Write On Sports LLC - "ESPN, What Have You Done?" by Andrew Berg

ESPN, What Have You Done?

2006-09-27 23:13:04 | By: Andrew Berg

I remember when I was in elementary school and my family first subscribed to basic cable. Even though I was young at the time, I properly understood the paradigm shift that watching ESPN would ultimately cause in my life. I vividly recall being elated that ESPN was channel 3 in our cable package, an important fact because our kitchen TV’s knob only went up to channel 13, and breakfast con-Sportscenter was priority number one. Since then, my preoccupation with the network and all of its wide-reaching capillaries has grown, but with a sense of ambivalence. The irreverent highlight narration of my youth fell by the wayside as Keith Olberman, Charlie Steiner, and Craig Kilborn fled for greener pastures. But the degeneration of Sportscenter itself has merely been a symptom of ESPN’s larger devolution into over-produced corporate pastiche. Now, ESPN is a nearly unwatchable self-parody, obscuring sports rather than reporting or enhancing them.

It has not always been this way for the Worldwide Leader. They once presented sports cleanly and unpretentiously. The format was never perfect; there will always be sub-optimal commentators and a limited quantity of interesting sports. Still, the network managed to find a good balance of obscure events--World’s Strongest Man, the early X-Games, and my personal favorite, the Great Outdoor Games--with big-time sports that kept their importance--Sunday Night Baseball, Big Monday college hoops, college football on the weekends. More importantly, Sportscenter functioned as a magnificent flagship, truly one of the best sports programs I have ever seen, lasting for nearly a decade. They delivered stats, but only the ones that were either especially interesting or important. They had plenty of highlights, but kept a good pace through the show while screening all of the big plays. They even found a way to integrate expert analysis into an all-sports show, with John Clayton going Inside the Huddle, and Peter Gammons’ Diamond Notes.

Heaps of praise, and I have not even mentioned the two most endearing aspects of the era: catchphrases and commercials. Olberman was probably the most famous, contributing, “From way downtown… Bang,” “It’s deep, and I don’t think it’s playable,” and the immortal, “NGGGH!” Even Craig Kilborn (“Jumanji!”), Dan Patrick (“The Whiff”), and Kenny Mayne (“We will feast on the finest meats and cheeses in the land!”) came up with some memorable lines that made everyday sporting events seem more exciting. The important aspect of the catch phrase at its pinnacle was that it did not stand in the way of the sport. The catchphrase buoyed the less interesting events rather than crowding out the big ones, and while sports-casters will never be considered understated, the anchors of old did a much better job letting games speak for themselves.

The “This is Sportscenter” commercials have never technically stopped, although it has been years since there was a decent ad. Those old commercials were miniature comedy sketches more than they were sports advertisements. Unlike today’s ESPN, these ads helped keep the atmosphere light, reminding us that we were watching sports, that there are more important things, and that everyone at the network was well aware of that perspective. More than that, though, the commercials were just plain funny, another quality sorely lacking today. I am convinced that Grant Hill’s spot playing piano in the lobby made him a much bigger star than he would have been without it. The child prodigy anchor simultaneously made fun of the sports world’s preoccupation with phenoms, and the show’s own layout. And trading Charlie Steiner to Melrose Place for Andrew Shue is good for a laugh, even on the 700th viewing.

For several reasons, I do not think that the current iteration could produce memories like these for a new generation of sports fans. Perhaps the decline of the network was inevitable, since they could never maintain a monopoly on good sports programming once the 24-hour network proved to have an audience. Their executives are hardly absolved of all of the blame, since they have done just about everything in their power to make ESPN painful to watch. Instead of responding to competition in all-sports programming by deepening their own coverage and using their resources to make more informative and insightful shows, they chose to follow the cable news strategy of constantly streaming split screens of two old men yelling clichés, insults, and canned arguments at one another. The infiltration of these types has been so extensive that even the decent programming has come to revolve around that sort of mindless banter.

Although not offensive in itself, Pardon the Interruption is a big part of the problem with today’s ESPN, because its success precipitated dozens of rip-off shows with less talented, charismatic, and intelligent hosts. As a result, shows like Cold Pizza, First and Ten, Rome is Burning, and Around the Horn revolve around dumb and abrasive sports journalists yelling at one another about issues that are usually entirely irrelevant. Even the shows that do not require this painful format have started allowing it to creep onto their idea boards. The disease has gone so far into the system that the programmers occasionally see fit to disrupt actual sporting events to let the broadcasters or journalists argue with one another instead of reporting on the event itself, such as the travesty once known as the NBA Draft. When we do get a brief respite from the loud-mouth journalists, it is usually only to hear from a loud-mouth former athlete who is less interesting and articulate, but gets airtime because he used to be able to run fast or throw far. Would anyone want to hear anything that Sean Salisbury has to say if he had not flailed through a few miserable season in the NFL? Does anyone want to hear what he has to say anyway?

