Press Coverage: ESPN's Schefter, King Talk Social Media

If you were a pack-a-day Tweeter, how many posts would that be? This is the question for ESPN's Adam Schefter, who in a conversation on my show last week (plug), mentioned he'd like to be Tweeting less:

"To me, the way that I do it is, I love to tweet. And I'm trying to break myself of the habit and wean myself off it a little bit. Sort of like smoking cigarettes, which I've never done and never want anybody to do. I'd like to tweet a little bit less. And the thing is, you get so many questions from so many people and I'm so appreciative of them, but there's so many to answer. It's just overwhelming. It's overwhelming."

It's overwhelming to try and follow everything and everyone in the industry, so you can imagine if even 10 percent of Schefter's 75,000-plus followers send him replies, how overwhelmed he could be. Heck, even one percent would be overwhelming.

We also discussed his model for submitting breaking news, tweeting "Just filed to ESPN" before breaking a story. Schefter explained that there is no hard-fast rule from ESPN to supply information that way, explaining, "I like to file it to ESPN, give them about 10 minutes to get everything together and then I'll put it up on Twitter 'filed to ESPN.' I think that's a fair way of doing it. Every situation is different."

That led to a question: if Schefter is doing that on his own, what is the ESPN rule?

I spoke with ESPN.com EIC Rob King who explained that, really, there is no definitive rule.

"I think saying, 'just filed to ESPN' or 'this just in' where you can find greater information about it or something that contains a link, has more of a multi-service part to it. It's breaking news, yeah, but it's also, 'here's a story we're working on.' In part because the odds are very good that if Adam says 'this just filed to ESPN' you read 140 characters, you might want to find out more and you may either go to our site or turn on the television.

"There hasn't really been a style guide for everybody, but it seems that a lot of folks have figured out fairly organically, with the right conversations with those managing our news desk operations, the right order in which to do things.

"The way we ask people to operate as part of our guidelines is to, particularly with breaking news, inform the news desk before they go out into the Twitterscape. But that's a very quick process and I think Adam's a pretty good example of how it's done – touch base, let the people know here so we can get the word moving across all the platforms and then he can reach out to people through social media.

First off, Twitterscape is far better than Twitterverse or Twittersphere, so if Rob King says Twitterscape, it's Twitterscape from now on. It seems we should expect to see more ESPN breaking news lead with 'filed to ESPN' and, in turn, ESPN expects most people to see that news and click the upcoming links or turn on the television to see more. That's the benefit of being multi-platform after all. In fact, as I was talking with Schefter, he was doing about six other things:

"This is real," Schefter explained. "If you can be on TV and tweet and do a podcast and respond to a text message while taking a phone call from the Raiders, then you're really having fun."

And he was doing all of those things at once (the TV spot was taped). So is that what we should expect for the future of ESPN and social media? King offered a glimpse into the future:

"I don't want to get to far out in front. I think we're learning a lot. I really do believe that the live game windows are some of the most exciting chances to spend time with fans. To the extent where its' live blogging or Tweeting during the game or the virtual press box or Section 140, we see really big upside in that. We also see upside with getting more voices involved with fans in this area.

"Right now, we're spending a lot of time to refine the user experience we started out with. We feel like we've got a way to go with that. The learning we got the first year ... that's galvanized some energy. That's really put some energy together and we're just trying to figure out how to make that an even better experience in the coming year."

The NFL Playoff Quirks Aren't All That Quirky
NFL Spokesman Brian McCarthy put a note up on Twitter yesterday with next week's schedule, to which I replied:

@NFLprguy Why does the league give the Jets/Cowboys eight days between games and the Ravens/ARI/GB six days? I'll never understand that.

