This was the 2,000th Tweet posted by Brian, a friend and a fixture in the Orlando media scene:
It’s hilarious how people still fall for Shaq’s Don Rickles’ act: His target, media, fans. He said long ago, “It’s all entertainment.”
— Brian K. Schmitz (@MagicInsider) October 5, 2012
That tweet has nothing to do with Stan Van Gundy, who may have been shown the door by ESPN after they were close to making a deal to bring him in as a studio analyst, co-hosting with Bill Simmons, as SportsByBrooks.com first reported.
From Brian’s latest story in the Orlando Sentinel: Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was set to accept an ESPN studio job, but then things fell apart. With the network and the NBA in bed together, could Commissioner David Stern have squashed outspoken Stan’s gig, given their history? Stern must have figured two Van Gundys on TV would provide too much candor.
So is Stan an unrestricted free agent again? Hopefully more clarity will come on this soon.
I’d call ESPN to ask for comment, but management there is not on speaking terms with me (all of their managers have all unfollowed me, too, probably because I have no qualms about bashing them.) That’s the nice thing about being an independent publisher. Those who did you wrong can be called out on it.