Did you know…They should change SportsCenter
I don’t know about you, but every morning begins with ESPN’s SportsCenter at my house. The HD-DVR is set for 6 a.m. to record the most important on-going sports program in the history of television. The show stars with the flashy “cold open” in which the previous day’s highlights are spliced to match perfectly with the “Da Da Da…Da Da Da…” The cable station’s premier program is constantly making changes, trying to stay ahead of the curve and remain atop the mountain of rehashed sports, but not all of these changes have worked, some have been a major failure (see General Manager Steve Phillips segment a little over a year ago), while others have stuck around and grown stale. It’s those segments, more than anything else, that are making the program difficult to watch and in need of a few major changes.
Before I begin my list of what I see as needed changes, let’s just take a look at some of the things that make the show the leader in sports news. First, they’re really the only show in town. You can get your local sports in the last 5 minutes of the news if you like, but to get the full perspective of highlights and analysis you need to tune into the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN). SportsCenter was way ahead of the curve with HD, offering one of the first HD shows for sports fans who had blown a wad of cash on an HDTV. They have become an icon of American pop culture, to the point that no mater how powerful their competition, none of their rivals can matchup. Unlike Fox News taking the ratings away from the mighty CNN, Fox Sports Net was little match for the mighty ESPN. Having said all this, here are a few changes I think they should make:
Drop the Ultimate Highlight
This is without a doubt the worst segment of SportsCenter and for some reason it just keeps going. If you’re not familiar with it, the “Ultimate Highlight” is nothing more than a crappy 2 minute edit of the best and bizarre highlights from the day in sports. It is all set to music, often stuff you’ve never heard of, before letting us know that we’ve all been duped into watching a Gatorade commercial. It’s a money making excuse of a segment and it needs to be knocked off.
No more ESPN Deportes
Why are we being forced to watch highlights of Asian basketball, European soccer and downhill skiing from the North Pole? Does anyone tune into SportsCenter wondering how these events turned out? Thought not. Drop it.
Make all the shows 60 minutes
Monday morning, when I turn on the TV, I’m welcomed with an extra half hour of SportsCenter that I don’t want or need. The extra 30 minutes is filled with an always touching oversized package about some guy who used to be a long snapper who was nearly killed in sky diving accident, but still went on to open a chain of sandwich shops. Enough. ESPN has plenty of channels to highlight these tear jerking stories, why they feel the need to force it on us while I’m trying to see what happened to the Yankees-Blue Jays game is beyond me.
Don’t bury hockey
Hockey is not anywhere near the top of my list of favorite sports, so not having to sit through NHL highlights, isn’t really a big deal for me. Having said that, SportsCenter is just about the only way that most people even know that hockey is still played in this country, thanks to the move to Versus. It’s obviously become an afterthought when putting together the show line up, since ESPN didn’t re-sign with the NHL, but nothing more than some C-block highlights and a quick conversation with Barry Melrose while the NBA gets first block treatment and 5 person analysis from the arena, is a little ridiculous.
Stop following the money
Like the burial of the NHL highlights, ESPN is following the money in the way they force Arena Football highlights on us. Just because they now own a portion of the league, they feel the need to pretend it’s a major league sport. It’s not. Like the AFL, they’ve been completely hypocritical with Mixed Martial Arts. After publicly telling MMA fans that they don’t show UFC highlights because it’s not a real sport, they go and sign a contract with MMA because their ratings are off the charts, and now you can see the UFC on ESPN. It’s awesome that MMA is now on SportsCenter, but it should have happened years ago.
More Bob Ley, less Kenny Mayne
Finally, let’s bring a little credibility back to the show. Kenny Mayne may be considered funny by some viewers, but not every home run needs to be followed with “It’s his 17th, not in this game, that would be a record.” Kenny may be the worst, but others also try too hard to work in the obscure movie quote, thinking it will make the highlight better. Why not try and find a few more guys like Bob Ley, who deliver the sports, not the one liners.