IN E$PN WE TRUSTED

This memo started with a few copies but is now being circulated nationwide. If you find it interesting, distribute it to your friends far and wide.

If you have comments or additional ideas to add, please forward to tlavy@ubh.com. We have found many people, after being exposed to the memo, have additional insights, want to send encouragement's, or are just plain mad and need to vent! Happy reading!

IN E$PN WE TRUSTED

You know... I thought I smelled a rat during this college football season's news coverage.

Money has always been a main motive for robbery, murder and arson. Now, thanks to Disney/ABC/ESPN, we can add college football's Number One ranking and the Heisman Trophy to that list of crimes. If you also trusted in ESPN, please read on.

A rallying point for all the pathetic Husker fans out there...

Frustrated college football fans may need some cause for comfort in a year of UNPRECEDENTED happenings in college football. I can't cure their frustration, but I can knock the scales from their eyes. First, most people would agree that we have grown up in a society where, if a TV newsman says something, we believe it. Second, most people would also agree that ESPN is the main source of news information for college football fans, writers, coaches, and voters. For over 2 months, ESPN has promoted the Big 10's players and teams and slighted the Alliance.

Why were they doing it; what was ESPN's motive?

Finally, it hit me. The motive is simple, money. Disney owns ABC. ABC owns ESPN. ESPN delivers news on college football. ABC televises the Rose Bowl. It does not televise the Alliance championship game, the Orange Bowl. Viewers have been watching ESPN naively thinking that it was a news broadcast, that it was impartial -- just reporting facts. WRONG. It is biased -- by big bucks.

The bottom line is that if Disney/ABC/ESPN can create the number one team and create the Heisman trophy winner for the Rose Bowl it makes millions & millions more in advertising revenue. It has a vested interest in the Big-10 and the Pac-10 whose conference winners automatically go to the Rose Bowl. All along, I thought Disney/ABC/ESPN was anti-Huskers, when in reality it was anti-Alliance. The Huskers just happened to be the lone undefeated Alliance threat to ruin the Rose Bowl party!

The Disney/ABC/ESPN marketing muscle landed Charles Woodson the Heisman trophy over Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning represents everything that is right about college football. He plays the toughest position in the toughest conference in college football. His numbers exceeded last year's Heisman trophy winner. Some people may make this out as a racial issue. It is not. It is a money issue. Two years ago, a trusting national audience hardly blinked as Disney/ABC/ESPN handed the Heisman to the Big 10's Eddie George over Nebraska's Tommie Frazier, who is also black. They gave the Trophy to the second best running back in the Big-10 over the best player, on arguably the best team ever. As a quarterback, Frazier's team was 37-1, winning two national championships in three years. To that date, it was the worst Heisman selection in history. Now, it is second.

Basically, instead of watching sports news, we have been watching an infomercial; an infomercial for Michigan and Charles Woodson! How convenient for Disney/ABC/ESPN to have the number one team and the Heisman Trophy winner in its' Bowl!

Don't blame the voters; they have been smoothly brainwashed and duped as well. We all remember the days before ESPN was a puppet. Who better than the cunning marketing pros at The Walt Disney company to deceive the American viewer with behind-the-scenes puppeteering and magic making? The "Real Alliance" is Disney/ABC/ESPN. For months, they have run a smooth, subtle, high-stakes marketing campaign for the Rose Bowl.

Some people would call it a conspiracy. It's not. In reality, it is simple marketing and media manipulation for money. Disney/ABC/ESPN has out-smarted, out-maneuvered, and out-marketed the gullible Alliance, and, it seems, the rest of their trusting audience as well. Congratulations to you, Michael Eisner and to your team Disney/ABC/ESPN; you've earned it. You have sold out Peyton Manning, Grant Wistrom, Jason Peter, Scott Frost, and the other Huskers. Before this, college football seemed to be one of the last bastions uncorrupted by the buck.

So, Michael Eisner, do me a favor! Have the geniuses that orchestrated this deception on the American people go down to Knoxville and Lincoln and look these young men in the eye. Tell them that their hours of work in the weight room, in the film room, and on the practice field won't be recognized, not because they lost a football game, but because Disney/ABC/ESPN doesn't televise the Orange Bowl.