About a year ago, I came across an blog called The Road From Bristol. It was a bracketed, 64-person tournament in which participants could vote for their choice for the most annoying ESPN personality. Before this site, I knew there were lots of obnoxious people with jobs that they did not deserve with the network, but never did I understand the enormous volume. I defy you to read through this list without wincing or laughing awkwardly out of discomfort. In no particular order: Woody Paige, Tom Tolbert, Joe Theismann, Mike Golic, Jason Whitlock (departed), Joe Morgan, Jim Rome, Mike Greenberg, Paul MacGuire, J.A. Adande, Stephen A. Smith, Bill Curry, Merrill Hoge, Jay Bilas, Michael Irvin, Steve Phillips, Dan Lebatard, Sean Salisbury, Harold Reynolds (departed), Chris Berman, Digger Phelps, Beano Cook, Brent Musberger, Tony Reali, Michelle Tafoya, Bob Ryan, Mike Tirico, Tim Legler, Lee Corso, Greg Anthony, Jay Mariotti, Buster Olney, Dick Vitale, Linda Cohn, Skip Bayless, Kirk Herbstreit, Lary Bowa (departed), Scoop Jackson, Jim Gray, Jeff Brantley, John Kruk, Stu Scott.

I left out Bill Walton because I still think his persona is a big joke, and he goes home every night and laughs maniacally at the fact that he is allowed to go on TV in spite of his absurd behavior. Setting him aside, consider what the following few have brought to ESPN: Dick Vitale, Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless, Jay Mariotti, Stu Scott. Has a single member of this group ever said anything insightful? Has any one of them written anything worth reading? Only Vitale has any professional accomplishments outside of ESPN, and a big part of his shtick is making fun of his own failings as a coach. Collectively, they share one skill: the ability to rant. They also share the aptitude to induce headaches, dry out their own mouths, and encourage a lower TV-volume level, but I think those are redundant skills. Oh, and Stu Scott notably ruined the Sportscenter catch phrase tradition through gratuitous overuse and lack of humor--not to mention that he uses his thick-rimmed glasses to draw a big circle around his lazy eye (if I sound bitter, it is because this man massacred something I once loved).

As an extension of the horrible and higher-profile personalities, the production at ESPN has gone from kitschy to glam. Everything from the on-screen graphics to the Sportscenter set is the biggest, highest-tech, and most fancy in the sports, but in a business where the sports ought to take center stage, those characteristics are hardly virtues. The Onion once published a story titled something like, “On-Screen Graphics Completely Obscure Sporting Event,” which ESPN took not as a hint, but as a suggestion. Today, instead of presenting the sights and sounds of the stadium, ESPN seems to be intentionally compromising every aspect of the live sporting event in order to reinforce their brand name and pound the viewer’s head repeatedly against the giant, Disney-reinforced wall.

Ultimately, I think ESPN’s greatest flaw is the fact that they have gone from reporting sports news from a decidedly irreverent, outsider’s position, to actually making the sports news. The proliferation of journalistic-banter shows stretches the subject-matter a little too thin. That’s not to say that there is not enough happening in sports to keep the public’s interest in a 24-hour sports network--clearly, they have continually proven that hypothesis false. But there is an important difference between quality sports programming and garbage sports journalism. Finding material for morons like Skip Bayless and Woody Paige every day requires some serious digging, and sometimes bringing items to the front of a news cycle that simply do not belong there, or even creating news that never existed. Would Terrell Owens be a household name without ESPN? And why do he and Bonds have their own personal ESPN correspondents? Because you have to feed the monkey, and the more time spent on worthless sports banter, the worse the material has to get. So we end up feeding stupider and stupider questions to stupider and stupider analysts, and the answers predictably get stupider and stupider. This is where the empire falls.

When it comes down to it, I would much rather have the niche programming like Great Outdoor Games and the Spelling Bee, since it makes no bones about its intentions. If I turn on the TV and see X-Games, I know immediately to change the channel. When I turn on Around the Horn, on the other hand, I see people talking about sports and think that I might be interested, but it is all a big lie. These shows are debate shows, and really bad ones. We should not watch dumb people arguing with each other--it’s a nonsensical proposition; we wouldn’t even do it with our friends--but the façade of interesting topics ropes us in and steals our time.

About a year ago, I tried to wash my hands of ESPN, abandoning all of their platforms, except for live sporting events. I found it difficult to rely on FoxSports.com and the like, but with every new article I read, or show I watch, ESPN brings me closer giving that cleansing another shot. As long as the memory of the good times persists, I want to keep it as fresh in my mind as possible without marginalizing the pleasure of watching the old Sportscenter, or enjoying the network in general.

