In an attempt to fill Sportscenter with more mindless bantering ESPN has decided to have an athlete tournament to determine which current athlete is the most "now." Overall athletic ability or performance on the field are not the determining factors for who is most "now" but those factors can come into play during the debate. Also taken into consideration is how big an athlete's celebrity status is. Thirty-two athlete have been ranked and put into regions named after other past "now" athletes (as retro-determined by ESPN)--the Babe Ruth, Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan & Billy Jean King regions. (I'm not even going to spend time arguing the merits of why Billy Jean King is included with the other three).
Anyway...the worst part of this idea (as there are many) is listening to people argue about this. Even respected journalists, like Michael Wilbon, have been sucked into this meaningless debate. It is nauseating to hear them argue over basically which athlete is cooler. It gripes me how Sportscenter (and ESPN) is becoming so fascinated with this idea of "celebrity". When I watch Sportscenter I want to see highlights, breakdowns, and some commentary (from people that know what they are talking about). How about instead of wasting my time with listening to which athlete is currently (allegedly) dating Jessica Biel...you spend that segment breaking down the NL West (or AL west for that matter).
It seems that here recently ESPN tries so hard to make the present historic...to make it groundbreaking. They spend too much time declaring how great something is...that just recently happened. There is something to be said about stepping back...waiting...and putting stuff into a proper historical context. Not everything that has happened in sports over the past five years are the best things to ever happen in the history of sports.
This idea of "Who's Now" is their latest attempt to put their mark on sports. Instead of being an objective medium...with the idea of reporting and commenting on sports...ESPN wants to be part of the action. That is a fine line to start crossing.
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2 comments:
I'm with you on this one. Kevin James and Jessica Biel's appearance as judges sealed it for me.
(although I must admit, I thought first round matchup Serena Williams vs. Steve Nash was an intriguing question).
did you see the Nathan's Hotdog eating contest? that was on ESPN. the commentators couldn't stop talking about how it would "change the nation" if the american beat Kobayashi.
it just seems to me, sports casters/commentators — especially ESPN — give way more importance to trivial events. that they're following CNN and becoming a celebrity gossip rag really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
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