Is there an S in ESPN?
Remember when MTV actually showed music videos, instead of Real World-Kernersville marathons?
Sadly, ESPN appears to be heading in the same direction. Just watched another painful episode of Sportscenter-Kuwait which, regardless of your political persuasion, is incredibly gimmicky and grating. (Steve Levy's attempts to play to the crowd are just painful). And Dream Job season II started, with contestants doing low-rent imitations of their Sportscenter anchors ...
Then there's the endless promo cycle for Hustle, which features Tom Sizemore as Pete Rose (I know Pete's hair was bad, but that bad?). And, in case you haven't noticed, it's ESPN's 25th year!!! Time to roll out tons of packaged shlock and spend hours in self-congratulation mode.
Don't get me wrong, ESPN is one of the greatest innovations of our time. The moment I first discovered it is still emblazoned on my mind, like the OJ Verdict and the first time I played Tecmo Super Bowl. But it's in serious danger of becoming infatuated with itself, coming up with silly new programming ideas, just because it can. I'm telling you, if I had a spare billion or two, I'd start up my own network, bill it as the one that actually shows SPORTS, and take ESPN on. Plus, I'd put my headquarters somewhere better than Bristol, Connecticut.
Comments (3)
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You forgot to mention the World Series of Poker. The coverage of this non-sport has been almost round-the-clock, and I admit to being completely sucked in. There's also a lot of competition for the poker viewer elsewhere in cableland.
And Pete Rose's hair WAS that bad. Or worse.
Posted on September 16, 2004 12:00 AM
Who would've imagined in the mid-80s that ESPN would show more music videos than MTV?
Posted on September 16, 2004 11:44 AM
Ditto, ditto, ditto,
Posted on September 19, 2004 6:59 AM