Comments

Jerry Proctor commented,
I never watched ESPN during the "good times" to which the author alludes. This has made it easy to avoid the current lineup of orcs and trolls he lists in this delightful little essay. Whenever I tune in a sports show with three argumentative guys sitting at a desk, or the same gesticulating cast around a table, or two "journalists" shouting at each other, then I'm off to a more profitable channel, thanks to that great invention of the 20th century, the clicker.
February 2, 2007 10:19 p.m.

Mark Calvert commented,
The problem is that the sports journalists want to focus too much on the drama outside of the games and not enough on the athletic events. I don't care to know more about the athletes and their lives. Just as in every profession, there are benevolent athletes that give far more than they expect and there are athletes that expect everything and want to give nothing of value in return. They are people, as if ESPN thought that the viewing public didn't already know. If I wanted to watch drama, I would watch "Desperate Housewives" or some other such nonsense. If I wanted to watch people who will never be in danger of being invited into Mensa argue with each other over trivial matters, the "Jerry Springer" show is much more interesting. I watch sports as an escape from all the drama and insanity of life. I don't need to be educated about the shortfalls of humanity and the vanity of overindulged people when I am attempting to escape... especially by people that gained their "expert" status through playing games. I'll rely upon intellectual people to explain intellectual subjects.
February 3, 2007 11:04 a.m.

punnybone commented,
Finally, the Extra Special Personality Network gets it's just desserts. Or, since the author's given up on the channel, perhaps "just desert(s)" is more fitting here?
February 3, 2007 1:36 p.m.

Jeff in Alaska commented,
Great article. I can relate to your feelings on the monolith that was once a staple of my TV viewing diet. In the good old days of 15-20 years ago not a day went by where I didn't tune in for my daily sports fix. Today, other than a football or basketball game, I never watch. They have become, appropriately, Disney cartoon characters. And BAD ones at that.
February 3, 2007 2:14 p.m.

vetvoice commented,
ESPN put it self back at the top of the sports realm by feeding the drugger, Michael Irwin, until the Hall of Fame was forced by Jones and Aikman to take him. Maybe they provide him with his own smoke room at the studio. I wonder if he ever goes to see Sherman Williams. He is the one who set up the "weight" for Willams that got him all of those years.
February 3, 2007 2:15 p.m.

Pamela Ford commented,
It seems that ESPN now instead of reporting the news they have started giving versions of the news. They leave out the most important facts and only tell you what you they want you to know. If ESPN has guest on the show that does not agree with their opinions they blow them off. This is the reason I have lost all respect for the ESPN journalist because they spread lies and rumors. They are Sports Gossips and slanders and avoid the facts at all times. The sad part is the public buys into the lies and don't care enough to research the issues they pontificate. It is just a matter of time before everyone else starts to hate the ESPN propaganda machine because it will in time destroy itself like it has tried to destroy so many others.
February 3, 2007 2:22 p.m.

Rich in PA commented,
I have also lost much interest in ESPN. The reporters try not to let information or the need to do meaningful research get into their reporting. One prime example was the recent success of the Wake Forest football team...many times the ESPN experts minimized Wake's successes with dire predictions for the next game, only to be "surprised" by the outcome. One could tell that these annointed college football experts did not either take the time to watch any Wake games or were too preoccupied with the big name teams to care.
February 3, 2007 3:59 p.m.

Chris Ward commented,
One of the major reasons why I am sick of ESPN is they have become, like most of the media, the guardians of political correctness. Examples include their punishment of Michael Irvin over his comments about Tony Romo's athletic ability (I thought what he said was really funny); their rant over Nick Saban using a term that is the Cajun equivalent of redneck; their constant bashing of Bobby Knight, etc. I could go on and on and on. They never take a stand that goes against the grain but rather exacerbate the situation. I am a college football fan, and the only place I find true, balanced and insightful reporting is on Rivals Radio, and no, I'm not employed by them, just a happy customer.
February 3, 2007 4:35 p.m.

John commented,
The problem is that the focus has shifted from the sport to the talking heads. They are all celebrities now, because they are on television, so they want as much face time as possible. The best way to do that is to be loud and obnoxious. I've stopped watching Sportscenter altogether and will only watch the live sporting events. Even then, I typically don't listen to the annoucers. Most of them sound like they did little or no research for the game. They can't get the players names right and usually end up missing plays on the field because they are busy ranting about the "story" of the day. If I want to know a score, I just check the internet. Don't even get me started on the fact that ESPN and ABC have a Big Ten contract and therefore have to promote those teams and games more so than other teams. ESPN has outlived it's usefulness.
February 3, 2007 6:28 p.m.

Ken Reed commented,
ESPN has gone from reporting sporting news to creating sporting news that fits into there agenda .. ala : ranting , raving , falsehoods just plain ole lies .. I find myself going to ESPN news ( 30 min program ) just to catch the scores , just to watch the ticker and then off it goes ... welcome to CSI
February 3, 2007 6:43 p.m.

