that have a spine.
Chuck
I am so confused...long time love ESPN or new love TMQ. Whom to hate? Whom to blame?
ReplyDeleteI feel like the child of divorcing parents. I blame myself for not being a better fan of both.
Some one please let me know where TMQ lands.
On yet another Tuesday mornign without TMQ, I Googled it and found this log. I also found the following from Gregg Easterbrook that many will find interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml?pid=916
It looks like TMQ is returning soon. To Haiku-ize:
TMQ comes back
Tuesdays will be fun once more
Life is good again
John
TMQ Where are you?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteLook, Easterbrook's comments were a little flawed. Personally, I think he should have attacked Eisner on the basis that Eisner makes his money by promoting good clean fun for kids, and how does Disney and Violence go together? Well, they shouldn't go together. And to me that would have been a good way to attack the issue, Eisner should be ashamed for promoting and making money off of violence while simultaneously purporting to be a mecca of good clean fun and values for kids.
Religion shouldn't matter. It's just a good excuse to fire him.
I found it!!!! He is back baby. Go to footballoutsiders.com and click on his link this is his temporary home until they find a more suitable page to run his column from. For updates on his status, go to www.thenewrepublic.com and click on "easterblogg"
ReplyDelete