10 Things I Would Change About ESPN

March 14th, 2006 | by Scott |

Note: I’m taking a break this week from some of my usual heavy fare. (Well, probably not all week but at least today). In the meantime, check out a great entry from my twin brother Jason.

I love ESPN. It is, after all, the world wide leader in Sports. You have to love that. But there are things that either drive me crazy about the monolith that is Bristol or that I miss from the glory days. Here’s my list:

  1. Bring Back Olbermann. Buy out his contract with MSNBC, apologize for not valuing him in the first place, overlook his ego, give him full editorial control over Sportscenter, whatever it takes to get him back. This would go along way to fixing number 2.
  2. Ban catch-phrases and attempts at humor by stiff anchors. None of them will be the next Patrick and Olbermann. They won’t even be the next Mayne, Kilborn or Eisen. So, stop it. Now.
  3. Put the permanent Muzzle on Chris Berman. His shtick was great 12 years ago. It’s just tired now. I can live out the rest of my days without hearing another nickname. On that note,
  4. Isn’t it time for Vitale’s retirement party? There is no more annoying announcer in the HISTORY OF BROADCAST TELEVISION, BABY! How about hiring somebody who can announce without bluster and who sees the value of schools outside of the ACC?
  5. Shut down page 2. When you go out and hire Skip Bayless you sacrifice all claims to a. hipness, b. objectivity, c. credibility and d. excellence.
  6. Redeem your morning talk radio. I find it incredibly hard to believe that the best you can offer us between 9-12 is Colin Cowherd.
  7. Someone scoring a hockey goal is not a top 10 play.
  8. Can we limit the number of Alley Oops in the top 10 plays to 2?
  9. Hire some journalists for ESPN the Magazine. Or hand it over to people who know something about content. When you do have meaningful articles we have to sift through 60 pages of nothingness to get there.
  10. Bring back Olbermann. You can disregard my other suggestions if you will just act on this one.

What are your thoughts?

Post a Comment