Adrian Wojnarowski has a "jihad" against ESPN

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Despite Wojnarowski’s past at ESPN—or perhaps because of it—his relationship with the network borders upon hatred as closely as anything in the sports media world. “I’ve had agents and executives tell me Woj has a jihad against ESPN,” said Bleacher Report’s (and formerly ESPN’s) Ric Bucher. “He has a mission to take ESPN down.” Bucher wasn’t the only person to use the word “jihad” to describe how Wojnarowski approaches competition with ESPN. Wojnarowski seizes every opportunity to take shots at ESPN, often referring to it as “that cheerleading network” or “a sports cable network” in his columns.

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There does seem to be real animosity between Wojnarowski and ESPN’s reporters. During the 2011 NBA Finals, the entire basketball media was in Dallas to report on it. After one of the games Hollinger was driving out of the parking lot in his rental car. As he got close to Wojnarowski, Spears, and Yahoo Sports NBA editor Johnny Ludden, Hollinger rolled down his window and joked, “Oh man, I could’ve taken out the whole Yahoo operation!” As he began to drive away, Wojnarowski yelled after him, “And we’d still kick your arse from the grave!” (When asked to comment, Hollinger said tersely, “I don’t remember that” and hung up on me.) More recently an ESPN writer tweaked Wojnarowski over his refusal to use ESPN’s name, and Wojnarowski responded: “You have 75 guys there. You really should break every story. I'd be more worried about that than me.”

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