Harold Reynolds FIRED by ESPN

[wrveres]

thanks for the links guys ..

ESPN could sure clear up this mess with a simple press release eh?
Why are they letting this hang out there. I have no love for ESPN, and things like this just add to it

[Krunk City King$]

I don't know if this is in this thread somewhere, I started to read it backwords and saw all the religious stuff so I stopped ...

But has anybody heard the rumor that Harold Reynolds was fired because he got into it with a few producers at ESPN over their on air treatment of Kid Wonderful? Harold Reynolds and A-Rod are apparently tight .. I just heard it tonight and I am looking for a link ... anybody, anybody ... Buehler?

I know a guy that works at ESPiN. A friend of mine asked him about the situation last week and he skirted around the question of why he got fired. He could have sung the sexual harrasment song like the rest of them, but he did not. Now, I am starting to believe the story about him getting into it with someone more and more when I read posts like yours and articles like these posted below. Harold was even acting funny on the air for the past couple of weeks. Did you see him during the HR derby? And the "I had to watch yall" comment that he made during the week before he left to the rest of the anchors on the set. Very odd.

Maybe ARod or the Boss wanted heads to roll at ESPiN for all of the bad mouthing.

Even when all of that "trade AROD" talk was going on, I had a hard time believing what I was hearing. I said to myself "not you too Harold" when I heard his comments during BBT. And then sometimes it seemed as if he backed away from them.

Where were the "Yanks should trade Jeter" comments the year before? It is like ESPin has developed this "let's stir up the pot mentality" in the post 9-11 world. The sportcenter vehicle is being driven by the "big headlines make big news and get big ratings" style of media engine. It is either T.O. (when he acts a fool)-mode, Danica Patrick (when she looks as if she is about to do something)-mode, Tiger (when sux)-mode, Bonds (when it looks like he is about to get arrested)-mode..and I am starting to get sick of this tabloid stuff.

Big Mac just said that he will not talk to Mitchell...and I READ ABOUT THAT. I have yet to see it mentioned by an anchor or reporter on ESPiN. I have really been watching ESPiN news a whole lot more than sportscenter in recent months.

ESPiN has fallen into the trap of making the news, and not reporting news.



ESPN tougher on sexual harassment than drugs
By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

You've got to be careful when you go from being an athlete to the talk-radio booth or television studio. That seamy off-the-field story might be about yourself.

Former big-league infielder Harold Reynolds was fired this week from Baseball Tonight by ESPN.

The network won't say why, but Reynolds is claiming (through the New York Post) that his hug of a female employee was the catalyst.

"I gave a woman a hug, and I felt like it was misinterpreted," Reynolds said.

Applause to ESPN if Reynolds actually is a harassing hugger to unwilling recipients, but how is it that ESPN can fire a guy for hugging while only giving former Dallas Cowboys superstar Michael Irvin a one-week suspension after he was caught with drug paraphernalia is his car? I know, no charges were ever filed, but Irvin had a history of previous problems with drugs.

And, speaking of drug busts, I'm told Rush Limbaugh is still on the air, despite recent incidents with OxyContin and Viagra.

Sexual harassment may have become a bigger problem than drugs.


Yankees advice from a Met?

Former Mets General Manager Steve Phillips wants the Yankees to trade Alex Rodriguez.

I'm guessing Phillips — who couldn't sign A-Rod when the former Mariners shortstop left Seattle for Texas — wants the Yanks to reacquire Aaron Boone to play third base, where Rodriguez now plays.

A-Rod can't take the boos? Nothing says "I love you" in New York like boos.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/c ... nside.html

*************
BASEBALL NOTEBOOK
Reynolds departs ESPN job
Pattern of sexual harassment cited by network employees
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
FROM WIRE REPORTS


Harold Reynolds, one of ESPN’s most visible analysts and a longtime panelist on Baseball Tonight, has left the network in the wake of one or more incidents of sexual harassment.

An ESPN spokeswoman yesterday confirmed Reynolds’ departure but declined to provide a reason for it.

Three people who work at ESPN and were familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment, apparently culminating in a recent incident involving one of the network’s young production assistants.

Reynolds, 45, a major leaguer for 12 seasons before joining ESPN in 1996, did not appear Monday on Baseball Tonight after having worked the Sunday show, during which he joined fellow analyst Steve Phillips in suggesting the New York Yankees trade Alex Rodriguez.

In addition to Baseball Tonight, Reynolds, who is married and has an infant daughter, worked as a game analyst for the Little League World Series and College World Series.

Reynolds was extremely popular among ESPN staffers, many of whom were shocked when the story of his dismissal began to circulate Monday afternoon.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/sports- ... C5-01.html

*************

An elegy for Baseball Tonight
August 02, 2006
by Benjamin Kabak
Once upon a time, I would look forward to watching Baseball Tonight. In the days before the Internets, ESPN’s hour of baseball was my way of finding out who won, who played well, who got the big hits and who made the slick fielding plays.

