Lately, it seems as though ESPN is scraping the bottom of the barrel for sports news. The T.O. vs. The Eagles controversy is all over the network, even though for the most part, it's over. If that's not evidence enough that ESPN is really hurting for some quality sports news, check out this story.

Last week the network staged "fake press conferences" where Steve Phillips, an ESPN analyst and former Mets general manager, played the role of several MLB teams real GM's and answered real questions with his "estimated guesses" on what each GM might actually say. Real ESPN baseball reporters were asking the questions in a room full of extras all waving their hands excitedly and snapping photos in a lame attempt to make it look like a real press conference. He played a new GM each night on the 10 pm Sportscenter, and the real anchors actually cut to the staged press conference as if it were actually live event.

This my friends, is not news. It's not even reality TV. It's on the same level as a soap opera, yet it's being played off as if people are actually interested. I saw the first fake conference at The Majestic (my friend Pete's bar for those of you who don't know) and everyone there was completely dumbfounded. Not as to whether or not it was real, we all knew it wasn't, but as to why in the hell they would attempt a stunt like this? Uber-lame guys. Worst attempt at content related sports reporting ever.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:17 AM