Usually we don’t address politics too often on this site beyond the occasional “Barack’s got court vision” post.  I read something last week though that got my attention about our President.  It was about something seemingly innocuous: Obama’s apparent love of golf.  The love has gone a bit far, however.  As of last Monday, he surpassed the amount of rounds played by Bush in his entire time in office (sidenote: Bush didn’t play after 2 years and 10 months for the rest of his presidency because, “I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in- chief playing golf”):

“Today (Oct. 26) – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24. Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months.”

Obama has also played tons of basketball and tennis.  This is about to get a bit political and include me railing against the media, so please leave the room if you are pregnant or have any heart-related illnesses.  Gone? Okay, here’s my problem.  Why are we just hearing about this now?  Did you have any idea Obama was playing so much golf? When Bush even took an afternoon off, the media covered it ad nauseum.  With Obama we don’t hear a peep.  Until now.

Why, you ask? Here’s my theory.  The media has an agenda, be it NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, or whatever.  This applies to the news media as much as the sports media (heard about that Favre guy lately? Or how “violent” the NBA culture is?).  I’m not here to comment on whether Bush deserved the criticism or not (he definitely did, though), but the media turned on him very quickly, and all of a sudden they magnified everything he did and painted it in the most negative light possible.  With Obama, the exact opposite happened.  Instead of reporting on what Obama was actually about, the 24-hour news media decided to play to its adoring audience (like my girlfriend, who wants to sleep with Obama as much as she likes his politics) and throw puff pieces at him.

Well it appears his “honeymoon” with the American people is over.  Unfortunately the media’s treatment of him hinges on what the ratings say (or whatever the media’s secret agenda is) and not on what he is actually doing.  That is the reason the information about all the golf just came out.  That’s why Bush was skewered for days off while Obama was not, even though they are both taking quite a bit off (golf is pretty much a day off, let’s be honest).

So beware, loyal readers.  The media plays its own game and you cannot always trust that their agenda is pure.  This applies to sports media and news media alike.  Feel free to mock this wild “Mainstream Media is Corrupt” conspiracy theory all you want, but you have to admit to yourself it is a little true.

Were you wondering all summer if you were going to see the plodding unfocused Joakim Noah this season or the high-energy, rebounding Noah we saw in the Celtics series?  Well based on last night’s 10 point, 10 rebound fantastic performance, it looks like we can put some of those doubts to rest.  But how to phrase such a wonderful performance and new attitude from our very own Sideshow Bob?  ESPN has an interesting take on it:

Seriously, this was on ESPN’s NBA rumors page.  He sure did look ready to bang last night though.  In fact, I say bang away big guy.  Oh and even though we beat the Spurs, keep in mind they were coming off a back-to-back and have a tough early season schedule too.  Don’t count them out yet.

h/t: Basketbawful

This is the kind of thing people joke about, using exaggeration for humor.  ESPN defies the doubters:

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Brett Favre’s streak is not in danger: He has a bent fingernail.

Favre’s throwing hand was clearly hurting after his last throw for Minnesota in Sunday’s win over Detroit. He was hit by two defenders in the fourth quarter during a touchdown pass to Percy Harvin.

Ugh, you can’t be serious. KILL IT!

Normally I don’t support or link to Cardinals blogs, but this expose on the east coast media bias was too good to pass up..  I have been saying it for years, and even though this isn’t the hugest example, it is a pretty concrete and obvious one.

ESPN Customer Care to me

Dear Todd,

Thank you for contacting us.

Unfortunately, there is not a way to change the time zone settings. I do apologize for the inconvenience.

For live assistance with this or any other issue, please call Customer Care at 1-888-549-3776 (ESPN) between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. EST.

Regards,

Eric
ESPN.com Customer Care

————— Original Message —————

How do you change the time zone setting in an ESPN fantasy league? I don’t live in the Eastern time zone, and I’m tired of converting.

ref:00D480H6.50048SEzv:ref

God I hate those pompous, arrogant, self-important ESPN f#%&ers.

h/t: Viva El Birdos

You’ve probably already heard about Mark Buerhle’s perfect game, but did anyone happen to check ESPN sometime around the 7th inning? Let’s just say their math didn’t quite add up.  According to this screenshot sent to me by South Side Sheik, Buerhle had retired 23 men and had only 6 outs to go.  Hmmm, A perfect game would mean that Buerhle faced the minimum which is 27 batters.  23+6=29 I’m afraid.  I know its being a bit picky, but for a “Worldwide Leader” in sports, I would hope that they would know how many outs there are in a baseball game.

So I guess the real story is not Buerhle’s perfect game, but the fact that ESPN has decided to change the rules of Major League Baseball from the 150 year old 9 inning game to a more conventional and modern 9 and 2/3 inning game. Makes sense.

The Cubs played the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN the other night.  As ESPN always does on those national telecasts, it broadcast many live views of Chicago landmarks.  Notice anything wrong with this one?

I’ll give you a hint, take a look at the building on the left.  It’s the Sun-Times building, right?  Well one minor problem, that building came down about 5 years ago and was replaced by Trump’s wonderful new masterpiece.  Can ESPN really not afford to get a live shot of the City?  And if not, wouldn’t it be better not to LIE and make us think that’s a live shot?  ESPN is so awesome.

h/t: Deadspin

I really don’t have a lot to say about this, it just seems like a horrible decision by ESPN.  The kid died yesterday.  And this after their horrible choice/oversight regarding a commercial yesterday.  You can’t just play sad music and think that makes everything okay.