Gary commented,
Screw ESPN! I lost interest when they let Mike Gottfried go and replaced him with Bob Davie. Seriously, what right does Davie have to criticize coaches when he was one of the worst at Notre Dame. I'm also sick of listening to the Big 10 get all the credit in the world throughout the season when they play absolutely nobody except Michigan. Prime example; Troy Smith was basically given the Heisman before the season even started and his push for it was fueled every week by ESPN Gameday. Personally, as an SEC fan, I think they only talk about the SEC when it's a negative story. Look at the Gameday crew. Corso was an awful coach, Herbstreit sucked as a quarterback, and Fowler never even played. How can anyone take these clowns seriously? They should have never let Trev Alberts go either. I guess Trev actually having an unbiased opinion got him the axe. SCREW ESPN!!!!!!!!!!
February 3, 2007 6:55 p.m.

Stan Shaw commented,
Great read, finally someone strikes against the mighty empire.I believe that most of us sport fans are getting tired of their antics. Thanks for the article and good luck to you when they try to strike back at you. They spare no one when trying to look intelligent and fire back.
February 3, 2007 7:01 p.m.

Amazed. commented,
I agree wholeheartedly with the article and what I find amazing is that not one person who has commented has disagreed with the article. ESPN has the luxury of having a monopoly on 24 hour sports reporting and therefore can continue their lackluster performance until somebody steps up to compete.
February 3, 2007 8:24 p.m.

Joe commented,
The bashing of the SEC is just terribly relentless and it needs to come to a Screeching Halt-Right Now!IF there are any seniors from Southern Colleges majoring in Sports Journalism,Please apply for a job with ESPN and get these Big-10 smucks out of here, I'm terribly sick of them PERIOD!
February 3, 2007 8:56 p.m.

Ralph commented,
Let us not forget that ESPN's demise as a credible source of sports news and broadcasting has not stopped with their television venue. Rather it has been exacerbated with the radio side of their empire where they employ self-indulgent, opinionated hacks (Collin Cowherd being a shining example). Their credibility slides daily. Take for example Cowherds personal vendetta against Nick Saban and The University of Alabama. This prima donna has gotten his nose all out of joint following his prediction that Nick Saban would never, ever go to a washed out, has-been program like Alabama whose fans "eat coaches alive". When Saban accepted and proved him wrong, did Cowherd say, Oops, I blew one and move on? No, he continues to rant and rave daily to the extent that significant time on his program is aimed at Alabama and it's fans. Oh, and when are they going to be held accountable for their words such as when Cowherd called people in Florida "Tornado Bait" just hours before the deadly tornados struck this week? This is typical of the mindset at ESPN just as it is at CNN. Although both started out as refreshing and innovative windows to the sports and real worlds, respectively: both are now so into themselves that they would not know "objectivity" if it bit them on their collective rear ends. By the way, I am a Michigan Fan. Roll Tide brothers. Go Blue.
February 3, 2007 9:56 p.m.

Mark Shelton commented,
No doubt. ESPN has gone off just like other networks and inserted their agenda on to every breaking story in sporting news. No matter what it is, it will come out the end of their media pipe spun and slanted to what ever the head guru producer's take is on the story. It's not just an SEC or Nick Saban thing either. Take note of Mark May's comments on the University of Minnesota's firing of their head football coach. Absolutely unprofessional. This is a sad thing to happen to what once was the ultimate sports authority.
February 3, 2007 10:03 p.m.

Steve commented,
I'm a huge college football fan and I used to love ESPN but I rarely watch anymore. 2 games into this season I saw what the Disney agenda was going to be. The bias on this network is unbelieveable. I guess the higher ups proclaimed what the agenda was to be and disregarding if it made any sense the almighty $ was the most important in their eyes. Good reporting be damned. They try to influence commentary according to their contracts. So I said "see ya" to espn on a regular basis.
February 3, 2007 10:21 p.m.

Kendall commented,
It has become more evident than ever that ESPN is biased toward certain conferences in college athletics, especially in football and basketball. I don't watch many games on there anymore because I like to watch the SEC, so I have to watch those games on other networks.
February 3, 2007 10:54 p.m.

Keith commented,
I watched ESPN until the network became bias. I think there is an agenda that includes trying to smear the SEC. Every bad thing that happens to the SEC is front page news. I'm not an Alabama fan but it is obvious to me that ESPN loves to comment on anything negative about them. Even to the point of taking things way out of context. I simply don't watch them anymore. Unprofessional and slanted towards the north and west.
February 3, 2007 11:06 p.m.

derek commented,
yes i am so sick of espn being so biased toward the sec =, especially the university of alabama and nick saban. any little chance they get for the past 3 to four years, they have done nothing but put alabama and its fans down,and they have totally just blew this whole nick saban story about his comments out of proportion,i for one am over it so i havent been watching espn, its hard but i will make it
February 3, 2007 11:19 p.m.

