Give ESPN a break. I'm sure with a death they wanted to confirm the story, and they aren't used to confirming anything - they have no confirmation workflow to follow so I'm sure the delay is the result of them having to figure out how to actually confirm something 'on the fly'.

TMZ had confirmed it long before ESPN mentioned anything about it. Say what you want about TMZ, but they're pretty accurate with their stories. Even if ESPN could have broken away from Bountygate for just a few seconds to say, "We have breaking news. Reports that Junior Seau is dead. Stay tuned for further updates."

For a station that prides themselves as "the worldwide leader in sports," they sure pick and choose which breaking news stories to report on.