Frequent RandBall commenter The Hootie takes exception with the way many live sporting events are covered these days, using last night’s home run derby as a launching pad. While it’s not quite as epic as Lifter Puller vs. The End Of The Evening, The Hootie vs. The Media does offer a fan’s perspective on viewing. But what does he know; he just pays the bills. The Hootie?

ESPNs coverage of the Home Run Derby was ridiculous. I think it was a perfect example of why so many fans are getting sick of the way ESPN and many other networks cover sports.

There were at least seven announcers/analysts last night. Why the [redacted] do we need almost one announcer per contestant?? It wouldn’t have been so bad if those people were talented or interesting to listen to, but they weren’t. ESPN has almost no talented personalities — only guys whose shtick was old a decade ago (Berman), former players who can’t stop talking about their glory days (Morgan), and straight-up tools (Reilly).

Then there was the coverage of the event itself. I read a week ago that FOX knows they needed to strike a balance between the All-Star Game and the fact that it’s the last year of Yankee Stadium. ESPN apparently didn’t get the memo. Some players went through their entire rounds with barely more than their name mentioned before the broadcast team went back to reminiscing about the stadium or interviewing someone. Shouldn’t the focus of the Home Run Derby broadcast be, you know, the Home Run Derby? (And maybe we could interview the guy who won before the runner up? And get his name right? Maybe??)

The handling of the whole Josh Hamilton story gets special mention. Yes, I understand that he’s made a remarkable turn around in his life. I’m sure he’s a great role model for recovering addicts everywhere. We’ve been hearing about it all season, though. Did it need to become the focus of the Home Run Derby? There were seven other guys competing — talented young players who’ve never ruined themselves with drugs and could actually be role models children. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t be sick of hearing about Josh Hamilton’s story after last night. He put on an amazing display during the derby — why can’t that be the story? This is my biggest problem with how sports are covered today: so much focus on off-field drama, so little focus on the actual events.

So, for discussion: RandBallers, what is your biggest complaint about the way sports are covered today?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 11:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.