First of all, let me congratulate Derek Jeter on his 3000th hit. I understand that's a major accomplishment, especially because he's the first Yankee to do so, and that's saying something. But here's the thing: I didn't need to tell you that he was the first Yankee to reach that milestone, that Ruth, DiMaggio, Gehrig, or Berra never got number 3000. I didn't need to tell you that Jeter would be the first player ever, Yankee or not, to get his 3000th hit at Yankee Stadium, old or new. The national sports media has already done that, over and over and over again.
If you turned SportsCenter or just about any other show on ESPN during this last week, there was a good chance that you were reminded at least once that Jeter was close to making history. And if you're a big sports fan who has to get your fix of ESPN every day, the number 3000 and the name Derek Jeter was beat mercilessly into your skull at every opportunity. And now that he's reached that milestone, ESPN is once again going all out on its coverage of it. ESPN's broken out old interviews with Jeter as well as new ones, shows the replay of the hit every fifteen minutes, and breaks down the significance of the event after every replay.
It might seem like this is merely a rant about ESPN's coverage of Derek Jeter's 3000th hit, but it's about more than that. This is a rant about ESPN itself, and how it goes completely over the top about certain events, and chooses to trivialize others. Earlier this week, it somehow managed to fit some coverage about the anniversary of LeBron James and The Decision in between its never-ending coverage of Jeter's run towards 3000. Now, there have been about a million things written about The Decision and ESPN's infamous role in putting together such a shameless and biased program, so I won't get into The Decision itself. But choosing to put together a retrospective for the one-year anniversary of it (which I didn't watch but did hear ran about five minutes during every SportsCenter that night) is another example of overkill.
But in order to understand why instances such as these are considered (by me) to be overkill, you have to understand a little more about ESPN, and exactly where the line is drawn in terms of being a member of the news media. People expect media organizations to be, for the most part, unbiased. When something newsworthy happens, the media does the best it can to cover the event in order to keep the public informed. This is how the system is supposed to work, whether the coverage is aimed at foreign affairs, politics, local occurrences, or sports.
But too often now, the media creates the news. Just look at The Decision. The suspense that was created once LeBron James became a free agent was enormous. Basketball fans across the country were constantly trying to figure out where LeBron would want play. And when he finally did make up his mind, he teamed up with ESPN to announce his choice during a one hour special in July. But here's the problem: Stephen A. Smith, a reputable NBA reporter, stated back in June of last year that LeBron would sign with the Miami Heat, which LeBron ended up doing. Sure, this could have been a lucky guess, but it was never mentioned by ESPN in the days leading up to The Decision, when ESPN was probably already setting up The Decision.
And when ESPN's own reporter, Chris Broussard, announced via Twitter in the early morning hours of the day The Decision aired that LeBron to Miami was a confirmed fact, the network went ahead with the program anyway. It had already committed to making the event into a so-called big moment in the history of sports. And even after Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade announced that they would sign with the Miami Heat several hours before The Decision, a move which signified that there was no doubt LeBron was going to Miami, ESPN went ahead with The Decision.
ESPN was largely responsible for creating all the hype surrounding last year's NBA free agent market, as it did to a lesser extent with its coverage of Jeter's 3000th hit, and this highlights ESPN's main problem. It's supposed to be an unbiased sports media outlet, but it's not doing a very good job with that "unbiased" part. ESPN has largely failed to stay objective, and, at times, appears to be a giant hype machine for whatever sports story they feel like pushing at that particular time. It tries to hide behind the defense that they're only covering what people want to see, but when you're responsible for trying to create that which people want to see (such as the Miami Heat), you've failed to be objective.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying ESPN orchestrated LeBron signing with the Heat. But the "product" that was the newsworthiness of the Miami Heat is (mostly) ESPN's creation. I understand that it can be tough to balance being both a news organization as well as a business that's about entertainment, but lately ESPN hasn't really even tried to. Fortunately for us, Jeter's 3000th hit was a single, unrepeatable event. But LeBron and company are going to be playing for the Miami Heat for the next five years. That's 410 games, not including the playoffs, of LeBron and the Heat for ESPN to cover. And cover. And cover.
The truth of the matter is that ESPN is trying to sell a product to its viewers. It's right there in the name: Entertainment Sports Programming Network. And worse yet, it won't admit to doing so. In the aftermath of The Decision, ESPN's ombudsman refused to acknowledge any mistakes it made in regards to maintaining its objectivity as a news organization. There's been no apology, or even recognition of wrong doing. There's been no change in philosophy (as seen by the Jeter coverage, and celebrating the anniversary of The Decision), or attempt made to regain its objectivity, and that may be the most damning part.
Unfortunately for sports nuts like me, there's no alternative to ESPN. It's closest challenger, as far as I can tell, is Versus, and that's not much of a competitor. Right now, there's simply no way for a sports network to challenge ESPN for supremacy. The only option I've seen is turning to channels like the NFL Network and the MLB Network. But chances are you have to pay extra for them, because they're not included in most basic cable plans. So unfortunately for me, I'm stuck with ESPN.
You still with me? Thanks for sticking along, and don't worry, my rant's nearly finished. I know that some people might think that this is not a huge deal, because there's a vast difference between objectivity in sports networks like ESPN and news networks like CNN, which cover much more significant and newsworthy events. But as a journalism student who's interested in working in sports, reporting the story and not creating it is quite important to me. I've seen the Chicago sports media create and spin stories to their liking, and it's both infuriating and sad. I love writing, and I love sports. I hope to combine those two into a career, so it's heartbreaking to see professional journalists making a mockery of the profession I so strongly desire to have. So here's to hoping that if I make it, I'll have a bit more integrity than what I'm currently seeing in the sports journalism profession today.
Until next time, Orange Hat Guy
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