The show in its younger and more vulnerable days was a veritable fount of information. The game highlights would be extensive, and the graphic after the highlight reel would present a nearly complete box score. The talking heads on the show would opine about the game in a way that made you think they actually cared. They weren’t just ex-players with outrageous opinions and pea-sized brains like they are now.

As the baseball world awoke this morning to a report in The New York Post that ESPN had dismissed long-time Baseball Tonight co-host Harold Reynolds, we were stunned. As the day unfolded, the only further information available was a report on Deadspin containing anonymous remarks about Reynolds’ sexual harassment of female staffers in Bristol.

If these accounts are true, Reynold’s dismissal is a sad but not unjustifiable action. For Baseball Tonight fans, it basically closes the book on what has been a tumultuous few weeks. First, ESPN lost Peter Gammons to a crippling brain aneurysm; now, Reynolds, one of the last remaining anchors who could talk with any authority, is gone for the show.

In his place, we will be subjected to the whims and idiocies of the likes of Steve Phillips and John Kruk. How did Baseball Tonight fall so far?

Phillips, as New Yorkers will recall, was dismissed from the Mets in 2003 after running the team into the ground. He was more concerned with his image than with the product on the field and was notorious for bringing in Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar, two high-paid flops in the Big Apple. On ESPN, he had a prominent role in a series of ludicrious set-ups where he acted the part of a Major League GM. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t too convincing.

John Kruk, on the other hand, is a joke. He is downright hostile to anyone who doesn’t play the game the right way and probably gets along quite well with Joe Morgan. Kruk can’t form coherent sentences, and he looks like a cross betwen a refridgerator and a washed-up baseball player. (On the other hand, Kruk is the more attractive version of what Curt Schilling will look like in 5 years.)

Waiting in the wings are Rob Dibble, Tino Martinez, and a whole slew of other players who just talk and talk and talk about nothing. And that is the whole problem with Baseball Tonight. While Harold Reynolds may not have been the second coming of Baseball Prospectus on TV, he had something to add to the show. Now, no one has anything to add to the broadcast.

Case in point: ESPN.com’s homepage has, for the last 24 hours, featured Steve Phillips’ inane commentary on Alex Rodriguez. Because of two bad weeks, the Yankees, according to Phillips, should trade the best living baseball player to the Cubs for a crappy outfielder (Jacques Jones) and an inferior third baseman (Aramis Ramirez). In Phillips’ world, the Cubs would also throw in Carlos Zambrano. Right, Steve. You’re a genius. Now go away.

No longer does Baseball Tonight show copious highlights. They talk about home runs and some nice fielding plays. They seem to utterly shy away from anything that would draw in a viewer such as rational discussions or any brief mention of how players are doing. It’s become the ADD, 20-minute version of a baseball highlight show.

With Reynolds gone and Gammons’ future up in the air, the John Kruks of the world now rule the airwaves. Cover your ears; hide your children; and stay away from ESPN.

http://www.all-baseball.com/double/archives/023778.html

[Matthias]

thanks for the links guys ..

ESPN could sure clear up this mess with a simple press release eh?
Why are they letting this hang out there. I have no love for ESPN, and things like this just add to it

The lack of a press release only strengthens the argument that it is for sexual harassment or something similar. There's privacy laws which legally prevent ESPN from saying something, not to mention that if they did say something they would potentially expose themselves to liability from anyone Harold harassed as well as from Harold himself.

Obviously, it could be something completely different. But creative differences doesn't normally result in a termination this swift, this public, and this murky.

[Apollo]

I know a guy that works at ESPiN. A friend of mine asked him about the situation last week and he skirted around the question of why he got fired. He could have sung the sexual harrasment song like the rest of them, but he did not. Now, I am starting to believe the story about him getting into it with someone more and more when I read posts like yours and articles like these posted below. Harold was even acting funny on the air for the past couple of weeks. Did you see him during the HR derby? And the "I had to watch yall" comment that he made during the week before he left to the rest of the anchors on the set. Very odd.

Nobody at ESPN has spoken about the firing, so your friend's refusal to talk isn't surprising. The whole company's been mute.

As for HR's weird behavior the week before his firing (which I also noticed), I figure that's because he knew he was in trouble. He got reported by this girl, ESPN went through a brief investigation (during which Harold was obviously rattled), and then he finally got canned.

HR had just signed a six-year contract; they wouldn't have offered it to him if they didn't want him around or he was causing problems. And Harold himself told the media he was fired for sexual harassment, which brings up two pretty convincing points:

1) You don't tell the media you were fired for harassment unless you were definitely fired for harassment. That really stigmatizes a person.

2) You don't fire someone for harassment if they did not harass someone. If they were using harassment as a cover-up for something else, Harold would ream them with a lawsuit.

