Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch released his 2012 Media Awards on CNNSI.com. On the third page of the online column, he listed Skip Bayless as a "Dud." In case you're wondering, that's the nicest thing Skip's been called all year.
Here's what Deitsch had to say:
A word of advice for First Take carnival barker Skip Bayless: If you brag about going Pete Maravich on teams in high school, it's probably better if that's accurate, especially when you blast some athletes for being frauds. Showing Woodward- and Bernstein-type initiative, The Lost Ogle, an Oklahoma City-based website, did the legwork to discover the truth about Bayless' high school basketball career.
Yeah, someone compared us to Woodward and Bernstein. That's pretty damn funny and cool, but know what's even cooler? We also made Page 38 of the actual magazine! That's right. The Lost Ogle is mentioned in Sports Illustrated. Here's a pic sent to us by an Ogle Mole.
I'm not going to lie to you. That feels pretty good. Not only does the whole thing give us a decent spike in traffic and some validity, but now I no longer have to lie about being a surgeon, trial lawyer or independently wealthy oilman when I talk to chicks at bars. I can just say "I run a website that was mentioned in Sports Illustrated. What would you like for breakfast tomorrow morning?"
Of course, there are some drawbacks to this "fame." If we continue getting mentions like this, we may have to rethink our "obscure local social blog" label. That means we'll have to get Mike McCarville to come up with a new slogan. I'm not sure that's a good idea or not. Also, now I have to run up to Barnes and Noble and buy five copies of SI that's not a swimsuit issue. I should get a football phone out of that deal. Maybe I can autograph the magazines and give them away as Christmas presents. That's actually not a bad idea.
On a semi-serious note, the recognition we've received from various mainstream media outlets for exposing Bayless' lie and exaggerations has been flattering and neat, but most of the praise should go to the Ogle Mole Network. They're the ones who did a lot of the grunt work and research on this piece of enterprise journalism. I'm just the messenger who wrote, framed and published the story. Two moles in particular deserve some special praise:
Ogle Mole #1: This is the person who thought Bayless' claims of high school basketball stardom sounded fishy and decided to research the matter by looking up old yearbooks. Oddly enough, this Mole didn't come to us with the info. They sent it to someone else in the media. This person couldn't write about the story and then became...
Ogle Mole #2: Thanks again for forwarding us all the details. You're a gentlemen, a scholar and an above-average dodgeball player. Well done.
