re: Has ESPN Destroyed Sports?

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I have have zero desire to watch a single Bowl game this season because of ESPN

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I feel the same way, except for the Tigers and the BCSNCG

Pretty sure ESPN is a defendant

I hate that ESPN essentially scripts the discussion of sports, but I don't think they taint the product at all. The individual leagues do enough of that on their own.

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I hate that ESPN essentially scripts the discussion of sports,

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i get this argument, but i don't really watch those shows

the masochists who hate that stuff but watch those shows every day crack me up. it's quite easy to avoid

without ESPN, the MLS wouldn't be where it is today. they were an early adopter and push the living frick out of soccer every world cup. i don't see how you can act like ESPN is doing something bad for the MLS

the general public doesn't really care about MLS or Hockey. they're going to get proportional air time

they push the world cup because people actually watch it...

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Thank god they can't get their hands on the Olympics or they would frick that up as well.

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NBC and their obsession with tape delay like it's 1975 is much worse than anything ESPN has done.

Until recently, ESPN didn't have any real competition. NBCS is just getting off the ground and while no one is watching, some of the shows are really high quality. I already watch the Lights almost exclusively for sports highlights, ditching SportsCenter.

The answer is both yes and no. Let's focus on the positives first, because I think critics of ESPN forget all of the good they've done: I can now watch pretty much every game by every team in every sport. That is awesome, and you kids don't truly get that this is a new development. Hell, even in the 90s, when we though we had tons of access, most games weren't on national TV. OK, ESPN doesn't broadcast all of those events, but they kind of created the demand and they do broadcast a lot of them. Being a sports fan now is far easier than it was in 1992, and about a billion times better than 1982. At the end of the day, that's a huge positive, and I can't thank ESPN enough for that.

With that out of the way, ESPN propogates some of the most toxic things about modern sports, namely:

-- Using "news" as a marketing arm. It's unethical and it's an inferior product anyway.

-- Screaming head shows. I'll let PTI slide because it was kind of the first and the two hosts are obvious friends who are just needling each other like friends do. There's an undercurrent of goofiness and fun. But nothing has sunk discourse more than the existence of Skip Bayless.

-- the cult of the championship. This belief that a player sucks unless he wins lots of titles is just horribly toxic and prevents us from enjoying sport. The games themselves have value more than just crowning a champ. It's ruined college football.

-- The incredibly toxic belief second place is first loser. It's just demanding to be unhappy and miserable. It's also breeding an era of sociopaths in sport.

-- Brand protection. Sports stars used to have opinions on things and were well-rounded people. Ali protested the war, for example. Now, players are automotons who try to say nothing controversial and any outside interests are actually derided by fans because they aren't constantly devoting their life to the sport. Modern athletes are socially and emotionally stunted, and a lot of its due to how ESPN covers them.

They do just fine with Wimbledon, probably better than NBC. Purists just hate that they don't have the rights to that legendary music. The only flaw is where ESPN takes rights on events, but doesn't let Tennis Channel fill in the blanks when ESPN can't broadcast.

I think the only sport where ESPN is way out of control and has too much power is CF. Rights to 95% of the bowl games and all of the BCS seems a bit much. The only minor check and balance is CBS SEC and a few Fox games. If ESPN is dictating conference alignments, that is ridiculous. What never really came out is who exactly kept the Big 12 together. It was often referred to as a shadowy group of interested people who just didn't want immediate 16 team armageddon -- I thought Fox was involved, but then again, LHN is an ESPN venture.

Nobody should complain about ESPN's lack of journalistic integrity. Everyone gets that they are just for entertainment now and produce the occasional decent segment on OTL. Grantland's fake separation is a farce, there are really no investigative pieces there, and guys like Simmons/SVP can't really say everything they want. You get better journalism from Yahoo, CBS, or even Deadspin.