When the news came out that Craig James had been calling Texas Tech coaches, while he was calling their games for ESPN, everyone pointed out how wrong it was. It certainly was inappropriate and inexcusable. However, it brings up a bigger question. Is Craig James the only one doing it? Was this the only announcer from a major network calling coaches during a game which they were broadcasting? Or is this common for broadcasters?
That sounds like a ridiculous statement, doesn’t it? It seems unthinkable that an announcer would be in contact with a coaching staff during the game. If it is rare, then why didn’t the people Craig James work with do something about it? It is very hard to believe that no one from ESPN was aware that Craig James was in contact, during the game, with the Texas Tech coaching staff. It seems that all Craig James talked about with the coaches was his son’s playing time. How does the public know that for sure?
A week ago, it was unthinkable that an announcer would be in contact with one of the coaching staffs during a game. Is it really any more unthinkable to believe that tactical information could be passed from one of the broadcaster to the coaching staff? That does not sound like what was happening between Craig James and Texas Tech, but it is not outside the realm of possibility.
So why wouldn’t one of the broadcasters blow the whistle on another announcer for communicating directly with one of the coaching staffs during the game? One reason would be that they were friends. Maybe anyone that knew about the phone calls that James was making did not want to jeopardize that friendship. That seems logical.
However, there is also another potential answer to consider. Maybe no one said anything because it might happen all the time. It would be a catastrophic breach of ethics, but how does the public know that ESPN announcers are not contacting one side or the other in a football game and giving that team a tactical advantage? Last week that was unthinkable, this week it is not. The knowledge that an ESPN announcer actually called a coaching staff and no one at ESPN seemed to think it was a big deal raises all kinds of questions about whether they are reporting the story or if they are part of the story.
This is bigger than Craig James and this is bigger than Texas Tech. This is about credibility in broadcasting. ESPN just lost theirs. How can a network claim to be credible when commentators are speaking with one of the coaching staffs during a competitive football game? It is time for ESPN to get out in front of this and answer the tough questions about whether this goes on regularly and why this was allowed to happen.
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