An ESPN article looking at the "red flags" raised by ESPN employee Kendrick Perkins's NIL company

ESPN:

A new company co-founded by former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins is offering college athletes upfront cash in exchange for a portion of their name, image and likeness deals, an arrangement some consumer protection experts and financial advisers say could prey on young athletes.

...

the percentage of NIL money that Nilly takes from an athlete can be as high as 50%

...

In the case of the contract obtained by ESPN, the player could end up giving Nilly the equivalent of a $75,000 fee in exchange for the guarantee of and immediate access to $50,000 up front.

ESPN's Malika Andrews discusses her high school years spent in various residential treatment programs

No abuse described, but otherwise, trigger warnings for depression and eating disorders.

Adam Schefter "panicked" when he became convinced the chauffeured car he got into in Mexico was actually kidnapping him

Summarized here, from the story he tells in the last few minutes of the embedded podcast. 

(Coincidentally, in a recent podcast, Brian Widhorst and Marc Spears discussed possible NBA expansion to Mexico, including safety concerns.) 

Yet another repugnant tweet by this guy

How about “ Dwayne Haskins, son, husband, buckeye brother, friend, beloved teammate has passed away” TF his career ups and downs have to do with him unfortunately losing his life🤦🏾‍♂️ STFU! Let his family & friends grieve instead of throwing shade. Praying for the Haskins family!! pic.twitter.com/gb1D9KcgCQ

— Cardale Jones (@CJ1two) April 9, 2022

Is there a master list of repugnant things this guy has said?

This is why Deshaun Watson, from the beginning, welcomed a police investigation: He felt he knew that the truth would come out. And today, a grand jury did not charge him on any of the criminal complaints.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2022

This was a poorly worded tweet that deserves a proper response. It was intended to provide insight into the strategy of Watson’s legal team from its POV. I should have been clearer. As legal experts have explained, a lack of an indictment alone does not mean someone is innocent.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2022

Just more inspiring content from Disney, which promises to do better:

Disney’s CEO said Friday the company is ceasing its political donations in Florida due to the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and he apologized for the company’s previous silence on the issue.

“You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down,” CEO Bob Chapek wrote

...

“I missed the mark in this case but am an ally you can count on — and I will be an outspoken champion for the protections, visibility, and opportunity you deserve,” Chapek said.

Looks like a reporter got ESPN to commit to improving the quality of its Pac-12 broadcasts

John Canzano for The Oregonian:

An ESPN spokesperson read my column and wrote in bold to tell me, “The notion that we are doing Pac-12 games on the cheap is patently false.”

Just wait until ESPN reads this column. It may never speak to me again. Because I made some calls

...

That brings us to some late-developing good news.

ESPN’s spokesperson told me Monday morning it is providing the “E crew” new equipment this week.

Wait, Disney was suspicious of that high school team for weeks, but proceeded anyway?

Awful Announcing:

ESPN claims they sounded the alarm to Paragon weeks in advance when they couldn’t learn anything about Bishop Sycamore’s roster, depth chart, or even just any general information about the school.

Bishop Sycamore allegedly bailed on a conference call with ESPN days before the game, before providing a fact sheet of information on Sunday claiming multiple players had major D1 offers from power programs.

ESPN could not verify any of this information and felt they were “scammed.” That feeling permeated the broadcast

...

A reporter at the game shared the following with me:

“Their roster was very small though – 30-35 players would be my guesstimate. And they had a bunch of injuries over the course of the game, which makes sense if they were playing for the second time in three days.”

...

Many people have pointed out that Bishop Sycamore plays a lot of postgraduate players. Some have actually played in JUCO games and are a few years older than most high school athletes.

Kendrick Perkins explains his position; Jalen Rose's daughter goes after Rachel Nichols; Was the apology longer than a Giannis free throw?

Part 2 of Kendrick Perkins defending his appearance on “The Jump” during Rachel Nichols apology pic.twitter.com/rcrZHcLn5L

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) July 6, 2021

let’s discuss rachel nichols….this is a tale as old as time 🤦🏽‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/t7Rv9t6EQI

— mariah rose (@mariahcrose) July 5, 2021

Which one was longer: Rachel Nichols' apology on #TheJump or one Giannis free throw? pic.twitter.com/R6Hlr51okb

— Theon Legolas (@PrologueBlack) July 5, 2021

Bomani Jones wrote about working with Dan Le Batard on Highly Questionable

It's a touching tribute to far and away ESPN's best and most special show.

More from the frequent co-conspirators:

I love you guys, @HQonESPN @LeBatardShow.
All I’ve ever wanted was to fit in. And you all made me family.
I promise to do my part to maintain what you built. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/QP061CJQDh

— Izzy Gutierrez (@IzGutierrez) January 4, 2021

I know today is happy, not sad. I know everyone is going to be fine. but this show is so important to me that I barely ever touched it out of fear I might screw it up. I loved that it existed, here. that really meant something to me. this concludes the tweet about the radio show.

— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) January 4, 2021

Farewell, @LeBatardShow. We will always have these Google search results pic.twitter.com/qqcRpZvIIl

— Pablo S. Torre (@PabloTorre) January 4, 2021

this has obviously been meaningful for a lot of folks, but I can't stress how much it's meant for those of us who didn't always feel like we belonged in this industry. They've been our biggest cheerleaders and truest friends, and I'm eternally grateful.

And here's the joke: pic.twitter.com/uIwhgwDgdH

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 4, 2021

ESPN has moved away from politics and is sticking to sports, except...

Last month:

Pitaro has led the world’s largest sports media company for 17 months, and this is the image he has sought to cultivate: sports as an almost childlike escape from the real world, with his network set apart from the larger culture wars raging in the country.

...

When Pitaro was appointed president in March 2018, he saw internal data that showed a significant gap between how Republicans and Democrats viewed ESPN’s on-air talent and the entertainment value of the production. He held town halls with employees and stressed in public comments that politics would be discussed at ESPN only through the lens of sports. The network also says its research finds that fans, regardless of political affiliation, do not want to hear about politics on ESPN.

...

Last week, though, Le Batard, the son of Cuban immigrants, loudly and publicly challenged Pitaro’s notion of what gets defined as politics

Now on Sportscenter in partnership with USAA:

ESPN documentary shows Bleier’s emotional return to Vietnam

...

“Everyone we met was pro American. There is a whole generation that the war is for the history books and not an experience they were a part of. The viewpoint has changed,” Bleier said.

"At VidCon’s 10-Year Anniversary, Influencers, Fans, And Brands All Seem Ready To Leave YouTube Behind"

Ryan Broderick for Buzzfeed:

The YouTubers people care about can’t be invited because they’re all out of control. And the safer creators they did invite are all traumatized

...

The short-form video platform, owned by Beijing-based artificial intelligence company ByteDance, has completely cannibalized VidCon this year. The app is responsible for both the rapper Lil Nas X’s record-shattering “Old Town Road,”

...

TikTok was omnipresent at VidCon. The outside pavilion of the convention center quickly devolved into a TikTok playground, as tweens and teens recorded short videos with each other. There was a TikTok twin meetup. One kid with 6 million followers duct-taped a pair of sheet cakes to his feet to make a “walk a mile in these Louboutins” meme. At one point, a huge pack of 13-year-old girls chased a boy wearing a face mask through the crowd. The girls told BuzzFeed News that it was Chase Hudson, a 17-year-old TikToker with 2.8 million followers.

...

YouTube threw a huge, well-organized bash, complete with multiple open bars and hot dog, chicken finger, and taco stations. Guests walked to the dance floor through a tunnel displaying the platform’s greatest hits, like Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and the Cut’s “100 Years of Beauty.”

By contrast, TikTok’s extremely sought-after and secretive party was thrown at a bowling alley in a shopping center around the corner. Hundreds of teens jockeyed for a spot in line amid a fog of phone cameras and Juul smoke.

...

Beck gushed over how much success Chipotle has had recently on TikTok. The restaurant chain only has 18,000 followers at the moment, but it successfully activated a popular TikTok trend called the #ChipotleLidFlipChallenge.

And speaking of adventures in advertising:

The 11pm @SportsCenter just aired a sponsored segment for @CENTURY21 where they tried to sell a house in Boca Raton, FL.

This is VERY bizarre yet for some reason, I’m incredibly intrigued. pic.twitter.com/c3he6tvsDM

— Kevin Escalera (@KevinEscalera) July 12, 2019

Ten funny tweets

Breaking: A turkey vulture has crashed through the window of @stephenasmith’s office at ESPN. pic.twitter.com/VWi2VPwuES

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 26, 2019

Julius Caesar, while being stabbed in the back: you were at my wedding Denise...

— Danny Page (@DannyPage) March 26, 2019

I went to the website whose article is at the center of the great You Were At My Wedding, Denise story, and a) it's called https://t.co/oyRY3jeLWr and b) it has a popup asking visitors to allow Chrome push notifications to own the libs pic.twitter.com/h9SAUPGO43

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) March 26, 2019

You can’t make this up. One of the operators of the charter school network exposed by @latimes wrote in her column last week: “Life isn’t a straight line. It’s more like a graft [sic], ups and downs....Unchecked greed and avarice kills and has no bounds.” https://t.co/aqC7qUF2VV https://t.co/6XN9LloIQ1

— Matt Hamilton (@MattHjourno) March 27, 2019

I want Hillary Clinton to divorce Bill and then start dating Pete Davidson.