To his credit, McCarthy replied (via e-mail) that the home sites were announced on Monday and he was updating the information with the opponents. But that doesn't answer my question of the fairness of a five seed getting eight days when the six seed only gets six days of rest/travel for the second round, or to the point in the NFC that the three seed gets eight days while the four seed – also a division winner – gets just six days. Have the schedulers thought to put both 3-6 games on Saturday, so both the AFC and NFC will know their playoff matchups as soon as possible? Per his email:

Yes, our scheduling people have thought of everything. I'd imagine we've had those games on the same day. There are so many factors that go into the schedule -- fairness to our TV partners (also added wrinkle with NBC getting both on Saturday), weather (we try to avoid late games in cold as much as possible), general fan interest to make games available to biggest audience, etc. Teams also know the schedules and also work so hard to the 1 and 2 seeds to get the bye.

So get a bye and you don't have to worry about the short turnaround. Or, in this situation, get a higher seed and get more rest between games. That sounds fair, actually. Not as fair as all the teams having seven days rest, but fair enough.

Buck, Musburger Understand the Moment
It's not often you get to associate Joe Buck with Brent Musburger. Buck is understated with is play-by-play call, too understated to many, while Musburger has been accused of, on some occasions, maybe-kinda-sorta-perhaps overselling a bit. New York Post media critic Phil Mushnick (who, parenthetically, is so cantankerous he would likely hate himself if he saw his reflection in a TV screen) took Musburger to task for his call of the BCS national championship game:

Given ESPN's weak grasp of sports and strong regard for hype, it stood to reason that Thursday's national title game would be assigned to Brent Musburger.

As usual, Musburger, with a double major (drama and drum), right away became a strain on the better senses. Early first quarter, 0-0, a freshman having replaced injured star QB Colt McCoy, Texas had fourth and goal from the 2.

"Fourth and goal. And now what does [UT coach] Mack Brown do?" Musburger said on ABC, as if narrating a murder mystery, as if there were any doubt. UT kicked a field goal to take the lead.

Sure, Musburger does have a tendency to play up the excitement. And doing an internet search for the name Joe Buck leaves the reader wanting to cover his eyes with so much vitriol. The two are play-by-play polar opposites, but you have to give them both credit for understanding the moment. To start the national championship game, Musburger allowed the Pasadena crowd and setting sun to be the backdrop to the start of the game. Saying nothing was the perfect thing to say. Buck, too, understood the moment when calling the final play in one of the most memorable NFL playoff games of all time. After Karlos Dansby scampered into the end zone to give the Cardinals the overtime win over the Packers, Buck let the crowd take over. Say what you will about Buck's less-is-more way of play calling, but he was right on with that one. Kudos to both men for understanding the moment.

Local Headline Writer Goes There
The Philadelphia Eagles were embarrassed for a second-straight week in Dallas, and no, this time it had nothing to do with spitting. The only bright spot for the Eagles in Saturday's loss to the Cowboys was a 76-yard touchdown pass by Michael Vick to rookie Jeremy Maclin. So of course, Vick's future – both with the Eagles and in the NFL – became a post-game topic of conversation. Per Jack McCaffery, Delco Times:

As he knows, and as he has accepted, Michael Vick will forever be associated with certain, lasting images.

If he added one more Saturday night during the Eagles' 34-14 season-ending loss to the Dallas Cowboys, he will be fine with that, too.

Vick, the controversial former animal-abuser and sometimes-quarterback, contributed a 76-yard, second-quarter touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin to the Birds' second loss in a week in Cowboys Stadium. Afterward, he didn't sound quite certain that he would have another chance to help the Eagles again.

Any story about Vick, especially one chronicling his NFL reclamation, will lead with references to abusing dogs. It will be with him forever. But the story has a headline that reads:

For one play, Vick proves he's top dog

I'm not sure this story needs the pun. In fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn’t. (H/T The700Level.com for the link)

It's Not Hyperbole When You're Right
During the first quarter of Baltimore's victory over New England on Sunday, Phil Simms, not one for habitually overselling the ability of players, made a bold statement about Ravens' running back Ray Rice:

"I don't like to compare players, but when you look at Ray Rice, Emmitt Smith just comes to your mind right away. He's very quick and powerful in that little small space. That's what makes you a star running back in the NFL."

Rice, who rushed for a game-high 159 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots, has become the breakout star for the Ravens this season. And in only his second year in the league, Rice already achieved something Smith did just twice in his illustrious Hall-of-Fame career – gain more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.