I hate ESPN

This isn't news, and I'm certainly not being original by complaining about ESPN. I just want to vent.

First the Theo story -- I want to hear what Peter Gammons has to say about all of this. He's close to baseball and he knows everyone; I'm sure he's written some good stuff on this story, but I'm not an insider so I'm not privileged to read him anymore. ESPN took away the preeminent Hall of Fame baseball writer away from the public. How much money do they make with "insider" subscriptions? They act like a news source and make plenty of money through their restaurants, television revenue, web advertising, and even their bad magazine. Is it really a good idea to piss off millions of sports fans just to make a little more web revenue? I suppose I could have watched Sportcenter to hear Peter Gammons, but I wasn't in the mood to listen to Stuart Scott "keepin' it real."

Then there's ESPN's terrible coverage of football. We already know their announcers are clowns, but a lot of announcers aren't good. The source of ESPN's terrible football coverage is their production. Other networks understand that the main theme of a football game should be the game itself. ESPN doesn't get this -- they think people watch games so they can learn more about a story they chose to stuff down our throats. Usually it's about how wonderful a coach, owner, or player is.

This time it was the return of Bruschi. I was excited about Bruschi returning, but I was also excited about seeing a football game. By the end of the first quarter even the biggest Bruschi fans were sick of the deification of Tedy.

The most blatant cases of ESPN concentrating on a story rather than the game was Suzy Kolber doing her ridiculous sideline reports as she ignored a big Brady fumble and then an even bigger Bills fumble. She talked through the two biggest plays of the game.

Two more issues before I end my rant. Does ESPN get charged for every replay they show? Why won't they show replays of penalties? The Pats were being called for holding over and over at the beginning of the game. Were their linemen being dominated by the Bills' defense or were the refs blowing the call? Then their was a personal foul call that ESPN never showed. Forget all the steroid laws. Congress should enact a law that requires networks to replay all personal fouls.
My last issue, if you're still reading, is their terrible sideline reporter Suzy Kolber. When a network is concentrating on the game itself, a sideline reporter will find out about what coaches are saying and injury information. All Kolber does is read pre-scripted information. ESPN is so proud that they got "the chance" to speak with coaches and players days before the game. Guess what? Everyone in the media gets to talk to coaches and players, and football fans read all of this information throughout the week. Fans need new information related to the game. How about an explanation of that bizarre "unnatural act" call? How about an explanation of the Patrick Pass injury?

I need to stop now. ESPN=bad.