Bruce Feldman: Why Did Writer Leave ESPN for CBS? | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

ESPN has never been good at handling controversy. Countless times we have seen The Worldwide Leader make questionable decisions regarding their own writers, analysts and anchors; college football writer Bruce Feldman is no exception.

Before former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was fired for allegedly mistreating ESPN college football analyst Craig James' son, Feldman was involved with helping Leach write a book.

He claims that ESPN granted and acknowledged his assistance with the book and even used his access to their advantage for coverage.

Not only that, but he also claims to have told ESPN about Leach's lawsuit against them among other things.

All in all, he thought he had himself covered and that there was nothing to worry about.

This July, when Leach's book, Swing Your Sword, came out the higher-ups were not happy with Feldman for reasons unknown to him. The amount of information he had already shared with his former employer should have been more than enough to excuse him from any wrongdoing or any "guilty-by-association" disciplinary measures.

During the interview he was asked if he was suspended by ESPN. He said he was told that he "couldn't tweet, couldn't blog and couldn't go to SEC media day (which he had already booked)."

The following day the company issued this press release regarding his situation, essentially denying any suspensions or restrictions.

Feldman went on to say that on that very same day he was given more restrictions, put on a "do not book list" and went as far as to say, "they basically stopped me from being able to do my job."

Patrick very plainly asked him if he thought he was suspended. Feldman said "yes."

Later on, his contract came into question as it was set to expire. He said they had already offered him a three-year deal with a raise and he had an email verification of it. An ESPN executive then challenged his "credibility" and they offered him a one-year deal with no raise.

Patrick then asked if he thought they wanted him to quit. Feldman's answer: "I think they did."

Finally, Patrick just got down to it and asked Feldman why he quit.

He talked about having faith for the people he worked for and if that didn't exist it was a problem. He said, when prompted by a question, that ESPN's priority is "business", not journalism.

Feldman is now taking his journalistic expertise to CBS. He was with ESPN for all of 17 years and was one of the first hires they made when ESPN.com got started.

Like most controversies with ESPN, the truth is rather clear but they won't report it as such.

The Worldwide Leader forced out a great journalist to a rival company. Like always, they'll chalk it up to "business."