A Suspended Well-Rested ESPN Columnist Is Back… Sort Of

by Glenn Davis | 5:55 pm, July 27th, 2011

Check this column for ESPN on potential “next-step” players for this college football season – guys primed for breakout years like the one Andrew Luck enjoyed for Stanford in 2010. Notice anything about the story, besides that you can’t read it without Insider access? How about that author name? That’s right – it’s none other than Bruce Feldman, who, according to ESPN, wasn’t suspended a couple weeks ago over his involvement in former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach’s book Swing Your Sword.

That book, as you well know by now, is highly critical of ESPN itself, and especially ESPN college football analyst Craig James. You know that the #freebruce hashtag became an instant phenomenon after initial reports that Feldman was suspended (and even after ESPN denied it was a suspension, since the company’s explanation failed to stem the outrage of many who believed Feldman was wronged). And you know that despite how ESPN said that Feldman “resumed his assignments” after a brief period while the company investigated his involvement with the book (which he had cleared initially), that he hadn’t posted or tweeted anything new in almost two weeks.

Today, finally, that changed…on the ESPN site, anyway. He still hasn’t tweeted since July 13. And if his output continues to be this slow, and his Twitter this silent, Feldman’s compatriots in the business will get restless again. For now, though, it appears Bruce is indeed free – free enough to post stories for ESPN, at least. And even if you don’t have Insider and know only that he believes Alabama running back Trent Richardson is primed for a breakout year (agreed on our end, for what it’s worth)…that’s good news.

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