Editorial Monday -

(I recommend reading this editorial with a nice Pinot Noir or Spanish Red.  Suggestions include: Goldeneye 07 Pinot Noir - Napa, Williamette Valley Vinyads Pinot 06 - Oregon, or Montecastro Ribera del Duero 06 - Spain)

Dear ESPN Ombudsman,

Your position was created several years ago as a way to put a public face on ESPN’s attempt to have accountability for your brand, be it the television network content, magazine, or website.  Unequivocally ESPN is amazing and I, like most sports fans, couldn’t do without it, but it’s also something else – broken.  

This commentary and pending diatribe is really apropos of nothing in particular but, for me, it’s been a culmination of a multiple of things that have gradually worn on my sports soul and I think for many people out there, it’s been a long time coming as well. 

Every time I see the Fill-in-the-Blank sponsored segments I go into a mental coma, because I know what’s coming….filler.  I’m not certain I’ve learned any pertinent information in the Coors Light Six Pack of Questions other than “Yeah, maybe I could go for a beer.”  Though that might be just the sort of thing Coors intends for sponsoring such a useless segment, the plan backfires as I would never drink such a garbage beer.  I guess you think it’s just another quirky way of presenting information, but I contend the only way to make such a segment valuable is if after each question droning, useless Mark Schlereth is forced to shotgun a beer.

Beyond over-commercialization, there’s the overall dumbing down of sports, of which you play no small part.  Sadly, this is a multi-faceted effort from you and your constituents, stemming from the way live sports and highlights of those games are presented alike.  Sport doesn’t always have to play to the lowest common denominator, which to me is the reason human cliché machines like John Gruden are forced upon us.  Turn on Monday Night Football at any time this season and you may hear John Gruden proclaiming that “that guy is a real ‘football player’, who always gives 110%, and never gives up without a fight”.  Though of course it’s not limited to the game itself, but also the Sportscenter highlights of those games.  Chris Berman’s “schtick” has been old for years and I think we all wish it’s be back back back back back goneeeee sooner than later.  (As a side note - Anyone else see the contradiction in Chris Berman simultaneously doing commercials for the unhealthiest, most deep fried portion of the Applebee’s menu while also doing Nutrisystem spots?)

Chris Berman gets extended a luxury I think few other commentators and analysts on your network should be extended.  He’s been there since the beginning and because of that he gets a pass.  There are plenty of talking heads employed by your network that aren’t as deserving.  When it’s blatantly obvious that some of your cast of characters are there solely to present the opposite argument and lack the conviction of their words, it destroys the credibility of any commentary made to that effect.  Worse yet, are the Skip Bayless’s of the ESPN world who are there not just to take the contrarian view, but who are there simply just to make to make an outlandish comment.  Skip Bayless’s only redeeming quality is his relation to his brother Rick whose Mexican restaurants in Chicago (Fronterra Grill & Topolobampo) are really excellent.

I know it’s been hard for you and your bosses, Mr. Ombudsman, to stay current in an ever-changing media landscape and stay out of the mud since you have to compete with the TMZs of the world for tabloid coverage of Tiger Woods and the like but, truthfully, we are to blame as much as you for covering this type of nonsense because it’s what we all crave.  Where I believe you can be faulted is in the unevenness in how this information is presented.  During the week preceding the Super Bowl, there was coverage of an allegation of sexual impropriety on the part of, at the time, ESPN radio show host in Dallas and former Cowboy wide receiver, Michael Irvin.  You had no problem reporting the allegations as a lead story on Sportscenter and firing Irvin from his radio job but where were you when the case was subsequently dropped by investigators a week later?  Do us a favor and report the exoneration with the same zeal and vitriol you report the allegation.

Now, for all its failings, which I have noted above, I know that ESPN is striving to be better.  Recently they were ever so proud to announce that John Champion would be joining ESPN for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup.  That’s a great step in presenting the game in a way it should be presented, with intelligence and the ability to let the visuals of the game stand on their own as opposed to the John Harkes/J.P. Dellacamera approach of being terrified of letting a moment of airtime go without a spoken word.  Outside of the “Beautiful Game,” there are other things you are doing well to you’re your audience intellectually engaged like ‘Outside the Lines,’ the ‘30 for 30’ series of documentaries, Bill Simmons, or their newsmagazine program, ‘E60.’  However, the standard bearer of sports newsmagazine programming is HBO’s ‘Real Sports,’ which is what ‘E60’ has tried to emulate.  ‘E60’ is trying but, as the promos on HBO remind us, “it’s not TV, it’s HBO.”

So you’ve got a lot to work on ESPN, but I know you can do it.  Frankly, you have a responsibility to your constituency to do better, to be better.  It’ll be long road, but if you never decide to change, then the one thing I can assure you of is that in the not-so-distant future you’ll find me, and many others, standing atop a bridge ready to jump from a ‘Mike & Mike in the Morning’-induced suicidal depression.

Yours truly,

JROCK

The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author, JROCK, and no one else, including the rest of the JC.Com Staff and Jimmy Conrad.  If you have any issues whatsoever, please email JROCK at jrock@jimmyconrad.com.  He'd love to hear from you.