espn has reached a new level of offesiveness. in the recent sports illustrated article about chris berman, the fat, over-the-hill man refers to the fact that the solid journalistic base has always been there and, once that it's confirmed, a reporter/anchor is free to add his or her own 'personality' to the equation.

of course, the key to solid journalism is a lack of bias, along with an eye for detail and...i don't know... (three cheers for journalism education!)

anyway, in light of the kobe bryant thing case not being tried, kevin frazier (who i think is pretty good) brought on steven a. smith (who i find absolutely unwatchable) and asked him the tough question: "steven, what's your reaction."

to which steven a. says "to be honest, as a black man, i'm happy." and then he went on to discuss the fact that he's a black man and eagle county colorado is "not 3 percent black, it's point-3 percent black, in the post oj simpson era."

i guess, i'm just thinking that mr. frazier wasn't asking about whether steven a. was happy, but he was asking for his reaction to the story. (of course, what steven a. smith would possibly have to say that would add anything to my understanding of things is beyond me.) and then, after two minutes of blabbering, mr. frazier had the audacity to say "thanks for the knowledge," of which, of course, there was none.

personally, i wish kobe got locked up. (not because he's black, but because he's slimy.) i wonder how much money she's already gotten to refuse to testify. i think it's probably a whole lot.