E:60 Now Embarrassing Innocent People on Camera
E:60’s ambush of Miguel Tejada was flat out wrong. It was television at it’s lowest point. Pure exploitation in order to get ratings. What did Tejada do to deserve being lured into a studio and left bare in front of a camera on live tape-delayed TV? This isn’t “To Catch a Predator.” Nobody can think to themselves that the guy on camera deserved what he got. Nobody can think ESPN was helping out it’s viewers by calling attention to Tejada’s real age. It was simply entrapment. Tom Ferry tricked Tejada into lying and then he had the brazeness to keep yelling questions as Tejada left the room.
I guarantee Tejada was led to believe the interview would be about something else. How do you even describe what E60 did. Unethical? Sleazy? Ruthless exploitation?
The last question Ferry yelled was “does the U.S. government know your real name?” He was indirectly implying Miguel Tejada was some sort of terrorist or a threat to the U.S. government. That’s insane. What’s even more insane is millions of people wasted 30 seconds of their lives being exposed to that idea. And think, when Tejada woke up that morning he thought the tough questions would be about adjusting to National League pitching.
Kudos to the Astros for sticking by Tejada. The new report changes nothing. The affected parties received no new information. It’s fake news, and the team is doing the right thing by ignoring it.
There’s a reason that no legitimate sports magazine TV show has ever had a long run. There aren’t enough important stories to entice enough sports fans to watch large blocks of non-game, non-highlight programming. Apparently E60 is going to do whatever it takes to find (or create) enough stories.
6 Comments »
Mike on 18 Apr 2008 at 4:14 pm #
What’s embarrassing is this post, and that Will actually linked to it.
Tejada is “innocent” because he LIED about his age to his employer? Strange logic.
Also, if you watched the ENTIRE bit, you would see that they had informed Tejada that they would, in fact, be discussing his age.
Misbah on 18 Apr 2008 at 9:55 pm #
No one said Tejada is “Innocent”. Frankly his age is not a number. And stand in his shoes before you comment Mr. High and Mighty. I promise you would’ve lied too. He was a 19 year old poor kid from the dominican republic, with a change to make it into the bigs and provide for his family in addition to fulfilling a dream. He lied. By 2 years. This is a common practice among latin american players. This behavior is ENCOURAGED by scouts sent from the bigs, so throw that blame where it belongs. You would’ve lied too in that situation, and the only person your kidding is yourself if you think “errr no, I would be honorable and say I was 19 instead of 17 and risked not getting it”. BS. Tejada has his real birthday on his passport. If anyone in the Astros or MLB was so worried or interested about it, they could’ve asked. It doesn’t matter. I live in Houston, I’m an Astros fan, and the man could be 37 and I wouldn’t care. He is still one of (if not THE) best shortstops in baseball today and plays like a 20 something year old. ESPN IS guilty of “ooh aah” psuedo journalism. This stuff belongs in tabloids and gossip columns. E60 is supposed to get inside stories on sports. Not skelatons in players’ closets. It was unprofessional, and bush league for sure. Tejada was classy enough to walk off rather than deck the guy like I would’ve. And I watched the entire bit. There was no indication to TEJADA that they would be discussing his age, only to the viewers. So get the facts straight. The Astros are sticking by him, and frankly their opinion is the only important and relevant one. Not yours, ESPN’s or the “federal government”… this guy thinks he’s being smart and getting “the big scoop”. He’s a chris hansen wannabe who just sealed his own careers fate.
Patsy on 19 Apr 2008 at 10:49 am #
Oh, “To Catch a Predator” you say?
http://thesportshernia.typepad.com/blog/2008/04/espns-e60-rival.html
Mike on 19 Apr 2008 at 1:04 pm #
Tejada is a joke. As an Oriole fan I was so thrilled the day they dealt him to Houston. He clearly is a roid user and now a proven liar as well.
Michael S on 20 Apr 2008 at 3:22 pm #
E60 should be removed from the airwaves immediately. What a joke! Digging up professional athlete’s birth certificates? They probably went and looked for every Latin American ballplayers info until they found something. Someone needs to be FIRED! I will NEVER watch E60 after seeing this!
Sanchez on 30 Apr 2008 at 5:18 am #
same, E:60 is just ESPN trying to make more money, because that’s what corporations do; make money. Tejada is a good person, he was a victim of dominican scouts, get off his back