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Here at Sports Media Watch, we try to provide a unique perspective on sports media. The ironic thing about the Super Bowl is that it’s the one time of the year when everybody all of a sudden starts paying attention to sports media in a more decisive way. Especially this year, as the hype for Seattle-Pittsburgh has not exactly been at epic levels, we’ve already been inundated with stories on the ads we should expect, the broadcast moves we should expect, and the various politics of Al Michaels and John Madden. 

(If you haven’t been paying attention: Al Michaels will likely break his contract with ABC after this game and head over to NBC with his pal John for next season’s Sunday Night Football. John, meanwhile, is waiting to hear about that whole Hall of Fame thing, and may be a bit distracted.) 

So it’s a challenge, finding a unique angle on sports media at that one time of the year when everybody notices. There are already comprehensive run-downs of the ads we should expect, and no doubt every local paper in America has a thorough schedule of ESPN and ABC’s combined coverage. Watch away.

We should add to the advertisement list above that GoDaddy has finally gotten themselves a Super Bowl spot. The word from Bob Parsons is that ABC agreed to the spot only with the understanding that it would run in its own commercial block – a free-standing 30-second spot presumably to run during a timeout or coach’s challenge, so that we avoid the problem of last year when the GoDaddy ad frustrated Pepsi, with whom it shared a block. 

But several events this week, and not just the Super Bowl, conspire to remind us of why Sports Media Watch is here in the first place. A brief recap: 

First: If you’re a Deadspin reader, you’re aware of the silliness regarding Deadspins’ posting of Ben Roethlisberger Party Photos. After the post, several “mainstream” media sources picked up the story, uncredited to Deadspin, and then it just sort of vanished. Suspiciously, and without a trace, except for Will’s investigation.

Now, we’re not going to pretend that party photos of Ben Roethlisberger are really that big a deal. Ben looks like he’s enjoying himself; we’re happy for him. But the “mainstream” media’s persistent refusal to credit specific blogs and alternative media sources – combined with the more-than-suspicious way in which the story just completely disappeared – means that of course we have to question those media practices in the first place. Today it’s just some funny pictures of the Steelers’ QB, but tomorrow it could be something much more important, and the principle is worth something. 

Second: yesterday we found ourselves realizing that it was February, and that ESPN Ombudsman George Solomon had probably written something new (he usually opens his mouth around the first of the month). Sure enough. And it’s refreshingly critical, and Solomon actually takes the network to task for a variety of things that they deserve to be taken to task for (the Barry Bonds reality show, etc.)

But what is the point of an ombudsman if ESPN completely fails to promote or headline his criticisms? It’s not like Solomon gets face time on SportsCenter, and we don’t remember seeing this article linked from the ESPN.com home page during the week at all (presumably it was, buried in a corner somewhere, but we never saw it. We’re still getting used to the new look).

So Bristol needs to reconsider the effectivness of its own Ombudsman. This, after all, is the guy who’s supposed to be doing what we do here every day: try to hold major sports media networks to some standard of journalistic and corporate responsibility. But clearly his role is compromised by the editorial staff around him, who don’t have any interest in publicizing or promoting his role, or in reacting to the concerns that he valiantly tries to assert.

With that in mind, we go off to the biggest sports media day of the year. Enjoy your game, enjoy the chili, enjoy the cheap domestic beer. Everyone Tivo everything, and let’s get back together on Monday and bang our heads together some more. For our part, we’ll be keeping a written diary during the broadcast, and it will go up first thing Monday morning. Watch for the ESPN Mobile ad, watch for GoDaddy, and if there’s a nipple, everyone rush to the internet at once.