EDSBS Readers (and many college football fans in general) have long been skeptical of ESPN's credibility. Some of us believe that the network continually trips over its own financial entanglements in the sports world. The most critical of us believe the network heads are pulling the strings on everything from coaching disputes to conference realignment. But whom among us thought that ESPN would actually publish its playbook? On Tuesday, ESPN published "Finding Proper Alignment", the latest editorial from the Poynter Review Project, ESPN's new "ombudsman" project. A few gems: "ESPN is acting like the big business it is, strategically locking up its market whenever it makes financial sense. Could that be a problem for the network's credibility as its reporters independently gather information about schools and conferences? Yes." "ESPN's role in the past year's unprecedented reshaping of athletic conferences epitomizes why even some of the network's executives call the company 'a walking conflict of interest.'" The best part: after laying out all of the arguments against the Longhorn Network and ESPN's role in realignment and other assorted crimes against college football, the writer trots out a bunch of academics to say the blame doesn't lie with ESPN. It's the system that's corrupt. The article also quotes an administrator from Transylvania University, which is apparently a real thing in Kentucky.