Awful moments in Sports Reporting - Chris Mortensen Edition

Yesterday the Kansas City Chiefs sign free agent Thomas Jones to a very good contract which could give the Chiefs one of the best backfields in football. "Could the Chiefs be on the verge of becoming a contender once again?", I said to myself. Then to my horror, I saw the following Tweet

Chiefs are one of my sleeper teams - even moreso with Thomas Jones now.

- Chris Mortenson via Twitter - @mortreport

 

My reaction?

Reasoning after the jump...

Simply put, Chris Mortenson is the worst sports reporter in the history of Sports Reporting. You know when guys like Adam Shefter or Jay Glazer report on something, you always know that it's true? Mort is the exact opposite. When he reports on something, I know (more times than not) that he is full of shit.

The purpose of this post is to waste my boring Wednesday afternoon outline some of his most egregious misreportings. I'll start from the top, with his attempt to report our beloved Chiefs and the hiring of new Head Coach Mike Shannahan. ESPN's very own Chris Mortensen reports that:

 "The Chiefs have been in negotiations to land Shanahan as their next coach and a deal is near".

To which colleague and non-story-maker-upper Adam Shefter rebutts:

Despite rampant reports that the Chiefs are negotiating with former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan to replace Herm Edwards, they are not, sources said Friday.

The Chiefs never have made any contact with Shanahan — never. And there have been no contract negotiations.

So unless people I have known for years are blatantly lying to me, Shanahan will not be the next coach of the Chiefs. It’s not happening. People can keep talking as if it is, but it’s not. Shanahan will not be the coach of the Chiefs in 2009.

Who was right? Schefter naturally and Mort was forced to redact his story. He was asked where these claims came from and who his "sources" were. He admitted the Chiefs never did contact Shanatan, but they were considering it. Ummm, there is a huge difference between "Considering him" and "Have been in negotiations and deal is near". He's not a blogger, he's a reporter. You can't blatantly lie when you are in the news business, but he's been doing it for a long time. Some more examples:

“Mangini not going to coach the Browns,‘’ said ESPN’s Chris Mortensen on ESPN Radio. "Put that aside and forget it.’’

That was December 21st, 2009. A week later, Adam Shefter reports:

Eric Mangini will be the head coach of the Browns next season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. New team president Mike Holmgren made the decision Thursday, exactly one year after Mangini was hired by Cleveland.

Notice a trend? Mort reports something and Schefter has the the conflicting story, and Shefter is right. I'm beginning to know why espn hired Schefter last offseason, I just don't know why they are keeping Mortenson around. May I continue?

Vick is unlikely to be indicted in the dogfighting federal investigation, according to information gathered by the NFL and Atlanta Falcons, sources tell ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

I think we all know what happened to our favourite asshole dog killing sonofabitch (Sorry as a dog owner I think there is a special place in hell for men like him). Makes me wonder who his sources are that he keeps quoting? Is it his lucky magic 8 ball or maybe the crazy lady on the corner who yells expletives at traffic. Moreover, why is ESPN continuing to publish stories when all he can quote is a "source" especially when his source is usually dead wrong, and misleading. One of my favourite Mort stories is regarding ex-Buc QB Jeff Garcia, (Garcia's wife is here if you are wondering) He reported that Garcia's bruised back actually contained a hairline fracture. Jon Gruden went off:

"There's a lot of reports out there, I just wish some of these reports were verified. Mortensen doesn't have a (expletive) idea what he's talking about. I can't understand why he would say that unless he got the X-rays himself."

I couldn’t have said it better myself Chucky!

Other reports have Mortensen reporting Ron Rivera was to be the next Dallas Cowboy's Head Coach shortly before Wade Philips was hired, that Parcel's was going to Atlanta and Eli Manning was going to miss the first month of the 2008 season. Eli started the next week and hasn't missed a start in his professional career. He went as far as incorrectly stating that Brett Favre would retire after the 2008 season. Ok, bad example :)

Anyways, these are just a couple of the more egregious examples of poor reporting that Mort had. I honestly don't know how he had a job when his job is to break stories, and the stories he breaks appear to be fabrications. Everyone has a bad day and gets a story wrong now and then, but in many of these examples, it appears he pulled the stories right out of his ass.

So when he call's our Chiefs as his "sleeper team for 2010" it makes me worried.

Thanks for reading,

Craig