Ranting about ESPN

Watching that ESPN series on sports and gambling, something struck me as odd, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, until I read this, from John Schwarb of the St. Pete Times:

Not to pile on too much against ESPN (in this space last week we questioned its anchors being advertising pitchmen), but we could have lived without the five-part SportsCenter series “Gambling in Sports: The National Pastime” last week.

For one thing, the packaging of it with the ballyhooed Hustle movie was far too cute. We’re not stupid, we could see the network trying to work us into a degenerate gambling froth, preferably one that would end Saturday night on the couch with their latest foray into original programming.

Parts of the SportsCenter series were laughable, others lazy and less informative than they should have been. A segment on the point-shaving scandal with the 1993-94 Arizona State men’s basketball team relied on old interviews with all parties, failing to show what the guilty are doing now.

A segment on poker’s underbelly - young people spending countless hours and money playing online - rang hollow considering how much ESPN promotes this foolishness. The network is not to blame for an individual’s decision to mortgage the future on card games, but after glorifying poker for hours every week, showing a few minutes on its dark side seems trite.

On the whole, it is hilarious to watch SportsCenter turn into 60 Minutes when “investigating” gambling. The undertones of betting on an all-sports network are constant, either in subtle forms (the never-ending ticker) or in your face (”Hammerin”‘ Hank Goldberg’s Sunday morning football picks).

Perhaps any investigations could start within the Bristol, Conn., offices, where Mike Freeman reported in his 2000 book ESPN: The Uncensored History that gambling was rampant.

Instead, we’re subjected to a five-part series ending in a Pete Rose movie. Oh, well, we watched it all, so you win, ESPN. Again.

Rant: ESPN gambling series comical

Now I remember what was so odd: the channel that ran a countdown clock on their bottom line that ticked off the seconds until the next episode of the WSOP being a little sanctimonious about gambling. It’s great when people and organizations contradict themselves so blatantly that this transcends hypocrisy.

Not all TV is bad–a new episode of The Wire aired last night. It’s honestly the only show that I regularly watch, and it just keeps getting better.