ESPN and the Baltimore Ravens aren’t getting along very well at the moment.
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Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti denied that a report by ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg outlining how the team had mismanaged Rice’s domestic violence incident was false on Monday.
From Fox Sports:
"“It took (ESPN) 11 days day to write (the story) and they gave us two hours to respond,” Bisciotti said. “I think is what’s obvious is that the majority of the sources are people that work for Ray. Almost everything in there is anonymous. … They are building a case for reinstatement. The best way to do that is make everyone else look like they’re lying.”"
ESPN immediately responded to Bisciotti’s words standing behind their reporters. Now, Natta. Jr is defending his and Valkenburg’s work.
"We sent 10 written questions to Ravens at Noon on Fri." - @DVNJr
— David Scott (@ESPNprDScott) September 22, 2014
A "false assumption" by Bisciotti that "most" sources were tied to Rice. "We tried to get to the truth of what happened." - @DVNJr
— David Scott (@ESPNprDScott) September 22, 2014
It’s hard to value the words of the Ravens’ owner over ESPN. Bisciotti has a clear bias to save his team’s reputation against some pretty heavy claims, so it’s not surprising to hear his initial denial.
But that doesn’t mean we have to believe him. ESPN’s original report was extensive and they immediately refuted Bisciotti’s claims.
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