ESPN Sells Gimcrack

(A continuation of the previous post)

gimcrack, n. Ornamental objects of no great value

Curses to ESPN for fueling my anger over the past several months. ESPN is THEE sports network, part of Disney which owns ABC among other things... capital ($) is not their chief concern.

A generation of children have watched ESPN's SportsCenter (SC) and it is a powerful distributor of information. Athletes posture for the cameras so SC will show their highlights. All major sports are guilty: baseball players pose after home runs, footballers dance after touchdowns, and basketeers stare the camera down after a clutch shot, forcing a timeout (that may be a stretch). Personally, I can't stand this individual showmanship. Sports are about teams, not individuals. Celebrate with your mates, not the cameras.

ESPN hypes up everything; showing the same highlights over and over. They make the flavor of the week the 'greatest ever'. I admit the Texas vs. USC game was exciting, but 53% of ESPN.com voters say 'they have NEVER seen a better college football game' (with over 135k tallied votes). After checking Vince Young's stats, he truly had an all-time great performance, one for the ages, the stuff of lore. But this wasn't the best game I saw this year. I tip my hat to ESPN; they sway the masses.

But they have become complacent and corporate because of their monopoly. They are the leaders in advertising while pretending to be presenting programming. The Budweiser Hotseat, the Coors Light Six-Pack of Questions, even the Degree All-In Moment; the last is clever product placement, the other two bother me to no end. They force the program to stop showing the actual footage of sports (except for the montage) and start blathering on with opinion and ridiculousness.

I remember SC showing how the runs in baseball game were scored and then actually giving the box-score. Today they show a home run, two players' lines, the final score, and something else if you're lucky. But they had to make room for The Gatorade Ultimate Highlight; which of course shows clips which have already aired in the show.

It's because I care about the games more than the athletes. I root for teams, not players (unless the Yanks need a hit, then I need a little bingo from so&so). ESPN and SC have made sport into spectacle. It's a showcase for athletes to make big plays and then act like fools.

fool, n. A professional clown employed to entertain (traditionally for noblemen during the middle ages).