If you think this is all far fetched, let's look at the UNPRECEDENTED items in college football this year:

1. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the Heisman Trophy went to primarily a defensive player.
2. It is UNPRECEDENTED that a #4 team (Michigan) jumps to #1 in the polls, when the #1 and 2 teams(both Alliance) win. (Nice work Disney/ABC/ESPN. You created a "Judgment Day" where you were guaranteed a trophy team and a Heisman candidate to promote.)
3. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the #1 ranked team, Michigan, is only fifth in the power ratings.
4. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the #1 ranked team, Michigan, has only the 44th-best total offense in the country.
5. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the #1 ranked team, Michigan, has only the 44th-ranked scoring offense in the country.
6. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the #4 team, Penn State (the overrated paper tiger that Michigan used to vault to #1) gets beaten by an unranked opponent, in the last week of the season, by 35 points.
7. It is UNPRECEDENTED that the #4 ranked team, Penn State, gives up over 200 yards rushing to two backs in the same game. (Does overrated conference fit anywhere in here?)
8. It is UNPRECEDENTED that a team, Nebraska, has four undefeated regular seasons in five years.
9. It would be UNPRECEDENTED for a 13-0 team, Nebraska, not to win the National title.
10. It would be UNPRECEDENTED for a team, Nebraska, to go 60-3 over a five year period.
11. It would be UNPRECEDENTED for a team, Nebraska, to win three National Championships in four years.
12. It would be UNPRECEDENTED for a team, Nebraska, to play for four National Titles in five years.
13. It is also UNPRECEDENTED that Disney/ABC/ESPN would allow Bob Griese, father of top ranked Michigan's quarterback, to broadcast second ranked Nebraska's game vs. Colorado. Impartial, I don't think so. No father could be.

The money professionals in Vegas aren't buying the infomercial for Michigan: the line for #1 vs. #8 opened Michigan favored by 8.5 and went to 7; but, the #2 vs. #3 line opened Huskers favored by 7 - and quickly went to 13 (This was before Coach Osborne announced his retirement). Vegas has stated that the Huskers would be favored over Michigan if they met on the field. Surprise, surprise!

Who imagineered Charles Woodson holding a rose in his mouth after the Ohio State game? It was almost like a Super Bowl MVP saying to the camera after the game, "I'm going to Disneyland!" What a coincidence! The whole college football season on ESPN has been slanted toward the Rose Bowl. Once you finally clue in on what has happened it is overwhelming ... and disgusting.

Here are just a few examples:

1. Disney/ABC/ESPN/Rose Bowl did a piece on The Year in College Football. The show had at least 15 clips of Woodson and Michigan. The only clips it showed of Manning, he was getting sacked repeatedly. The piece had ZERO clips of the Huskers.
2. ESPN composed a year long special about Peyton Manning regarding the Heisman Trophy race. Conveniently, the special on Peyton Manning aired on the eve of the Heisman Trophy Award Presentation, after the votes were in.
3. ESPN2's Keith Olbermann, commenting on the Huskers "running up the score" against Iowa State, said "they looked at the polls and decided they needed some points." Oh, Keith they had 63 in the first half, 14 in the second, with the reserves in! I realize 14 points is an explosion for Michigan, but the Huskers could have hung over 100 points on them if they wanted to.
4. ESPN's Chris Fowler did a piece on the difference between Penn State and the Huskers in their respective philosophies about playing reserves versus scoring points. Disney/ABC/ESPN shows a clip of a PSU reserve fumbling with less than a minute to go, then show a clip of Huskers' starter Mackovica scoring for the Huskers with a 40-point lead. The only glitch for the imagemakers was that Huskers clip showed it was midway through the third quarter, not late in the game.
5. How about ESPN's "Judgment Day"? Is it now a national holiday? The creator of this "event" deserves a raise. Did I hear ESPN say they had polled the voters, prior to "Judgment Day," to see if the most impressive team would jump to #1? This again smells like a rat, and oh, by the way, would be UNPRECEDENTED.

It is truly a pity that Disney/ABC/ESPN isn't televising the Orange Bowl this year. If it was, Peyton Manning would be holding the Heisman trophy and the Huskers would be #1. Instead of the talk being about the Huskers "getting lucky" against Missouri, the talk would be about "The Championship Drive." The broadcasters, and the country, would be trumpeting the Huskers' dynasty and the golden arm of Peyton.

I've got an idea. Why don't we have an additional ball game between Nebraska and Michigan, and let ABC televise it? Since Disney/ABC/ ESPN has done such a great job of telling us how good Michigan is, perhaps it would be kind enough to carry the book on an even line! I wonder if a Wolverine eviscerating would resemble a Gator eviscerating? On second thought, a blow out by the Huskers would not be good for the TV ratings, so let's have Tennessee and Peyton Manning step in. My guess is Manning wouldn't hesitate to find Charles Woodson's side of the football field.

My hat's off to Disney/ABC/ESPN. You have pulled it off because we, the viewers, trusted you to be unbiased. The fraud on a trusting audience went undetected until the Trophy was awarded. My true congratulations go to Peyton Manning and the Huskers. You did it on the field.

You know... that rat I said I smelled this college football season? I was wrong, it wasn't a rat; it was a gigantic black mouse. A gigantic black mouse with large ears and a paw-full of money winking and smiling! In ESPN we trusted; we've been duped.

TREVOR LAVY (501)756-2527 EXT.341