Well, ESPN is up to their same old bullshit and trying to ruin sports for all of us. Read this wonderful article about the digging up of George Gipp's
grave for "research" purposes. Seriously, read it before you read my response.Wait for it.
Wait for it.
Hold.
Hold.
Must keep in anger. Hulk get mad.
Deep breath.
Okay, I want to know what the rest of the Sportscrack nation thinks about ESPN filming Gipp's body being exhumed for purposes of DNA testing. Whether you are a fan of Notre Dame or not, I would think most of you would cringe at the thought of somebody digging up a loved member of your family or friend for the purposes of exploiting it on television.
I've said it a million times and I think it bears repeating: ESPN AS A WHOLE IS A SOUL LESS PIECE OF CORPORATE SHITBAG WITHOUT ANY RESEMBLENCE OF MORALS OR INTEGRITY TO MANKIND. And this is coming from me, about as soul less as a human being could possibly be. If I think it is sick then I know some Holy Spirit or God is looking down and crossing off souls as we speak.
ESPN to me is more evil than Enron, Ticketmaster, and Barry Bonds put together. Ever since Disney bought them out they have become a horribly biased network covering sports with the purpose of making as much money off it while exploiting anybody in order to make a dime. It is what they are good at and yet we still watch their crap. If only Disney decided to leave sports alone then I'm sure the world would be a much better place instead of the Magical Kingdom of hell they have helped create.
I now wonder if ESPN is trying to dig up Knute Rockne's grave because they have good word from reliable sources that he might be a relative of Hitler who single handidly started the Great Depression with the purpose of destroying America. I think I read it on a ESPN.com rumor page.
R.I.P George Gipp. If only it could be that simple.
i do not have much love for espn but i believe the author of this book is more to blame than them. i think he is the one behind the digging and is doing it to sell books. however, its still pretty low to film it. so which is worse? digging up a body to sell a book or to get nielson ratings?
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to this story. Gipp case in court
By GARRETT NEESE
DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — Rulings could come later this week on motions to dismiss a case brought by relatives of former Notre Dame football star George Gipp related to his October disinterment for DNA testing.
Karl Gipp of Skanee and Ron Gipp of Laurium filed suit against ESPN, sports author Michael Bynum, Gipp relative Rick Frueh, Houghton County medical examiner Dawn Nulf, Plowe Funeral Home director Neil Ahola and Lake View Cemetery.
Frueh, had authorized the testing to determine if Gipp had fathered a daughter by his girlfriend before his death at 25 of pneumonia. Results came back negative in November.
Crews from ESPN were present at the exhumation to film a piece intended for the newsmagazine “E:60.”
The Gipps allege that the exhumation damaged the gravesite of Bertha Isabelle Gipp Martin, George Gipp’s sister, and caused Ron and Karl Gipp distress and public scorn. They are seeking at least $25,000 in damages.
“There was no illegitimate daughter, there were no descendants of George Gipp,” said Torger Omdahl, attorney for Ron and Karl Gipp. “All of this was a witch hunt, a frivolity.”
Omdahl said Frueh had no right to exhume Gipp’s body. Based on his reading of the law, he said, the last group that can ask for a disinterment are the brothers and sisters.
Jim Stewart, attorney for ESPN, called the suit “an episode in search of a theory of liability,” and the trespass claim “one of the oddest trespass claims I have ever seen.”
“What unauthorized entry is there, when they’re taking pictures of a public event, when there’s a Houghton County sheriff’s deputy watching us?” he said.
Omdahl said ESPN was “much too modest.”
“They were trespassing not because they were invited by Mr. Frueh,” he said. “They’re trespassing because they were at [George Gipp father] Matthew Gipp’s burial plot filming the exhumation of Gipp’s sister.”
In addition, Omdahl said, ESPN had two cameramen filming the removal of Gipp’s femur in the county morgue, as well as a cameraman filming the first two cameramen.
Representatives from the Western Upper Peninsula District Health Department in Hancock and Neil Ahola of Plowe Funeral Service Inc., which handled the transport of the remains, both said they had legal immunity.
“They do not have a responsibility to investigate the lineage ... they may rely on information provided by the alleged family member,” said Gregory Elzinga, Ahola’s attorney.
Omdahl held Plowe responsible for the treatment of the remains of Bertha Gipp. The headstones of George Gipp and Bertha Gipp had been incorrectly placed, leading to the accidental disinterment of Bertha Gipp. While George Gipp’s remains had been reburied in a casket, Omdahl said, Bertha Gipp’s had been placed in a paper bag.
“Mr. Ahola is not immune, because he didn’t do his job, and nobody knew that there would be another body to bury after the carnage of the backhoe,” he said.
David Mechlin, Nulf’s attorney, spoke at the hearing via telephone from Florida. He said he would not be filing a motion to dismiss yet.
Omdahl also lobbied for DNA testing of Frueh, saying “no one (in the Gipp family) has ever heard of him. A family tree provided by Bynum lists Frueh as a great-nephew of George Gipp, descended from his sister, Mary.
Mark Wisti, Frueh’s lawyer, argued against testing, saying it would require a counteraffidavit, and that genetic ties aren’t a requirement for next-of-kin.
After the hearing, Omdahl called the defendants’ arguments “a smokescreen.”
“I feel that Judge Hood is a fair man, and he’ll do a good job,” he said. “There are a lot of complex legal issues here.”
Hood said he would issue a written ruling “in the near future,” probably sometime this week. “Things will unfold from there based on whatever the decision is,” he said.