The Evolution of Sportscenter

Sportscenter, to me, has spun out of control. And it's been this way for more than five years now.

Think back to the late 80s, through most of the 90s. Sportscenter was "the" show to watch for sports highlights. There was a time when that's all it had. Highlight after highlight after highlight.

I can remember watching full two-minute highlights of games between the struggling Twins and Rangers. The Tigers and the Blue Jays. Playoff games, I swear, you could practically watch the full game!

Not today. Now, you get a 20-second clip of the home runs, the slam dunks, and nothing in-between. Then, Stephen A. Smith comes SHOUTING, SCREAMING into the TV screen ... hoping that somebody will listen.

Sean Salisbury pounds his chest and tells it the way it is -- no, the way he "thinks" it is.

There's a 10-minute segment that's sent over to the "analysts," err, players that just retired and are now looking for work: Greg Anthony, BJ Armstrong, Tim Legler, Scottie Pippen, etc.

And here's what's crazy. People actually watch! Viewers don't care that they're getting duped on the highlights. People actually embrace the "Ultimate NFL depth chart" segments. Sportscenter's ratings are as high as they've ever been.

What ESPN has come to realize is this: people like their sports served with opinions. They've conducted studies that say such. And believe me, I'm not comparing TV media to print journalism. However ...

It makes you wonder if print journalism could succeed in this regard ... to an extent. Credibility and unbiased reporting is the staple of newspapers. But again, just like ESPN has come to find out, people like opinions. It's probably why the popularity of columnists has skyrocketed.

So should newspapers increase the columnists they have on-staff? Should they start to offer and insert more opinion into game recaps, features, and certain hard news stories? Well, probably not. That's not feasible.

The old adage for newspapers has always sort of been the "We report, you decide" mentality. But with the future of newspapers very much in doubt, looking for possibile alternatives/solutions to make the product better couldn't hurt.

 

Re: The Next-Gen Sportscenter

I think you are referring to blogs. Check them out.

 

You'll quickly find, Newbie, that a lot of what ESPN does is not embraced here.

Oh, and maybe the title of the thread should be the DE-Evolution of SC.

 

Re: The DE-Evolution of Sportscenter

I think the reason people (guys ages 15-34) like SC so much and the opinions of others is so that when they are pressed on the issue, they can repeat what the meatheads on SC said and their buddies/bar friends will think they know what they are talking about.

I haven't watched SC in more than four years, or any ESPN show for that matter.

 

It's kind of like turning on VH1 or MTV and hoping to see a video.

 

WHat pisses me off is that Sportscenter basically ignores a lot of teams in the highlights. World Cup highlights are usually done after two commercial breaks, and after every big NBA event, they feel the need to cut to Stephen A. Smith or Greg Anthony for a five-minute rambling.

 

Meh. Just watch ESPN News

 

Not trying to get off-topic, but is anybody else here guilty of flipping to ESPNews to see if that little box in the right-bottom corner of the screen has some interesting BREAKING NEWS in it?

It's a terrible habit of mine. But heck, it sure is better than cigarettes.

 

Staff diversity isn't embraced here either. Doesn't mean it's right.

 

Does anyone still do that?

 

I didn't want to start another thread for this, but are the writers on holiday?

The "Ohio is for lovers" line got thrown out again tonight.

I also heard the "yo, ding dong; ding dong, yo" line, which I never get tired of, but how many people remember this and know where it came from?

 

SC went downhill quick when they hired Stuart Scott. It was much better when it reported the news and showed highlights. Now, it's more entertainment and show, trying to make stars out of them.

I liked it when Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman (sp?) anchored it. Now, it's more of a circus than news.