[Krunk City King$]

I know a guy that works at ESPiN. A friend of mine asked him about the situation last week and he skirted around the question of why he got fired. He could have sung the sexual harrasment song like the rest of them, but he did not. Now, I am starting to believe the story about him getting into it with someone more and more when I read posts like yours and articles like these posted below. Harold was even acting funny on the air for the past couple of weeks. Did you see him during the HR derby? And the "I had to watch yall" comment that he made during the week before he left to the rest of the anchors on the set. Very odd.

Nobody at ESPN has spoken about the firing, so your friend's refusal to talk isn't surprising. The whole company's been mute.

As for HR's weird behavior the week before his firing (which I also noticed), I figure that's because he knew he was in trouble. He got reported by this girl, ESPN went through a brief investigation (during which Harold was obviously rattled), and then he finally got canned.

HR had just signed a six-year contract; they wouldn't have offered it to him if they didn't want him around or he was causing problems. And Harold himself told the media he was fired for sexual harassment, which brings up two pretty convincing points:

1) You don't tell the media you were fired for harassment unless you were definitely fired for harassment. That really stigmatizes a person.

2) You don't fire someone for harassment if they did not harass someone. If they were using harassment as a cover-up for something else, Harold would ream them with a lawsuit.

I work in televison. And I have seen things play out in several different ways. I knew a chief photog and a GM who were fired for sexual harrassment. Everyone in the company openly spoke of the photog and the producer when it came to their sexual harrassment situation. People did re-enactments. Spoke about how they were almost involved (because the guy made an open comment about her outfit) and could have gotten fired too, etc. The GM's situation was a little bit different. A friend of mine had a gag order placed on him, because some things are still pending. The GM was there for around 25 years. And nobody wants to talk much, but everyone knows what happened. I have heard the let's put 2 and 2 together stories from multiple people. They even had a quiet going away send off for him.

There is a site which accepts annonymous/confidential tv dirt like this: http://www.newsblues.com/

Thursday, July 27
>>Colbert blasts morning network news shows as vapid
>>It's official: New bosses at "Good Morning America"
>>ABC's name game befuddles Tivo
>>FCC has "paralyzed documentary filmmakers," says PBS boss
>>Critic: Fox News maintains "enemies list"
>>Swine Fest walkout disputed, critics argue number
>>Curious George escapes near-death as Swine Fest winds down
>>NBC NASCAR commentator diagnosed with lung cancer
>>ESPN remains silent on firing of baseball analyst
>>McGraw-Hill's system-wide shift to video journalists
>>Schurz Communications shuffles anchors in Augusta, South Bend
>>Fargo sports guy quits for job with city
>>Blondiful Fox News correspondent "Most Beautiful"
>>Mrs. B has a murderous grammar lesson

Wednesday, July 26
>>Chicago anchor wants race-based court case sealed from media
>>Racism claims are "untrue, malicious, defamatory and despicable"
>>ABC's "GMA" set to announce new executive producers
>>Swine Fest critics walk out on Fox News presentation
>>Host of "America's Most Wanted" proposes exploding rectums
>>Seattle area cops mistakenly give confidential files to TV station
>>WOIO sues Cleveland Browns
>>Cleveland critic calls stations "cowardly" for not airing 9-1-1 tape
>>Nashville anchor argues against releasing 9-1-1 tapes to media
>>Another sexual harassment nightmare at ESPN
>>Veteran ESPN baseball analyst fired
>>Nashville sports guy quits, completing clean sweep
>>McGraw-Hill shifting to video journalists, San Diego first
>>Spartanburg anchor lands on movie's cutting room floor
>>Evansville news director out
>>Critic: Cronkite documentary "registers in the high end of mediocrity"
>>Mrs. B dives for grammar cover

***************

Dirty secrets and stories usually surface here. I am not a member of this site, but one of my ex-coworkers sent them a tell all e-mail when he became disgruntled about 7 years ago. The funny thing was that the corporate office called our GM (different from the one involved in the harrassment) and told him about the story on the site....and he knew exactly who sent it there.

[Big Pimpin]

Harold sues ESPN for Wrongful Termination. We'll see what happens I suppose.

link

[Chrisy Moltisanti]

Harold sues ESPN for Wrongful Termination. We'll see what happens I suppose.

link

Good luck Harold. You are an honorable man.

[orange12]

Maybe the big brass at ESPN woke up one day and realized how silly it was to pay a career .258 ex-hitter $6 million over 6 years to talk about baseball. Or in the words of Jules Winnfield, "I was just sitting here, eating my muffin, drinking my coffee, when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity." But no seriously, I hope HR gets his job back (though unlikely), he was one of the better commentators.

[Krunk City King$]

i heard that the chick that he hugged tried to extort him for 3 weeks after he took her out to dinner and slept with her.....

then she went to the brass and we are where we are today...

[Pogotheostrich]

thesmokinggun.com has a copy of the suit filed against ESPN.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1031061espn1.html