Russ commented,
ESPN's demise has begun with the taking over of the Network by Sports "Commentators" instead of Sports "Reporters". Since Jim Rome has become so popular, ESPN has seen fit to try to make everyone of their reporters opinionated commentators instead of the unbiased, unslanted reporters famous for making the Network so popular. They are more interested in being the news as opposed to merely reporting it. Egos play a big part as well, and everyone knows that slanted ranting makes listeners mad, so they will continue to listen regardless, proving the theory that even a MAD listener, is still..... a listener that will improve ratings, which raises commercial rates, which brings in extra revenue, which allows them to hire the more controversial "analysts".... viscous circle
February 3, 2007 11:31 p.m.

Brent commented,
Couldn't agree more. The "Ever Self Promoting Network" is always hyping up what is in their best interest. Great article.
February 4, 2007 12:04 a.m.

Jim commented,
I miss the days when ESPN replayed college football games from the previous Saturday. I've watched as it has grown from a refreshing entry into television to being a group of talking heads that know nothing of which they speak. A case in point would be how much all of their people praised the speed on Ohio State's football team this year. As was demonstrated in the N/C game, Ohio State not only did not have speed, but did not know how to cope with speed when faced with it. Yet on ESPN Ohio State had great speed. I don't watch any of their programing except live games. They offer nothing I about which I want to hear.
February 4, 2007 2:47 a.m.

Randy commented,
Ralph commented, Let us not forget that ESPN's demise as a credible source of sports news and broadcasting has not stopped with their television venue. Rather it has been exacerbated with the radio side of their empire where they employ self-indulgent, opinionated hacks (Collin Cowherd being a shining example). Their credibility slides daily. Take for example Cowherds personal vendetta against Nick Saban and The University of Alabama. This prima donna has gotten his nose all out of joint following his prediction that Nick Saban would never, ever go to a washed out, has-been program like Alabama whose fans "eat coaches alive". When Saban accepted and proved him wrong, did Cowherd say, Oops, I blew one and move on? No, he continues to rant and rave daily to the extent that significant time on his program is aimed at Alabama and it's fans. Oh, and when are they going to be held accountable for their words such as when Cowherd called people in Florida "Tornado Bait" just hours before the deadly tornados struck this week? This is typical of the mindset at ESPN just as it is at CNN. Although both started out as refreshing and innovative windows to the sports and real worlds, respectively: both are now so into themselves that they would not know "objectivity" if it bit them on their collective rear ends. By the way, I am a Michigan Fan. Roll Tide brothers. Go Blue. Ditto...and by-the-way, I'm a Tide fan. Go Blue, Roll Tide!
February 4, 2007 8:04 a.m.

Danny commented,
I was there when ESPN first came on the air. It was great to have a show covering only sports. True, some of the silly sports they had to show to fill time was terrible. But, they were great. Then they started growing, and like all of the liberal media today, they got on the political correctness band wagon, they started to make basically political statements, and like many stated here, they got away from reporting news to making news and becoming no better than the nightly talking heads on the cable channels. I don't watch ESPN anymore except to check the scores. I mute the sound, watch the running ticker and then turn the channel. I watch football and some baseball on there, and nothing else. Screw sports center, Woodie and Spike, Around the stupid horn, PTI and the rest of their stupid shows. Jim Rome is a loud mouth jerk. As for Keith Oberfuhlerman moving to greener lands, HA HA HA, that fool has less watching him now on PMSNBC where he is nothing more than a liberal talking, anti-American hack.
February 4, 2007 8:30 a.m.

unbiased commented,
The one thing that I absolutely hate about ESPN is how biased they are reporting college sports. They have a contract with the Big 10 and therefore, all Big 10 teams are God in their eyes. It doesn't matter what sport, all Big 10 teams are way overhyped on this network.
February 4, 2007 10:46 a.m.

Phil commented,
A few weeks ago ESPN listed the 10 biggest sports moments from this past year. At number one, they had T.O.'s attempted suicide. Instead of even picking a sports moment, the company chose a moment that was a disgraceful play by the media. If someone may be suicidal, should they be interrogated in the public spotlight the very day they are taken to the hospital? I don't think so...I just read this piece and found it very interesting. It is just one, of the many times, that instead of reporting sports, its the sensational headlines that dominate the day (and later are touted as the biggest sports moment). http://www.writeonsports.com/articles/60/
February 4, 2007 11:43 a.m.