— Allison Raskin (@AllisonRaskin) March 25, 2019

Saw this sign in Kyoto and I can't stop thinking about it. Why is it color-coded like video game dialogue. Who tried to fight him. "Even if you fight, you can't win" is so powerful pic.twitter.com/eYdlbmFH03

— Kallie Plagge (@inkydojikko) March 26, 2019

I am not high but I have thought about it extensively and “fireplace” is a hilarious way to describe a fireplace.

— Laura June (@laura_june) March 26, 2019

Pope Francis really doesn't want anyone kissing his ring.
This from today, after Mass ... pic.twitter.com/CZUO8ppNfo

— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) March 25, 2019

So you know when actors aren't in the shot but are still saying something? That's usually dialogue dubbed in. However, this means you'll see the (NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SEEN) actor's lips not moving while the audio is playing if you "extended the sides" like they did in the remaster. pic.twitter.com/Bq8O3a8zlI

— Root BEER Pizza STIX (@BeerStix) March 25, 2019

She look like she ran into a mirror 😭like how they fall the exact same way 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/vDFTEa9k4u

— ❄️ (@austdwillis) March 27, 2019

*More funny tweets.

Ten funny tweets

#TBT | @PTI goes back to college tomorrow when @RealMikeWilbon and Tony Kornheiser host their show from the new Welsh-Ryan Arena.

This should be fun. pic.twitter.com/GD1Y4Z6zG0

— NU Men's Basketball (@NUMensBball) November 15, 2018

“ShrimpTails is a must-have magazine, helping you to remain up-to-date with the latest developments and trends in shrimp production, export, import and consumption.” (via @kelleysmcgill)https://t.co/Bfwzm8x6gE pic.twitter.com/EZmbRNn08G

— Tim Hwang (@timhwang) November 15, 2018

Charlotte meteorologist, who wears what Cam wears to his press conferences, takes it to the next level. https://t.co/a1lrQfMTIT

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 15, 2018

I don’t know who made this but I heavily identify with it pic.twitter.com/jlvTE6954T

— Anne Thériault (@anne_theriault) November 15, 2018

my superhero friends never let me be the head of our giant robot because I refuse to stop kissing airplanes

— robotic crab (beep) (@roboticcrab) November 16, 2018

I asked my mom how to cook a turkey in the microwave.. pic.twitter.com/s0XRuzbgmL

— Dorothy Scales (@DorothyScales2) November 15, 2018

miss the days when you could spend a few happy moments gazing at a pair of expensive flats you were never ever going to buy, sigh regretfully, and then eventually forget them and be happy again, instead of having them follow you around the internet for the rest of your life

— Nicole Chung (@nicole_soojung) November 16, 2018

“See, this is the color I want” https://t.co/mmuKQSZo1f

— ant-honey (@aanthonyy07) November 14, 2018

this is incredible pic.twitter.com/znPTliZpEv

— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) November 16, 2018

Me at the bar vs. Me at work pic.twitter.com/lIJioemEkq

— Barstool Sports (@barstooltweetss) November 16, 2018

Ten funny tweets

@minakimes has taped her hands to the desk to avoid getting got by Papi pic.twitter.com/voapq3pc4r

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) November 13, 2018

I love this one pic.twitter.com/Iw5jBu0vWS

— Thanksgiving Bday (@moneill13) November 13, 2018

a time honored philly tradition: andrew wiggins's father wearing #23. pic.twitter.com/dTt7DaG74z

— trey (@treyzingis) November 13, 2018

It’s the Cadillac of dongles https://t.co/jTracMz59q

— Russell Brandom (@russellbrandom) November 13, 2018

Mate sent me this and I’m pissing myself. Never laughed so much at something that wasn’t meant to be funny pic.twitter.com/Nu6QAOq69e

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) November 11, 2018

somebody kneeled with me before my fortnite game started pic.twitter.com/TiPzAn6xXL

— Harry Lyles Jr. (@harrylylesjr) November 12, 2018

Wait for it... pic.twitter.com/va1uC5PagA

— Courtney (@alaskancourtney) November 11, 2018

5 year old: wanna hear a serious one?
Me: ok
5yo: knock knock
Me: who’s there?
5yo: a very important boat
Me: a very important boat who?
5yo (with a serious and clarifying tone): its a very important boat

Set up included, this might be my favorite joke of all time

— Brooke Breit (@brookebreit) November 10, 2018

Can we have a thread for best pillow talk? Once post-coital a guy pulled out his phone in bed and proceeded to unfollow my nemesis on twitter

