Sports Illustrated writer and CBS analyst Seth Davis may have gotten himself in a little hot water yesterday in a particularly 21st century way — being an idiot on twitter. Evidently Davis is not a fan of mixed martial arts and he used some good old-fashioned homophobia to make his point.
Looking on news sites showing picture of two muscular bloody men in homoerotic fighting pose….Sorry, I’ll never get this UFC thing.
We can’t imagine what kind of trauma Davis may have sustained that makes the CBS personality have erotic thoughts while watching two men covered in blood hitting each other, but we are truly sorry for any pain that the writer has to live with.
Sports Illustrated writer and CBS analyst Seth Davis may have gotten himself in a little hot water yesterday in a particularly 21st century way — being an idiot on twitter. Evidently Davis is not a fan of mixed martial arts and he used some good old-fashioned homophobia to make his point.
Looking on news sites showing picture of two muscular bloody men in homoerotic fighting pose….Sorry, I’ll never get this UFC thing.
We can’t imagine what kind of trauma Davis may have sustained that makes the CBS personality have erotic thoughts while watching two men covered in blood hitting each other, but we are truly sorry for any pain that the writer has to live with.
Another similarly idiotic tweet of Davis’ read:
Maybe I’m a prude on this but I’m also a dad. I don’t mind my sons watching boxing, but I wouldn’t want them watching a UFC bout. — Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops)
We have no idea if Davis is a prude but he is evidently scared of gay people. Let’s connect the dots. Davis watches two fighters compete and confuses it for gay sexual relations. So, the UFC is gay and because of this, he does not like the UFC.
Also, given that the UFC is so gay, he will not, can not, approve of his sons watching it. Let’s assume that Georges St. Pierre and Carlos Condit were, as Davis believes, getting erotic with one another Saturday night at UFC 154 instead of competing against one another in a sport. Seth, neither you nor your kids can catch gay by watching gay people. Your sons could, however, pick up some practical life skills from watching and practicing the martial arts and self-defense techniques on display at UFC events.
Like many cowardly morons before him, Davis has appeared to have deleted those tweets from his account. He may not want his sons watching MMA but he probably wants to still be able to make a living to support them.
No word yet on if CBS or SI has taken disciplinary action against Davis. If they do, we suggest some education and sensitivity training be a part of it. Perhaps a few hours locked in a room watching video of MMA fights while Georges St. Pierre and Roger Huerta sit on either side of him in nothing but their old-school tight fight shorts, painting each one another’s nails.
You can likely add CBS Sports to the growing list of media outlets on the outside looking in at the boys club that is granted media access to UFC and Strikeforce events after publishing a scathing editorial today. The piece, entitled, “Calling out UFC is a losing fight, but it’s time to step into the cage,” ironically, focused on Zuffa’s heavy-handed press bans handed out when stories such as his get published and the disparity between the company’s gross revenues and total yearly fighter salaries.
As the writer Gregg Doyel, who admits to being a relatively new fan and reporter of the sport mentions, he is hopeful that things don’t change between him and Dana since he has been approved for a press pass for the next Strikeforce show and is remaining optimistic that he’ll still receive his promised media credentials. Take it from us, it ain’t gonna happen.
You can likely add CBS Sports to the growing list of media outlets on the outside looking in at the boys club that is granted media access to UFC and Strikeforce events after publishing a scathing editorial today. The piece, entitled, “Calling out UFC is a losing fight, but it’s time to step into the cage,” ironically, focused on Zuffa’s heavy-handed press bans handed out when stories such as his get published and the disparity between the company’s gross revenues and total yearly fighter salaries.
As the writer Gregg Doyel, who admits to being a relatively new fan and reporter of the sport mentions, he is hopeful that things don’t change between him and Dana since he has been approved for a press pass for the next Strikeforce show and is remaining optimistic that he’ll still receive his promised media credentials. Take it from us, it ain’t gonna happen.
Although we applaud a reporter who isn’t afraid to exercise his or her right to freedom of speech and the press at the risk of ruffling a few feathers, expecting that writing an open letter to Zuffa mostly based on hearsay and conjecture in which you chastise its business practices isn’t going to have your cageside seat to shows taken away in the future is foolhardy. Especially when posting crude snapshots of one of the company’s employees from a magazine will get you banned for life.
The rules are simple: Sites that toe the line are allowed on the court to play the game, at least until they run afoul.
The UFC is possibly the only sports league that uses a reward and punishment system to ensure that unsavory stories aren’t written about the company or its athletes, but there isn’t anything you can do when you’ve been given a yellow card by the organization, so its rare to see the Hunts, Gross’, Goldmans and Doyels who are willing to risk losing their seat at the adult table in return for sitting on their scruples, which makes it more respectable when it does happen.
Rarely will you see “mainstream” MMA outlets report on stories that may cast Zuffa in a negative light even if it is newsworthy which garners them the reputation of being Zuffa shill sites or hype machines.
For some “reporters” being granted access to an event equates to having better seats and having access to athletes and their parties during fight week. While an event is live, these “so-called MMA journalists” as they’ve been called, are nowhere to be found as they are usually off skipping the lines to get autographs and beer from the concession stands. Still, because they have written about the promotion in a positive light, they have been rewarded with a laminated golden ticket that they can hang on the wall of their office and tweet photos of to let the masses know that they know how to play the game and are a bonafide journo.
We’re not saying that the plot holes in Doyel’s murder mystery shouldn’t be addressed.
Basically he just rehashed bits of conjecture stitched together with second-hand reports of purported shady business practices perpetrated by the Zuffa machine. Old news that has likely been injected with several erroneous details as it was recuscitated and passed around. Without hard facts, legit quotes and FTC documents, the story is really just a non-story that seems more of a ,”You need to shape up or we’re through,” kind of break-up letter from a jilted lover than a report by a journalist. We’ve all seen how those have ended and it’s never good.
I can’t help but wonder if this has less to do with the author’s disappointment with Zuffa and more to do with the recent purchase of the UFC’s biggest rival by a member of CBS owner Sumner Redstone’s family of companies. Viacom purchased Bellator in October 2011. Whatever the impetus of the story was, Doyel picked a fight with Zuffa.
Unfortunately, as he pointed out with his headline before writing a single paragraph, it’s a fight you can’t win.
