Asshole of the Year

Michael Wilbon remains one of my favorite columnists and ESPN "personalities." He also remains one of the few "mainstream" news media voices that's tolerable these days. In this Monday's online Washington Post chat with readers, he complained that talk radio, in his opinion, was to blame for many of the problems we see today in the way sports are covered.

I absolutely agree with him, though I note the irony that his PTI cohort Tony Kornheiser hosts one of the most enjoyable programs to be found in any medium. Regardless, sports talk radio has devolved to the point where it's a pissing contest to see which guy can be the loudest jerk, the most sensationalistic, and the most outrageous.

Actual facts are often dismissed as unimportant, or all too often, completely ignored. The egos of the hosts are wildly out of control, which is especially ironic (and horrific to listen to) considering their absolute -favorite- topic to rant about is athletes with big egos. Listen for an hour to just about any talk show host on the radio today, and you're bound to hear at least five hyperbolic rants about the sorry state of athletes and their egos today.

This is just the general state of talk radio today, but the purpose of this particular post is to draw your attention to the most shocking display of brazen assholery that I've ever seen or heard. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio.

He was insufferable before this incident I'm about to tell you about, but this truly takes the cake for Asshole Move of the Year. Step aside Terrell Owens. Take a seat Barry Bonds. This isn't your year Ron Artest. None of these egomaniacal star athletes can hold a candle to Mr. Cowherd.

During Wednesday's show on ESPN Radio, Colin Cowherd read to his listeners a copy of "the real Wonderlic test." The questions, obvious parodies, were funny and a hoot for his listeners.

The problem?

He didn't write them. The questions were written by the excellent Michigan bloggers over at M Zone. Did Cowherd credit them for writing them? Absolutely not. That, it turns out, was far from his biggest sin. The truly reprehensible part came after the folks at M Zone wrote to him and said that they were the ones that wrote it and they felt cheated that he didn't credit them.

His response to their email?

It was bad enough that one of his producers or interns found the material and ripped it off, but excusable if he didn't know where it came from and then, upon learning that it had been previously published, apologized and/or gave proper credit on his next show. But this??? It's almost hard to believe. Unless, of course, you've ever heard his show.

I need not say anything else about this; I'm sure you're as dumfounded as I am. I will only encourage you to do what M Zone, and the good folks at Every Day Should Be Saturday, have done: write the ESPN Ombudsman expressing your disgust.

--HornsFan--