Federico said that he did not mean any respect and was devastated once he realized what he had done.

“This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny,” Anthony Federico told the Daily News.

“I’m so sorry that I offended people. I’m so sorry if I offended Jeremy.”

Federico, 28, said he understands why he was axed. “ESPN did what they had to do,” he said.

He said he has used the phrase “at least 100 times” in headlines over the years and thought nothing of it when he slapped it on the Lin story.

Federico called Lin one of his heroes – not just because he’s a big Knicks fan, but because he feels a kinship with a fellow “outspoken Christian.”

“My faith is my life,” he said. “I’d love to tell Jeremy what happened and explain that this was an honest mistake.”

Federico’s article was highlighted by hundreds of other agencies and thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook wrote about how they were shocked to see the headline.

Before Federico could get an apology in, NBC’s Saturday Night Live was able to poke some fun at ESPN too. Check out the video below:

[NY Daily News]

Foursquare has been rolling out a bundle of new updates this month, from inline photos and tip lists to redesigned apps, and is now introducing yet another new feature: events. Users previously could only check in at places, but Foursquare is now adding major events to their database. They gave events a test-run during SXSW conferences and are now partnered with ESPN, MovieTickets.com and Songkick. The partnerships mean that when users go to check in on Foursquare, they’ll see official pages to check in at sports events, movies and concerts.

To keep the UI clean, they explain that “each event appears in the app a couple hours before it starts.” The feature is already available in the iPhone app and at the foursquare.com web app and will be available on other platforms soon. [image via Foursquare Blog]

ESPN and WEEI have a radio partnership that began on October 7. Simmons has criticized the radio station at least twice since the partnership has been announced. About a month ago Simmons tweeted “WEEI’s ‘The Big Show’ was apparently ripping me today. Good to get feedback from 2 washed-up athletes and a 60 yr-old fat guy with no neck.” And then on November 10 Simmons sent out another tweet that said “Hey WEEI: You were wrong, I did a Boston interview today. With your competition. Rather give them ratings over deceitful scumbags like you.”

The blog post written by Rob King did not specify the punishment terms, but supposedly Simmons told a fan that he was suspended for two weeks.

ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlace said that the company has been in the social networking space for quite some time and wants to be careful about what kind of message is sent out. If ESPN employees want to discuss sports on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, they will need permission from their supervisor. Talk about sucking the fun out of discussing sports.

Below are the social media guidelines for ESPN employees:

These guidelines apply to all ESPN employees who participate in any form of personal social networking. If you are an ESPN talent, or reporter engaged with social media, please also refer to those additional guidelines.

ESPN understands that employees may maintain or contribute to personal blogs, message boards, conversation pages and other forms of social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) outside of their job function and may periodically post information about their job or ESPN’s activities on these outlets. If an employee posts ESPN or job-related information, they are required to exercise good judgment, abide by ESPN policy, and take the following into consideration.

ESPN employees are obligated to be aware of and comply with any applicable provisions set forth in ESPN’s Employee Handbook and The Walt Disney Company’s Standards of Business Conduct. Employees may not disclose confidential or proprietary company information or similar information of third parties who have shared such information with ESPN. ESPN’s intellectual property, logos, trademarks, and copyrights may not be used in any manner.

If an employee is engaging on external social media platforms personally, they should not use the company’s name in their identity (e.g. username, “handle” or screen name), nor should they speak as a representative of the company. If a media inquiry is generated, please direct it to the Communications Department.

If you are an ESPN talent, reporter, writer, producer, editor or other editorial decision maker or a public-facing ESPN employee, you are reminded that when you participate in public blogs or discussion activities, you are representing ESPN just as you would in any other public forum or medium, and you should exercise discretion, thoughtfulness and respect for your colleagues, business associates and our fans. All posted content is subject to review in accordance with, ESPN’s employee policies and editorial guidelines.

ESPN’s Values expressly state that care and respect for employees and each other will always be at the heart of our operations and that we are passionately committed to teamwork. Employees are responsible for acting in a manner that is consistent with our company Values. To that end, employees are expected to be courteous, respectful, and thoughtful about how other employees may be affected by postings. Incomplete, inaccurate, inappropriate, threatening, harassing or poorly worded postings may be harmful to other employees, damage employee relationships, undermine ESPN’s effort to encourage teamwork, violate ESPN policy or harm the Company, which may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. Employees bear full responsibility for the material they post on personal blogs or other social media.

For purposes of this policy, a “personal blog” or “social media” includes personal websites and all forms of on-line community activities such as on-line social networks, message boards, conversation pages, and chat rooms. If you have any questions regarding this policy and its application, please contact either your manager or the Human Resources Department

“My guess is I can still tweet about my vacation/car shopping, etc. Which I will do, if I can. But the informal NBA talk is prob in jeopardy,” added Bucher in his follow-up tweet.

ESPN isn’t the only agency that banned people from using Twitter freely. Many of the coaches in the NFL along with the U.S. Marines Corp have been proactive in banning Twitter.

What’s next ESPN? Are you going to tell your journalists not to talk about sports in bars and happy hours without supervisor permission? I can understand why the U.S. Department of Defense wants to block Twitter (potential viruses entering government networks), but a sports agency… C’mon really?

That means on Hulu we would perhaps see content from ESPN, ABC, and some Disney movies. If the deal works out with Disney and ABC shows starts to appear on Hulu, that only leaves CBS out as the outcast. ABC and CBS both currently steam shows on their website. CBS has very good quality, but ABC not as much.

[via BI/VentureBeat]

ESPNRise will have features such as regional rankings, profiles, videos, podcasts, photo upload, blogs, etc.  ESPNRise’s competitors include TAKKLE and YourSports.com.  

Related Links:
1. ESPNRise
2. paidContent

Sportnet was founded to aggregate websites and advertisers across various sports websites including motocross.com, and ryansheckler.com.  Montgomery & Co. has valuated Sportnet at $50 million.  WMG has also previously invested in Prep Sports Online and TAKKLE, two high school sports networks.

Information Source:
[1] paidContent: Wasserman May Sell Or Get Invetsment For Sportnet Online Sports Network