— Anna Fitzpatrick (@bananafitz) November 9, 2018

Intellectual dark web 1909 pic.twitter.com/5RdJFgpLz6

— Eindeloos Tussendoortjes (@i_zzzzzz) November 13, 2018

Big Baller Brand is getting big attention

The front of https://t.co/A0EAxZ9l7u’s main page right now if you scroll down like 3 stories from the top. This is actually becoming hilarious. pic.twitter.com/S18g9AhxUu

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 9, 2018

119K watching Lithuanian basketball because "nobody cares" about the Ball family, I guess. pic.twitter.com/abQzdYK0AT

— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) January 9, 2018

"ESPN tried to kick Jemele Hill off the air and replace her with another black host"

TP:

ESPN originally tried to keep Hill off the air on Wednesday evening, but Smith refused to do the show without her, the sources said. Both sources also said that producers reached out to two other black ESPN hosts, Michael Eaves and Elle Duncan, to ask them to serve as fill-ins for the show — but Eaves and Duncan did not agree to take the place of Hill and Smith, either.

...

ESPN refutes this account.

"ESPN wrestling with fiction/non-fiction in deciding to 'cover' WWE"

ESPN's ombudsmen writes about the network's coverage of the WWE.

(I don't understand why the wrestlers are interviewed in character, instead of as impressive actor-athletes. Programs like Entertainment Tonight don't interview actors in character.)

"Remember that pair of strange recent tweets from Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen suggesting that the two ESPN NFL insiders would be staying in on New Year’s Eve to watch the college football playoff and eat Domino’s Pizza? They were, indeed, part of an ad campaign"

"ESPN says this is all a mistake and that future tweets associated with Domino’s ad buy with the network will be compliant with federal law."

Link roundup

1. A claim that Marriott is removing desks from its hotel rooms because millennials don't use them:

I called the front desk where a very nice lady said she understood because guests inundate them with complaints about the new rooms. There’s apparently a daily scramble to get moved to the rooms that have yet been renovated, and thus still have a desk...

I was told this had to do with the habits of Millennials, who don’t use desks. ... They prefer rooms that are designed to “hang out” in and whatever work they do can be accomplished on their phone. Hence we have two beds and a couch but no chair or desk.

2. Oscar Isaac:

After shooting I was pontificating about his past, publicly, and I thought, I’m from Guatemala, and in New Hope at the end, at the medal ceremony, it was shot in Guatemala, in Tikal, where you see the pyramids as the ships are leaving. So I thought, how cool would it be if Poe was from Yavin, if he was a rebel fighter from Yavin? So I started saying that and, sure enough, I see a comic book come out where me talking about my character background suddenly is in panels for a comic book and it’s amazing.

...

Sure. I did the voice in the Disney Infinity video game. It’s a more childlike version of the character, but it was fun.

Was that your first time doing voice over?

I had done a video game before, but I got fired off it.

How come?

I think they just thought I was bad. It was such a shitty game, though. Dante’s Inferno.

3. New Nike App creates an NFL "combine in your pocket":

The new Hudl Combine app features a Nike Football Rating, which, after 2016, becomes the ticket to Nike Football The Opening.

Key features of the app include:

Athletes can conduct and record combine tests, including the 40-yard dash, agility shuttle, a standing vertical and power-ball toss or bench press, using only a smartphone.

After all of the tests are submitted, Hudl representatives will verify each score and calculate a Nike Football Rating: the aggregate of the test scores.

Athletes can complete the tests as few or as many times as they like, so long as they are a Nike+ member.

The best Nike Football Ratings will appear on team and national leaderboards, with the nation’s top scorers earning an invitation to The Opening.

If athletes are not eligible for The Opening, they can still share and compare Nike Football Ratings with those of their friends and professional athletes.

To help athletes improve throughout the process, videos from professional athletes, trainers and coaches will provide tips and football hacks.

Additionally, there will be a 52-week training program offered within the Hudl site to help propel football athletes with drills and tips from professional players, coaches and trainers.

The Hudl Combine app for iOS is now available in the App Store.

4. From my wishlist, The Reappearing Act: Coming Out as Gay on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians (by frequent ESPN talking head Kate Fagan) is $1.99 today at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. "ESPN Has Lost 7 Million Subscribers The Past Two Years"

2. "It costs $300 to move a 40-foot container from Rotterdam to Shanghai, which is barely enough to cover the cost of fuel, handling, and Suez Canal fees. Here’s some more context. Let’s say that you want to travel for a year; it’s cheaper to put your personal belongings in a shipping container as it sails around the world than to keep it at a local mini-storage facility."

3. There's a large selection of "mail order bride"-themed romance novels at Amazon.  Via.

4. Day 3 of black friday sales at the BBTS is Star Wars, including the Star Wars Black Scout Trooper with Speeder Bike for for $22 instead of $44.