One of the stories we re-litigated, and then re-re-litigated, in recent weeks is the NJ.com DeSean Jackson “gang ties” article of 2014. The genesis of the reemergence was D Jaxx and Shady McCoy doing a podcast that touched on the Eliot Shorr-Parks and A.J. Perez co-authored writeup, followed by D Jax asking for an apology via social media. That was met with radio silence by all parties involved. WIP hasn’t talked about it, ESP has not, Perez has not, and NJ.com has not, though Hugh Douglas did mention it while arguing with someone on X:

As far as I know, this is the only mention of the story by anyone involved with 94 WIP. They’ve largely pretended it doesn’t exist, but there’s really nothing incendiary that should prevent them from talking about it. Legal ramifications? Fuck the lawyers and let’s talk about it! I actually think it would clear up a lot of confusion and double as great radio at the same time.

Re-reading the story, we:

  • explained that it did not actually accuse DeSean of being in a gang
  • highlighted on-record quotes from an LAPD detective and former coach
  • concluded that it did not need to be written

Breaking news: guy who grew up in South Central LA knows people who got into bad stuff! The juice was not worth the squeeze, because they were not telling people something they didn’t already know. D Jax is from Long Beach. He made it out and others didn’t. They fell in with the wrong people. It’s a tale as old as time.

When John Barchard was on Crossing Broadcast last week, we both agreed that WIP discussing this in a rational way would probably be more beneficial than pretending it never happened. Easier said than done, since rational thought on sports talk radio is oftentimes elusive, but the alternative is to present us with deafening silence instead, and you know what they say about that.


For a nominal fee, I will even write the talking points for 94 WIP:

“We had multiple Eagles sources on that story, and we had on-record quotes from an LAPD investigator and DeSean’s former football coach as well. I’d also like to point out that we never accused DeSean of being in a gang, but talked about his associations with childhood friends who were connected to criminal activity. We stand by our reporting, and would also point out that DeSean played nine more seasons in the NFL, made tens of millions of dollars, and rejoined the Birds in 2019, so any accusation that this story ruined his career simply is not true. Finally – Chip Kelly was an asshole and wanted to cut and trade everybody regardless of whether they knew Crips or did not know Crips.”

Reasonable, is it not?

Here’s the other thing –

People always say that this story jumpstarted ESP’s career, that he was nothing until he published this. I’m not so sure that’s true. He stayed at NJ.com for 3-4 more years and didn’t jump ship until 2018, when Spike Eskin hired him to be WIP’s Eagles reporter. That’s when his career really took off, when he made that move and replaced Brandon Lee Gowton on BGN Radio as well. So I’m not sure how much a 2014 article can springboard someone’s career considering the big break did not actually happen until 2018.

Regardless, it’s what ESP is known for, the “gang ties” story, and when you get into the hot take/radio business, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt, especially not in a retroactive sense. That’s why I think WIP talking about this would be beneficial, because if he’s your guy, then back him up. If I was Eliot, I’d be bashing down management’s door for permission to defend myself and stand by my reporting. Fuck a gag order! Let’s explain this and not hide from it. I say you fight fire with fire. When someone comes at you with a flamethrower, you show up with a bigger flamethrower. Otherwise, it makes it seem like you’re hiding from something, and no, WIP did not employ Eliot at the time of publication, but he’s your guy now, so either support him or don’t.

And last but not least, let’s be honest with ourselves here; people just don’t like the media in 2024. When President Trump said “enemy of the people,” that resonated with a significant portion of the country, and sports writers and reporters were not exempt. So when you have a media/athlete dispute like this one, no shit 95% of Eagles fans are gonna side with DeSean Jackson. That’s not unexpected, but it also makes judging this story tricky, because people always think the media is “protecting one of their own.” Not true. I just think the story wasn’t nearly as bad as people think it is, which also supports the idea of WIP addressing it.

Our convo from Thursday: