August 11, 2003
The Morning Sports Page
In England, it's American goalkeeper Tim Howard who is toast of the English Preimier League, after helping Manchester United to a 4-3 victory on penalty kicks over Arsenal in Saturday's FA Charity Shield match -- the traditional opening of the Football season in England. With the teams tied 1-1 after regulation, Howard stopped not one, but two penalty kicks to give the Red Devils the victory over their hated rivals. With this performance, Howard is now the odds on favorite to retain the starting position in goal for Manchester over French international Fabien Barthez.
In his weekly Couch Slouch column, Norman Chad asks this question about professional baseball:
1. In an era of free agency creating unprecedented player turnover, how is it possible for a professional franchise to maintain this level of excellence for so long?
2. Why won't the Braves just go away? . . .
I rooted against David Justice and Lonnie Smith in the early 1990s, I rooted against Ryan Klesko and Ron Gant in the mid '90s, and I rooted against Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones in the late '90s. Nowadays, I just root against all the Braves all the time.
(I still have Mark Lemke nightmares.)
As a New York Mets fan, I wish I had an answer to that question. In Milwaukee, it appears that Mandy Block, the Milwaukee Brewers employee who was bashed in the head by Randall Simon of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the famous sausage incident, has returned to the field. Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune has the goods.
The ninth annual made for television X Games open on Thursday in Los Angeles, as extreme sports have muscled their way into the mainstream. I never minded ESPN's creation of the X Games, but their current push to make the World Series of Poker part of America's sports culture is beginning to turn my stomach. Last night on Sports Center, MTV-refugee Chris Connelly treated the ESPN audience to a long form profile of a multiple World Series winner who won $30 million over the course of his career, yet died with only $800 in his pocket at the age of 45 due to heart disease exacerbated by "his lifestyle."
Imagine that, a gambler dying a premature death. Who would have believed it? Of course, ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker begins Tuesday on ESPN 2. Think of it as another step in the MTV-ification of ESPN. One day, you may be able to tell your grandchildren about a time when ESPN actually covered athletics.
Clifton Brown of the New York Times says Tiger Woods is no longer feared on the PGA Tour, as we head into the PGA Championship on Thursday. Read and decide for yourself.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ericmcerlain.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2385
One day, you may be able to tell your grandchildren about a time when ESPN actually covered athletics.
I'll be sure to use the same wistful voice as when I tell them about how MTV used to play music videos.
(Gripe time: If they must cover a card game, why not bridge? Charles Goren used to be in Sports Illustrated, after all. I want to see the Bermuda Bowl on The Deuce!)
Posted by:
at August 11, 2003 09:26 AM
I don't understand the criticism of ESPN ( the ENTERTAINMENT and Sports Programming Network) covering the WSOP. It is the sort of off-beat stuff that seemed to be the staple of old-school (early 80s) ESPN, when the idea of them televising Sunday night NFL or MLB games was a pipe dream. Exactly what was sacrificed on the 11PM SportsCenter for the 10 minutes of coverage given to Ungar's story? They did a couple minutes of highlights from the Jets-Bengals pre-season game fer chrissakes! :-)
Are poker tournaments athletic sport? No. But it is competition. The programmers at ESPN have looked at the ratings they (and the travel channel) get when they put poker on, and they like what they see.
As for the crack about a gambler's lifestyle, the same can be of athlete's, huh? "Imagine that, an athletic kid from the projects overdoses on coke. Would would have believed it?" All sorts of people succumb to abusive habits - and some of those people are card-shark geniuses and gifted athletes. It's what makes their stories all the more sad.
Posted by:
at August 11, 2003 10:00 AM
Oh one other thing. I too bemoan the MTV-ifciation of ESPN. But it's not because they cover poker tourneys. It's the stream of punditry and the fictional movies and series that's ruining things for me. The Sports Reporters is great. But Sports Reporters Primetime, PTI, Max Kellerman's ridiculous show, etc is going over the line. And this new series they've got coming out about a pro-football team? THAT's where your MTV-ification comes from.
Posted by:
at August 11, 2003 10:05 AM
I hear you Matt. I guess what bugged me about the piece was the cloying questioning and the backing music purposely chosen to evoke emotion. It was a piece of "reporting" that probably belonged on Dateline: NBC rather than ESPN's SportsCenter -- a place where I've become accustomed to seeing sports attacked with a hard news sensibility, not through a soft focus lens more akin to People magazine or Enterntainment Tonight.
Posted by:
at August 11, 2003 02:09 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in,
.
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
07:26 AM