ESPN on Tiger critic: He’s being “flip”

While reaction to Tiger Woods’ marital indiscretions has ranged from “don’t care” to “at least he’s not a right-wing hypocrite” (if you only knew, Joy Behar), former Woods friend Jesper Parnevik isn’t thrilled with the world’s No. 1 golfer.

“I would be especially sad about it since I’m kind of — I feel really sorry for Elin — since me and my wife were at fault for hooking her up with him,” Parnevik said. “We probably thought he was a better guy than he is. I would probably need to apologize to her and hope she uses a driver next time instead of the 3-iron.”

Parnevik said he has had no contact with Woods since rumors and speculation began to circulate.

“It’s a private thing of course,” he said. “But when you are the guy he is, the world’s best athlete, you should think more before you do stuff.”

ESPN, which has spent the better part of a week with non-stop off-the-wall coverage of Woods, took down Parnevik  today on its show “First and 10.” Host Dana Jacobson tried to iterate a sexist tone to Parnevik’s comments, while she and columnist Ron Parker blasted Parnevik for being rather “flip” with his statement. Panelist Eric Kuselias remained on the side of the sane throughout, thus earning a talking down from Jacobson, who interrupted him repeatedly.

Since Friday ESPN has had hourly coverage of Woods on several of its channels, including the usual helicopter-fanfare (several athletes in the neighborhood have blonde wives who leave the house with hats on to avoid the flock of cameras) and relied on the worst of tabloid fare on the web for the basis of most its reporting.

So in ESPN’s circle of moral authority, it’s OK to exploit an athlete and his family for ratings for over a week, but a friend expressing anger over betrayal is flip and sexist.

Jacobson and Parker shouldn’t point fingers at anyone for behavior or criticism there of. Jacobson was suspended in a highly public incident when she went on a foul-mouth tirade about Notre Dame and “Jesus” during a supposed “roast” for radio show hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. Parker was fired from his former Detroit paper for making an ass out of himself during a Detroit Lions press conference, asking then coach Rod Marinelli if he “wished his daughter had married a better coach” when asking about Marinelli’s son-in-law who was one of his coordinator. That wasn’t flip?

Sexism and “First and 10″ have been linked together before – at least two former panelists and hosts have been accused of sexual harassment by ESPN employees.

Woods behavior doesn’t change how I think of him one bit. I don’t know him, haven’t talked to many people who have.

But Parnevik  knows Woods, knows his wife very well. If anyone has a right to express anger over this rather frivolous news story it is Parnevik. But that’s too much for the grand moral compass of ESPN, which should clean out its own closet when it comes to behavior between the sheets.

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