exactly and espn still talked about him like a god 
the steelers for years tried to replace jerome bettis but he still went out of his way to help the guys trying to take his job
E
I live right near ESPN.
They have a VERY bad rep here in the community...in bars and restaurants, etc.
When they had that big NBA fracas...where the Pacers players beat up the crowd in the stands....the guys in the studio (Two black, one white announcers, got their faces in my head, don't recall names) IMMEDIATELY defended the players on air and ripped the fans.
They sounded VERY bad and bisased in doing so.
After commercial, they apologized and scolded the players and themselves.
Word was that the head of ESPN called the studio and flipped out and gav e word that the anchors were not to vere be so biased on the players sides...ever.
This was in all the papers the following day.
Beware the spin. I got tons of these stories from my relationships with area press people.