I love ESPN. I eat, sleep, breathe sports and without the #1 network for men like me, how on earth would I survive?
But lately, I've found myself becoming more and more frustrated by coverage and choices my favorite station is making.
You know, honestly, I began this article thinking I would bash Michael Phelps. I like the guy, but after reading this story on the ESPN homepage, I had had enough of Phelps- his bong and his stupid handlebars.
I mean, who cares if he loses a race in Charlotte? We're not even a full year gone since Phelps snagged his record setting gold medal (272 days to be exact). Get at me when the next Olympics are actually on the radar!
Then I realized something: It's not really Phelps whose to blame for my disgust. It's ESPN for actually covering the event!
Sure, we had some what of a down day today with sports. But don't even begin to argue that this is a down period and that there's nothing else to talk about. See what my man Sean Kosednar's blog has to say about that (dead on!).
Phelps ridiculous coverage is just the tip of the iceberg with ESPN lately. First, there's the new morning SportsCenter format. What happened to the days of waking up before elementary school and being able to sit down for an hour and catch everything you need to know in bang-bang segments.
"This team played this other team last night. Here are the highlights. Here is the final. Now let's move on..."
Just the other day I had to sit around for almost 40 minutes waiting to see a 2 video-segment highlight of the Cubs victory over the Padres. In that wasted in between time, I managed to watch a preview for some Nascar All-Star race, a 3-part ramble from studio to ballpark to studio about Alex Rodriguez's return which was followed by a similar 10 minute piece about Manny Ramirez, and finally enjoyed a piece I had already seen twice (on the website and E:60) about UFC owner Dana White. Thanks for all that bologna. Now I can sprint to class knowing just about nothing that happened in sports yesterday!
Then there's this SportsCenter L.A. which still has me puzzled. So there's a studio on the west coast? Or are we just replaying SportsCenter with special promos at a later time so people that have to watch the late Eastern Time SportsCenter at like 8 pm feel special and get their own version?
ESPN.com/Chicago? When does KC get one? Because now everybody will have demand.
ESPN on Twitter? Isn't that what the original ESPN website is for? (PS- Don't even get me started on "Tweeting". That's a whole different devil I need to touch on soon)
Speaking of the website, the constant videos and ads that pop up. Don't get me wrong, I understand they're trying to be 2.0 and make a dime, but dang... over kill.
Listen, all I ask for is simplicity. If ESPN wants more depth and more pissazz, by all means, do the damn thing.
But please, give the "old-schoolers" like myself a resource to check in for 60 minutes and get the scoop and what I need to know.
And bring back Stu Scott and Rich Eisen. Chris Berman, Scott Van Pelt, and whoever his toadie is just aren't getting it done. Hmmmm, maybe that'll give me a topic for the next update with Up Yours...
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