Tom commented,
I'm surprised that neither Mr. Berg nor any other commentor has mentioned Fox Sports Net. Not that I'm exonerating ESPN because someone else "started it," but come on...to me, it seems to be pretty obvious what happened. Fox was jealous of ESPN's domination of the cable sports world, so they tried to get attention and take some viewers away with brash, argumentative programming such as "Best Damn Sports Show..." and don't forget, the original Jim Rome show (can't remember what it was called anymore). It was on Fox Sports Net that Jim Rome established himself as a New York-chauvinist, everyone-else-can-kiss-my-butt sports jerk. Fox's strategy worked well enough for ESPN's execs to get their panties in a wad, panic, and jump on the bandwagon. So yea, ESPN is part of the problem, but remember who created it. Yeah...I remember that ESPN had the original "guys arguing about sports" show, "The Sports Reporters," but those guys in the show's original incarnation with the late Dick Schaap were going at it from a much more intellectual perspective than anyone on "Around the Horn" or any of the current generation of shows. As argumentative and rude as they could be at times (remember the one when they had polite, reserved David Halberstam on as a guest and he couldn't fit a word in edgewise?), they at least all had valid points. If Dick Schaap had a chance to go on "Around the Horn," Tony Reali would be so in awe of someone with some actual intelligence he'd probably wet himself because he couldn't give Schaap more points fast enough.
February 4, 2007 12:01 p.m.

Patrick commented,
The thing that gripes me about ESPN is its undying allegiance to ABC. Earlier this year ESPN had a constant countdown going, not for the college football national championship game, but for the Rose Bowl because it was on ABC. In 2004, Auburn had just won the SEC championship by 10 points, and the sportscasters immediately said that Auburn had shown that they shouldn't be in the national championship. I'm not certain whether it is because Auburn is a small market team, or if they just wanted people to watch the two teams that were always on ABC, but you could definitely tell ESPN's bias. Even after Oklahoma was destroyed in the NC game, the commentators didn't say, "oops, we might have gotten the wrong team," they just said that USC proved how much better they were than everyone else in the country including Auburn. Then this year, after Auburn went 11-2 while beating the number 1 and 3 teams in the country, Herbstreit ranked Auburn 18th in his final poll. I honestly think ESPN has decided that the best way to get viewers is to get the audience rowdy by glorifying one team and demeaning the other. I just want to see what happens if Fox sports raises their production value. ESPN would be reeling because so many people just want a competing network that they can turn to.
February 4, 2007 5:52 p.m.

Sam commented,
Fox has a golden opportunity here. I certaily hope they are listening. Competition is a wonderful thing.
February 5, 2007 8:31 a.m.

Ryan commented,
I'll agree with everything above. My example for all of this is when Steve Nash won his first MVP. What led Sportscenter that night was that Dan Lebetard wrote a collumn saying Nash won it because he's white. ESPN has tried to make celebrities out of journalists. Someone explain to me why I should care a Miami journalist wrote anything?
February 5, 2007 9:37 a.m.

a10sEn commented,
I will being by saying that I do watch ESPN, and I enjoy watching their sporting events, SportsCenter, the And1 streetball series, and some of their other sports related shows, such as NFL Primetime. But I remember the days when someone would ask what a sport was, and I'd reply, "Just watch ESPN especially SportsCenter, and you'll know." Now, when someone asks me the same question, I don't reply with that response. ESPN has blurred the line between sports and competition. All sports are competitions, but not all competitions are sports. Case and point, poker is a competitive activity. You're trying to out play everyone at the table, win the most money, and there's no clear-cut winner; but, to call poker a sport is a bit of a stretch. I'm not saying that it's easy to bluff with 2, 3, 4, 5, 7; but, it's not a sport. I believe this is where ESPN's downfall lies and not with its sports talk programming (e.g., Pardon the Interruption or Cold Pizza). When the self-proclaimed "world-wide leader in sports" devotes several hours of programming time to poker, dominos, darts, chess, video gaming, and the National Spelling Bee, that's where the problems lie. What's next on ESPN's new TV lineup...professional shuffleboard? Maybe they can add thumb wrestling into their daily TV lineup as well.
February 5, 2007 12:34 p.m.

JUICE commented,
I tuned out Sportscenter long ago, but now The Ticker and the constantly whirling graphics have made the games unwatchable as well. Tough for a college football fan, but they managed to run me off.
February 6, 2007 10:19 a.m.

Randy commented,
It appears by some of the comments iv'e read here that ESPN's not the only one with agenda's. ESPN raked Ohio State over the coals just a few years ago. The NCAA's subsequent investigation turned up nothing . Did anyone at Espin apologize? Absolutely not.
February 6, 2007 12:35 p.m.

Tony commented,
Excellent article. I think, as one reads through the comments, one can see why ESPN has, perhaps, taken the track they have: sports fans are ruled by their emotions. Why bother with intellectual substance, when half of your audience is convinced that, unless you are engaged in constant praise toward their team/school/conference, you are "out to get them." Maybe, sports fans are getting the sports network they deserve.
February 6, 2007 2:32 p.m.

