“If I live 40 more years,” said Michael Wilbon of throwing out the first pitch at Wrigley Field last Sunday night, “it will still be the coolest and most bizarre thing I have ever done.” Adds the Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein, “bizarre because of the ethical line he seemingly had crossed.”
“When they asked me to do it,” Wilbon said, “I thought: No. Sportswriters, journalists don’t do that.”
Then Wilbon remembered: He’s not just a sportswriter. He estimates that no more than 20 percent of his “PTI” audience would even realize he writes a sports column for the Washington Post.
“I have to realize what it is I do now,” he said. “I’m not a writer covering the NFL. It’s a painful truth, but I am lucky. When ESPN asks me to do something promotional, well, they’re my employer, too.”
Wilbon has worn a Northwestern softball jersey and a Walter Payton jersey during “PTI.” He doesn’t try to hide his allegiances, in part because although he loves the Bears, he gladly will rip GM Jerry Angelo on the air.
“There’s fairness but no objectivity,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t root for the Bulls. The people we cover are much cooler with that then this false pretense of objectivity.”
And yet, Wilbon still felt weird Sunday night at Wrigley. He couldn’t bring himself to walk in the press box.
“I wasn’t in that role,” he said.
Indeed he wasn’t, and while I have no problem with Wilbon embracing the trappings of celebrity, I’m not sure he or Greenstein are really addressing the most important point. I cannot imagine there is one single PTI viewer — whether or not they read the WaPo — who is troubled by Wilbon wearing a throwback jersey — as long as he’s got a receipt. But the moment he accepts perks from the Cubs and their publicly held ownership that include tossing out a ceremonial first pitch andbeing asked to sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”, he’s no more a journalist than Eddie Vedder, Ozzie Osbourne, Michael Keaton, Mongo McMichael or any other celeb. C’mon, Le Anne, don’t make us wait 3 weeks for your thoughts on this.
Can you really consider anyone a serious journalist once they start working for the World Leader?
“…The people we cover are much cooler with that then this false pretense of objectivity.—
Wow, glad to know he’s working to make the athletes happy. How objective of him.
Uh, Teddy Greenstein writes for the same company that owns his paper, the Cubs, the tv station that broadcasts the Cubs, and the radio station that broadcasts them – and he also covers a competing market team that his company also broadcasts – and he has ethical issues with Wilbon throwing out a pitch? C’est la douche.
Uh, Teddy Greenstein writes for the same company that owns his paper, the Cubs, the tv station that broadcasts the Cubs, and the radio station that broadcasts them – and he also covers a competing market team that his company also broadcasts – and he has ethical issues with Wilbon throwing out a pitch? C’est la douche.
I don’t think Greenstein has much of a problem with Wilbon throwing out the first pitch as much as he’s allowing for the fact OTHERS might have a problem with it. He’s not particularly critical of Wilbon, not in this instance.
Yeah, the tone of this column is not critical, so much as simply raising the issue which both broadcasters themselves felt about throwing out a pitch. I stand corrected on the “douche” comment, so my apologies to Mr. Greenstein.
Still, that Trib employee Greenstein wants to discuss the ethics of others covering the Cubs and at all is pretty ballsy …
Ben