Officially lost the little respect I had for ESPN

[Kak7304]

I know I'm passing up a great opportunity to be one of the infamous "unnamed sources close to the program," but I had to pass this on to you guys. I'm not sure if any of you have gotten PMs similar to this, but I will share the one that was sent to me on IE from an ESPN reporter. This just goes to show how reliable ESPN's "sources" are. I am a 2008 graduate from ND that knows several girls at SMC and he thinks this is enough to provide insight to him? Really?

Interviewing anonymous posters on an internet message board without any verification of who they are is not a way to accumulate information for a story and is very unprofessional journalism. On the internet, and especially forums such as IE, we can fabricate our personal background or any bit of information (What I said about myself is true, but is there any way someone can be sure without knowing me?)

I hope you guys see this and think twice before you post anything that could potentially be taken the wrong way or damaging to the reputation of anyone from our ND family because you never know who is watching the board (I say this because I remember somebody posting a rumored name about the player involved with the Lizzy Seeberg incident.) I'm sick of ESPN, its shoddy journalism, and its constant attempts to stir controversy. I will definitely be writing into the network as soon as I am done with my finals. Go Irish and beat the Hurricanes!

reporter hoping to chat

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Kak7304,
I am a reporter with ESPN working on a story related to Notre Dame, and I noticed a posting from you on this message board in which you mentioned knowing some girls at St. Mary's. I'm just doing some background reporting to see if there's even a story for us to follow up on, and so I'm trying to speak with anyone who might have insights about the Lizzy Seeberg or Declan Sullivan cases. If you could give me a call, I'd greatly appreciate it. Or, send me a number and I'd be glad to call you.

Thanks and take care,
Mark Fainaru-Wada
ESPN, reporter
415-298-1469 (cell)
mark.fainaruwada@espn.com

 

[MacIrish75]

Wow. That is incredible!

 

[BestBIrish47]

Mark Fainaru-Wada
EPIC FAIL

We should flood him with emails and phone calls about UFOs, Big Foot being a custodian at St. Mary's, and the Loch Ness Monster living on the Notre Dame campus. They call this journalism these days? Talk about fishing for dirt.... we should direct him to Cecil Newton.

 

[tadman95]

That's incredibly slimy.

 

[Dacian_Irish]

I'm not surprised. The sad part is that this crap sells.

 

[IrishFBfanatic]

Someone should send this on to one of ESPN's competitors like Sports Illustrated...see if they want to run with it and report on the way their competition attempts to report. ESPN is pathetic...wow.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I hate ESPN even more now. What ****ty journalism.

 

[IrishLax]

Absolutely hilarious. I'm surprised I didn't get one with how I went off in that thread and claimed only two degrees of separation from the victim. Probably because I stood up for facts and not hearsay.

Thanks for sharing man. +1.

 

[Junkhead]

Ghetto journalism.

 

[mgriff]

Great job there fella.

 

[DomerBoy]

Calling that number right now. LOL

Oh found a picture of this slimeball as well.

 

[Cali_domer]

Calling that number right now. LOL

Oh found a picture of this slimeball as well.

Calling and emailing, douche

 

[DomerBoy]

Me: Hello you suck
HIM: Who is this?
Me: Lou Holtz you ****sucker
HIM: (Hangs up)

 

[GreatGolson]

Me: Hello you suck
HIM: Who is this?
Me: Lou Holtz you ****sucker
HIM: (Hangs up)

I dont care if you actually did it. reps on the way.

 

[GreatGolson]

Interesting, my sister attended SMC but i have yet to receive any PMs.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Just spoke with him for about 10 min. He told me that me that he is not going to publish anything unless he has confirmed, reliable sources. I told him I feel that this is irresponsible journalism and we agreed to disagree.

I've just never heard of journalists trying to gather information on a message board during ongoing investigations.

 

[IrishLax]

Alright guys.....

Let's please tone it down on the harassment. It's the kind of thing that makes someone a "hater" with an axe to grind. If you try to punk this guy, he'll likely just get on his keyboard and punk ND nation right back.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Alright guys.....

Let's please tone it down on the harassment. It's the kind of thing that makes someone a "hater" with an axe to grind. If you try to punk this guy, he'll likely just get on his keyboard and punk ND nation right back.

Didn't harass him, simply told him I thought that he was reaching. We actually had a mature conversation.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

That's horrible journalism. Just horrific journalism. Unspeakably bad journalism. This guy sucks at his job.

 

[IrishLax]

Didn't harass him, simply told him I thought that he was reaching. We actually had a mature conversation.

Fwiw, I wasn't referring to you.

 

[johnnykillz]

Didn't harass him, simply told him I thought that he was reaching. We actually had a mature conversation.

Dude, if that knucklehead puts his name on the line considering this sort of **** on an ND message board, then he's the fool; not the guy doing the harassment. Let's not forget, USC'ers, Meat Chicken fans, and Se(a)man frequent our site to stir the pot. I can imagine three or forty have called him by now...

lol.

He deserves what he gets and Notre Dame will have nothing to do with it.

 

[Stoic]

ESPN is known for unprofessional journalism and when they are wrong they never print a retract.. Until another sports channel steps up to the plate to take on the four letter gaint, this is what we are going to deal with.

 

[Ben E.]

I know I'm passing up a great opportunity to be one of the infamous "unnamed sources close to the program," but I had to pass this on to you guys. I'm not sure if any of you have gotten PMs similar to this, but I will share the one that was sent to me on IE from an ESPN reporter. This just goes to show how reliable ESPN's "sources" are. I am a 2008 graduate from ND that knows several girls at SMC and he thinks this is enough to provide insight to him? Really?

Interviewing anonymous posters on an internet message board without any verification of who they are is not a way to accumulate information for a story and is very unprofessional journalism. On the internet, and especially forums such as IE, we can fabricate our personal background or any bit of information (What I said about myself is true, but is there any way someone can be sure without knowing me?)

I hope you guys see this and think twice before you post anything that could potentially be taken the wrong way or damaging to the reputation of anyone from our ND family because you never know who is watching the board (I say this because I remember somebody posting a rumored name about the player involved with the Lizzy Seeberg incident.) I'm sick of ESPN, its shoddy journalism, and its constant attempts to stir controversy. I will definitely be writing into the network as soon as I am done with my finals. Go Irish and beat the Hurricanes!

this guy is a hack whos sole existence is based on chasing down adults who took steroids...

 

[TerryTate]

Speechless.

 

[military_irish]

I am not taking his side but I remember a few years ago when the two kids from Oklahoma got kicked off the team because of some used car salesman, or something to that effect, had them as employees but they never worked or they rarely did. Rhett Bomar I think was the QB that got kicked off the team.

But I remember seeing on a message board where a guys girlfriend worked at the dealership and said their were some players that were getting paid alot for little to no work and wondered if it was wrong. Then it broke on the main stream like 2 or 3 months later and they were kicked off the team.

So sometimes, some information can be found. I personally wouldn't go around message boards to get info, but sometimes that one story can be broke.

Once again, I am not at all taking his side, but I can partially see where he is coming from. I just wouldn't use that tactic for every story.

 

[nlroma1o]

I honestly want to take this to my friends Dad who is a sports writer for the SB Tribune... This guy can go f*** himself...

 

[jason_h537]

1) I am not surprised by this, ESPN has hired a lot of reporteres and this is his chance to "make a name for himself"

2) except for PTI, baseball tonight and college football final, i dont watch espn anymore. MLB and NFL network are much better

 

[kmoose]

Alright guys.....

Let's please tone it down on the harassment. It's the kind of thing that makes someone a "hater" with an axe to grind. If you try to punk this guy, he'll likely just get on his keyboard and punk ND nation right back.

Too late:

Dear redacted,
I am a reporter with ESPN working on a story related to Notre Dame, and I noticed a posting from you on this message board in which you mentioned knowing some girls at St. Mary's. I'm just doing some background reporting to see if there's even a story for us to follow up on, and so I'm trying to speak with anyone who might have insights about the Lizzy Seeberg or Declan Sullivan cases. If you could give me a call, I'd greatly appreciate it. Or, send me a number and I'd be glad to call you.

Thanks and take care,
Mark Fainaru-Wada
ESPN, reporter
415-298-1469 (cell)
mark.fainaruwada@espn.com


I have some insight for you……….. Brian Kelly was the second gunman, on the grassy knoll. Run with it!

 

[IrishFBfanatic]

Calling that number right now. LOL

Oh found a picture of this slimeball as well.

Didn't know Christopher Lee worked for ESPN...

 

[WabashFalcon]

So... I may or may not have called him.

So... I may or may not have given him my name.

So... He may or may not think of my name as Znutz, Dee.

I lol'ed.