Drew commented,
I agree wholeheartedly and had my revelation about 2 months ago when ESPN force-fed me over several days a story about Bobby Knight that should never have been a story. I've recently come to the conclusion that the problem with ESPN (lack of quality and focus on the sports) stems from several reasons: 1. 24 hours of cable and radio is too much to fill - so junk gets produced and put on air to fill up the time slots and sell the advertising; 2. Political correctness. ESPN used to be irreverent and intellectually honest (when it came to sports). Now, they're just like the rest of the mainstream media - playing to the PC crowd and forcing upon us its PC bias and agenda within the realm of sports. I think a lot of this stems from their efforts over the past 5-10 years to attract more viewers who are minorities and/or from urban areas. They don't want to drive this crowd away and lose advertising. I personally think targeting this market is a big mistake, but that's another story. 3. In that effort to broaden their appeal to this target market, they've dumbed down their entire lineup by turning the keys to the kingdom over to the guys with the loudest voices and the most outrageous opinions (Rome, Cowdher, Woody Page) who can deliver the sound bites that attract those with short attention spans and/or those more interested in big talk. Conclusion: for many of us that lament what ESPN is now, I don't think ESPN cares if we were to stop watching or listening. My guess is that we don't fit their target demographic.
February 6, 2007 2:45 p.m.

Andrew Berg commented,
I'm surprised and flattered that this article still interests people. Two comments to follow up. 1. Don't get caught up in Fox. Rupert Murdoch does not need your money or your attention. The Best Damn Sports Show is arguably worse than anything on ESPN. And even though Jim Rome started on ESPN's Up Close (before being forced to Fox after starting a fight by calling Jim Everett "Chris" throughout an interview), Fox is still responsible for far worse progeny: John Kruk. 2. I do not have a problem with ESPN doing non-sports things or watering down their programming with peripheral ideas. One of Rome's few funny rants came on the subject of how that insane spelling bee champion sounded like she was about to climax while winning the competition, but I'm ok with all of that. It's when the programming infringes on the actual sporting event that I get concerned. The ticker and excessive graphics are good examples. The way the sports media now takes to CREATING stories rather than reporting them is the most obnoxious part of the phenomenon, at least to me.
February 6, 2007 9:18 p.m.

Don commented,
ESPiN = yellow journalism, simple as that. They spin the news, and in many cases create news, toward their own agenda. I too, no longer watch.
February 6, 2007 9:39 p.m.

Michael commented,
I agree wholeheartedly with this article. ESPN has become something I can only hate, I havent watched their programming in years and foolishly subscribed to their magazine breifly and then cancelled my subscription when I quickly figured out that there was nothing worth reading in it. ESPN.com has also contributed nothing to society and the "journalists" are infuriating. I occasionally recieve emails with Scoop Jacksons latest ramblings and can only laugh at how he finds a way to pull the race card into literally everything...ESPN is a joke and its a sad thing as it was once very good...
February 12, 2007 2:55 a.m.

Lisa Gray commented,
hi andrew!!! you're dead on. i remember when i was a kid, i'd watch sports center in the morning before school. when i started working, i'd turn it right on when i got home. now, it's just a bunch of guys with no manners and no brains screaming at each other. i am also tired of the insisting that professional athletes should be treated like movie stars in tabloids, but i guess i'm in the minority. i don't CARE if joe X fools some uppity reporter into thinking he's "humble" or some such nonsense. as for the rest of programming, well, i never miss sunday night baseball with jon miller and joe morgan. i rarely watch what little there is of baseball tonight, which just ain't what it used to be neither, because ESPN decided that the only teams worth talking about are the yankees and red sox. espn is all about the $$$ and if stupid men screaming at each other like a bunch of tired women with PMS is what sells, well then, until they lose money with them, we'll all have to watch something else. I have a feeling that the old days of news that the reporters didn't make are gone. times change. not always for the better. lisa gray
February 18, 2007 6:50 p.m.

Louis Oleary commented,
You know, I may be a die hard Army fan all my life, but even way up here in upstate New York, I can see the black poisoned blood and vengeance hate filled vile that ESPN has become. They needed a villian, and lord behold, congratulations Alabama and Nick Saban, Your it! If I was Nick Saban, Id go onto the Gameday set with a F*** ESPN shirt on and not answer any questions and make them forcibly remove me. ESPN is crap now and everyone knows it. Yeah, Ohio State sure was gonna beat Florida into oblivion.. yeah sure they did! Oops.. didnt just happen in football either did it! LOL! Take that ESPN "experts"
June 16, 2007 10:51 p.m.

Tim in Virginia commented,
I miss Keri Ross!
July 11, 2007 11:48 a.m.

