The Cycle

No, I'm not talking about singling, doubling, tripling and homering in a single game.

I'm talking about the worst thing in the world. The ESPN cycle. This is where ESPN decides what they want to hang their hat on for a particular day (or days) and then use every available outlet to cover the story. The most recent example is of course the Elton Brand free agency.

Here's at least part of what Elton got to deal with on July 9 and 10:

Interview on Mike and Mike (tv/radio)
Interview on PTI (tv)
Interview on Sports Center (tv)
Interview with Mike Dunleavy on 710 ESPN (radio)
Interview with David Falk on 710 ESPN (radio)
Talked about on First Take (tv)
Talked about on Tirico and Van Pelt (radio)
Talked about on The Herd (radio)
Talked about on BS Report (internet)
Talked about on Sports Center (tv)
ESPN.com lead story (internet)
Two J.A. Adande feature stores (internet)

I understand there is news out there to be covered, but good grief, it's not like Elton had all that much to say. From all I saw/heard/read, he said the same damn thing in every single interview and quote. Does the interviewer make much of a difference then? It ends up being overkill and overwhelming which only hurts ESPN. If you're showing another interview with the same person with just a different host, I'm going to turn the channel. And I'm sure there are many others out there who feel the same way.

It's a lot like when ESPN tried to convince us that ESPN mobile was a great idea. The commercials were on all the time, it was plugged in every Sports Center and in as many ballgames as possible. But just because they tell us it's a big deal doesn't mean it is. Elton Brand signing with the Sixers is definitely news, but not because ESPN says so.

International Football's Heidi Game

The comparisons of today's Germany-Turkey Euro 2008 semifinal match with 1968's Jets-Raiders Heidi game are apt. After railing against false assumptions and comparisons with American sports, I have to cede some ground on this subject. Of course, unlike the real Heidi game, this game mattered far more and the degree to which television coverage was eliminated was far greater. In fact, amazingly, the only people on earth who watched an uninterrupted match were those watching on local Swiss tv in Basel and all those watching the Al Jazeera network. Talk about irony. The entire free world is in the dark while the preeminent Arab network broadcasts an undisturbed match involving Turkey and Germany.

All that aside, it was almost criminal how the television disaster occurred. The storms cancelling out coverage were in Austria, not in Switzerland where the game was actually being played. The lightening strikes that took out the Euro 2008 signal center weren't backed up in any way? How, in 2008, and in a country as advanced as Austria, could something like this happen? It's one thing for a screen to go blank momentarily, but during a game of this magnitude and with weather forecasts suggesting big storms? Unacceptable. I'd love to blame ESPN for this, but I'm not sure I can. Though if they'd actually had their commentators at the game we could have heard the game via television like a radio broadcast (though perhaps if they'd been there, that would have been lost as well).

In the end, most of the world misses an electric header by Miro Klose to give the Germans a brief lead and then was brought back to live picture seconds after Turkey scored to re-even the score. Thankfully we were able to watch Philipp Lahm crush the Turkish hopes late in the game, but even then the picture was lost again and the final minutes of the match, easily the most dangerous with this Turkish team, were lost to the masses. It's a good thing Turkey didn't score again, there would be utter outrage had that been the case.

Wilbon

Is it just me, or has Mike Wilbon aged twenty years almost overnight? The guy who was once interesting, insightful, relatively young and great at his job(s) is now overly conservative, old-sounding and more or less a first rate curmudgeon. Rather than focusing on sports analysis, Wilbon spends most of his PTI time at least, ranting against things or people that are in his opinion, "a joke," "a dope," or "junk." These things include Toronto FC fans throwing streamers on the field as celebration, any player (OJ Mayo being a recent example) who appears young and brash, or really anything that doesn't fit his particular set of beliefs. He is unabashedly supportive of all teams Chicago, which isn't a bad thing. However, Wilbon takes it to the nth degree by asserting that any player or coach who is from Chicago (Candace Parker, et al) are destined to be great because of their being from Chicago. He also name drops like it's his job, particularly when it comes to NBA conversations. We all know that big time writers are well connected, they wouldn't be big time writers if they weren't. But we don't need to hear about a round of golf with Charles Barkely or eating sushi with Michael Jordan. And we especially don't need to hear about all the "hip" clubs and restaurants he goes to. You never know how riches will change a person but Wilbon appears to be an example of someone who has allowed it to go to his head and affect his ability to even remotely cover sports without biases.

Isn't it also weird that Wilbon, a married man, would talk so openly on tv about wanting to have been invited to Matt Leinart's hot tub party? Those girls weren't even of legal drinking age and are less than half of Wilbon's age. Seems so contridictory to preach about the morals and right ways to go about living in the world of sport and constantly talk about the girls he'd love to share a hot tub with.

Very Very Interesting

Is it just me or have the ESPN talking heads' reaction to the Matt Leinart party last weekend been surprisingly uninterested? Tony Kornheiser, Mike Wilbon, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic have all expressed their confusion as to why anyone would make a big deal about a 24 year old guy having a party, drinking beer and enjoying a hot tub with some young ladies. Isn't it weird that ESPN people speaking on ESPN platforms would not be screaming about the moral outrage this episode contains? Aren't ESPN's front men usually the ones driving a story where there isn't really one to be had in the first place? Why are they dismissing this as unimportant? Is it because another source 'broke' the story and photos?

I can't say I think it's a very big deal since guys of similar age, even without being millionaires, probably do this exact same thing every weekend. Was it dumb to get 'caught,' I guess so. He probably should know better with this being the YouTube and cell phone camera age. But on the other hand, who really cares what he was doing his own house?

This seems like the kind of non-story that ESPN usually blows completely out of the water and talks about for weeks on end. Any chance this is being avoided because Leinart did the ESPN the Magazine cover and guest editor thing last year? Or maybe it'll just end up being a story that they talk about not being a story so much that it essentially becomes a bigger one anyway.

Note: This just popped up, a picture for which I have no defense.

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