Fang's Bites

Fang’s Bites Glossary

If you’re new to Fang’s Bites and are reading some of my archived posts, you may see references to NBC Sports Emperor and Fox Sports El Jefe del Mundo. What do they mean and to whom do they refer?

This page not only explains that, but also expands on that premise. You can always refer to this if you see a term or phrase that confuses you.

Linkage - My term for the number of sports media story links I provide each day.

Megalinks – On Fridays, I link to a plethora of sports media stories from across the US and Canada, however, they’re not as extensive as when I began the blog. This is due to either newspapers falling by the wayside, reporters retiring and not being replaced or reporters being reassigned from the media beat. The number of stories on Fridays is still quite impressive.

Quotage - Term for quotes provided in network press releases for NFL studio shows and various events.

Dictator - Refers to ESPN President George Bodenheimer and how he rules over the Alleged Worldwide Leader with an iron fist. Granted, he’s not a despot like Idi Amin or Augusto Pinochet, but there’s an interesting corporate mentality at ESPN that is unlike other entities within the Disney corporate structure.

El Jefe del Mundo or El Presidente por vida - Either can be used for Fox Sports Media Group President David Hill who has been in charge of sports divisions for his boss, Rupert Murdoch in Australia and the UK before coming to the US to lead the Fox Sports division. He has ruled on three continents and because of his work for Murdoch, practically has a job for life. Thus, he can be called El Jefe del Mundo or El Presidente por vida. Either one works.

Emperor Emeritus – This title goes to Dick Ebersol who had been the Emperor of NBC Sports from the early 1990′s until 2011. He was involved in power struggles within his own division, saw late night battles, gained practically every sports property in the 1990′s only to lose them in the same decade, then oversee a comeback in the Aughts, and remained in power until Comcast came in. The man was an emperor. He’s now out of NBC, but it will be interesting to see what he does in this decade. No longer the Emperor of NBC Sports, he’s now the Emperor Emeritus.

Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest - This can only be one man and that is the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and now the Commissioner of Baseball, the former used car salesman, Bud Selig. When he was appointed as Acting Commissioner in 1992 after the baseball owners fired Fay Vincent, he was owner of the Brewers. While he transferred day-to-day operation to his daughter, his family continued to own the team. This did not end the impropriety of the conflict of interest. While he finally sold the Brewers, no one called Selig out on this issue. However, I still call him the Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest over this. Plus, I feel Selig has been one of the most incompetent Commissioners of all-time.

Communist Sympathizer - This title belongs to NBA Commissioner David Stern for doing business in China, led by a ruthless totalitarian, Communist government. However, Stern does not see what the Communists are doing to their own people, he just sees dollar signs from China and tries to generate a fan base from a country that has massive human rights violations plus censors its own media and attempts to find dissidents through American technology from Cisco, Google and Yahoo. Stern should be ashamed of himself. It’s also a big reason why I refuse to follow the NBA.

Commish – Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner gets this title. While Goodell can do more to help the league’s retired players by providing benefits and generating more of a pension, he has done a good job to lead the country’s most popular sport into the 21st Century. His attempts to grow the league and keep the game in the forefront of the sports media show that he has unique vision that the other Commissioners do not.

Perpetually Angry - This could have gone to New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick or Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News, however, this title goes to ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb who looks or sounds angry whenever he appears on the Mothership or during his ESPN Radio show. Every time I see Gottlieb, he looks as if he has an axe to grind or appears as if he’s extremely pissed at someone. I feel uncomfortable whenever I watch or hear him. He seems in a constant bad mood. Thanks to ESPN force feeding Gottlieb during the 2010 NCAA Tournament on multiple platforms, I now hate Gottlieb as much as the Yankees, Steelers, Canadiens, Duke and Providence College.

Captain Blowhard – This is for the ESPN.com columnist who has a bloated opinion of himself, claims to be from Boston when he grew up in Connecticut and does his best to “mix up a vast bowl of word salad very quickly.“

Dr. Doom and Gloom - Goes to Phil Mushnick of the New York Post for constantly harping and picking on the most minute molehills and blowing them up into huge mountains. Nothing is as bad as Mushnick says, but in his world, everything the networks do is bad and he wishes sports TV would revert back to black and white.

Colon Cowherd or ESPN Radio Hack - Who do you think this is? For the ESPN Radio Hack who somehow has a national following. We all know what he did to The Big Lead. I wish ESPN could do a denial of service for listeners who are subjected to his drivel. And inexplicably, he has a TV hosting gig. That has to stop. I’ve named him Colon due to the fact I need to have my colon cleansed after listening to him for more than 30 seconds.

The Group – Used to describe the NBC Sports Group which comprises NBC Sports, Universal Sports, Versus, Golf Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional sports networks. Instead of continuing to write “NBC Sports Group”, I’ve shortened this to “The Group”. Much easier.

I’ll add to the glossary as we go along, but these are the terms I use often on Fang’s Bites.