Jason in Michigan commented,
Great article... and if I was more patient, I'd wait to the official one year anniversary to add this comment to a thread that probably doesn't get much traffic anymore. In fact, I only found this because I flipped over to the historically awful Best Damn Sports Show Period only to find that they ditched the live audience in favor of a ridiculously obvious laugh track. Somehow this article came up in a google search for "Best damn laugh track". Anyways, ESPN has indeed devolved but it's not out of proportion to journalism in general. I don't have a problem with the talking head shows, I think PTI (when hosted by Wilbon and Kornheiser) is great TV. There is nothing wrong with debate TV when the people debating are engaging and knowledgable. The problem, as the author stated in the original article, is when everyone else jumps on the bandwagon. The only positive thing that Around The Horn ever did was give Max Kellerman the idea that he could carry his own show on FSN. Thankfully, the I Max debacle ended up in pretty much removing him from the airwaves. I can't say I've been with ESPN from the beginning... but I've been watching since the mid-80's. Back in those days, cable maxed out at about 50 channels.... and that's if you paid for all the premium stuff like HBO and Skinimax. ESPN was a joke... a complete joke. Beyond Sportscenter, which really was redundant compared to the local TV news sports guy unless you wanted to see highlights from a game played by out of town teams... the whole network was ping pong and rodeo and darts. The worldwide leader became hip in the late 80s and early 90s... as Sportscenter truly was a great highlight show. It's too bad that all mainstream news media went downhill and became nothing more than a freak show. Stuff that would have been ignored as tabloid gossip and/or papparazi baloney twenty years ago now makes the top story... whether it's Britney shaving her head stories on MSNBC or Terrell Owens trying to commit suicide stories on ESPN... Everything is over-hyped, spit out and forgotten in short order. We live in an age of too much information. ESPN, CNN, FSN, MSNBC, the internet... information overload to the point where we have lost all perspective. Forty years ago, the Virginia Tech massacre would have been a generation defining event. Nobody would have forgotten where they were when they heard the story... Nowadays? Hardly anybody not directly effected by the tragedy would recall that it even happened in another few years.
September 15, 2007 1:33 a.m.

Dean commented,
I absolutely can not understand why ESPN and ABC would think that it's a good idea to have a third of the screen covered by graphics during football games. I'm glad I got HD so that I can watch the action on a small portion of the screen between the intolerable upper score bar that floats right in the middle of player's heads and the maddening bottom ticker that keeps me constantly updated on the Wofford vs Central Louisianna State game? I can't take it anymore. Has ESPN and ABC gone completely over the edge or are people really that stupid that this is what they want? Please, release my screen and take the graphics off.
September 15, 2007 7:55 p.m.

Sean in Fort Worth, TX commented,
Great commentary. I can't believe you failed to mention the network's obsession with the Yankees, Red Sox, SEC, Big 10 and Duke. Otherwise, great stuff.
December 18, 2007 4:34 p.m.

Lindsay:Okla City commented,
In the beginning ESPN was great. I loved watching all the different types of competition. PKA World Championships. Aussie Rules Football. The Outdoor Games. The Sports Center reports were in depth and about the SPORT. They had very good highlights; not just 15 seconds worth in between 20 minutes of thoughtless drivel. Understanding the Disney perverted thought process, it is easy to understand why everyone is fed up with ESPN. They have lost all touch with reality about what is decent and right. In the name of "entertainment" they have turned American sports programming into a cheap Hollywood gossip bucket of negativity and dirty laundry fueled with a heavy dose of sensationalism. Just report the sports!!!!! Keep your opinions at home. I love college football, but watching a game on ESPN is never about the game anymore. It is a constant flow of oral diarrhea about everything but the game. Names mispronounced, plays missed, even schools are not identified properly. I very seldom watch ESPN anymore. Unfortunately, Fox is not any better. They, too overflow with the oral diarrhea during game broadcasts, also.
December 18, 2007 5:51 p.m.

mdb commented,
Case in point. I tuned in to sportscenter one sunday evening a few weeks ago to see the days football highlights. Instead I saw the same 3 highlights of Tom Brady at least 10 times interspersed with 10 sets of commercials. It reminded me of the Sydney Olympics (granted, NBC, not ESPN) where the actual events were sidenotes to the human interest stories and the "behind the scenes" stories. Dear God, I just want to see the game. BTW, Canadian football, curling, field hockey, etc. are all refreshing to watch once in a blue moon. Much more so than another Talking Heads brawl being passed off as entertainment. Blech.
December 19, 2007 midnight

jack commented,
Olberman, Steiner, and Kilborn. Tinker to Evers to Chance. I too remember when Sportscenter was still funny and a pleasure to watch. The problem, however, might not be ESPN, but rather the athletes who think they are larger than life. They are the ones that take the fun out of sports. But since they are sports, they are what ESPN has to report on.
December 19, 2007 10:46 a.m.

Comments

Post a comment