I grew up with ESPN. When there's nothing else on or I want the latest headlines, there's always "SportsCenter." When I need my college football or basketball fix, ESPN and its myriad networks are there. When I want insightful commentary, shows like "Pardon the Interruption" and "The Sports Reporters" fill the bill.
From my perspective, however, watching the on-air and behind-the-scenes battle for the soul of ESPN has been as interesting or more than the product itself. Much like America, there are two ESPNs: The ESPN built on intelligent, thoughtful reportage and commentary and the ESPN built on Joe Sixpack, the "regular guy" looking for lowest common denominator sports coverage.
Representing the former are shows like "Pardon the Interruption" and "The Sports Reporters." "Outside the Lines" and "Around the Horn," however dreadful some of the hosts/personalities are, count too. So do the many "SportsCenter" field correspondents and league experts coming from print backgrounds, which gets me to my main thesis: The more the Worldwide Leader incorporates print reporters, the better.
Case in point: Tony Kornheiser*. Kornheiser is, hands down, the best reason to watch ESPN. In fact, his radio show was the only reason to listen to ESPN Radio during weekdays. He and his "PTI" partner Michael Wilbon both have the newspaper pedigree, having written for the Washington Post for quite some time.
Kornheiser's ESPN Radio show - he now hosts a national show not on the network - flied in the face of conventional sports talk wisdom. Kornheiser rarely, if ever, interviewed those currently playing the game; instead, he relied on his fellow sportswriters, who offer far more perspective and know-how than those they cover. Why? Because you and I both know that, with rare exceptions, listening to an interview with an athlete is just north of getting your teeth pulled with no anesthetic. They're often boring, they say the same things and many turn essay questions into yes-or-no answers.
Another sports talk taboo that Kornheiser embraced was very rarely opening up the phone lines. Why? Because who wants to hear what Frank In the Car from Lakewood - "First time, long time!" - has to say about the Cleveland Indians' struggling lineup when we could hear it from a Tribe beat reporter (who has most likely been writing about the team far before Frank saw his Major League dreams crushed, sending him to booze-fueled softball teams)?
But Kornheiser's show worked. It worked because it was smart. It worked because it didn't fall prey to the typical radio gimmicks. It worked because it didn't gear itself toward a sixth-grade audience. And when ESPN does that, it works, too. People like Kornheiser and shows like his and "The Sports Reporters" have opened doors for new network personalities like Stephen A. Smith,** writers who recognize that a television salary far outweighs their newsroom paycheck.
While the Kornheiserification of ESPN has been a great thing - it's introduced us to great voices like J.A. Adande of the Los Angeles Times, Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle and Wilbon himself - what hasn't been a great thing has been the network's seeming desire to take every good thing they've done and cover it with slop.
And by slop, I'm referring to shows like "Jim Rome is Burning" and "Dream Job." Both, though they do it in different ways, appeal to the "average guy," someone turning to ESPN for sacks, slam dunks and grand slams. Someone living their lives vicariously through professional sports. Someone who wants someone who either reinforces their views or wants to sit alongside Stuart Scott - perhaps the worst thing to hit ESPN since Chris Berman - in the "SportsCenter" studio.
As I said earlier, "when we desire to replace the smartest people in the room with 'people like us,' it's truly dangerous." We used to praise intelligence; now we praise the lowest common denominator. Replacing the above-average with the average hurts, in many cases, the final product. When trained journalists are pushed aside by hairpieces, no-talents and contest winners, ESPN ceases to be ESPN and becomes its competition, which it used to pride itself on crushing. Nothing on the Worldwide Leader should aspire to be "the Best Damn" anything. Period.
* For a great interview with Tony Kornheiser, listen to this chat with Bob Edwards.
** Is it just me, or has Stephen A. Smith flat-out taken over ESPN? I don't mind Smith, especially when he spars with columnist-cum-douchebag Skip Bayless. That said, does he have pictures of Al Jaffe that we're not aware of? I'm surprised he's not on "Baseball Tonight." In fact, he may be the first ESPN pundit to hit for the cycle and appear on each of the three "Trifecta" offerings. His new show, "Quite Frankly," begins next Monday. Though it's good to have another writer on the air, judging by the commercials I've seen, quite frankly, the show should only be on for about three weeks.