The Morning After on TSE - 7.5.2007

I have to hand it to ESPN. Even after Seaward nailed down 100 things to hate about the sports network to which we are all slaves (whether we want to be or not) they keep churning out new, better and more hateable things everyday. Let's have a nice, open-hearted discussion, then, about one of the worst things to happen to sports television since "Playmakers" got booted from the air (that's a long rant and beside the point so I'll digress):

Who's Now.

In the pantheon of things that are detestable, this must be displayed prominently toward the front. I'm all for alternative programming (well, not really, but humor me) however when ESPN started announcing this tournament, it peaked my interest, if only so I could see just how far down the network has fallen. For this "Who's Now" deal, ESPN has done the following:

- Created an entire set devoted to the 32-day competition.
- Hired somebody to record an "off-the-hook jam" as a theme song.
- Created an intro montage.
- Put Michael Smith, Keyshawn Johnson (really?) and Kirk Herbstreit (raise your hand if you were at his son's baptism...GoCM raises hand...count it) in a room with Stuart "Lazy Eyes" Scott for the "commentary" and "analysis".
- Bored the millions of ESPN watchers to tears of both hate and laughter with how stupid this whole monstrosity truly is.

I realize it is July 5th and the only thing going in the world of sports is baseball and Arena Football (go Destroyers! Beat Dallas!!) so ESPN really has to try to fill a 60-minute sports highlight show (and 90-minutes on Sunday nights). But there has to be something better than this. We're only 10 years removed from The Big Show with Dan and Keith and in those 10 years the greatest sports highlight show in history has turned into a pandering, promotional outlet for the sports stars of the world. There used to be in depth reporting and laugh-out-loud comedy in the daily sports wrap-up and here we are, in 2007, talking about Tiger Woods and Matt Leinart. Puh-lease.

I'm a loyal Sportscenter fan and while I hate what it's become, I will always turn it on in the mornings and evenings to catch up on what's going on in sports. But things like this make me want to try, in vain, to find something alternative to SC. What is the answer, you ask? Well I have no idea. That's why I'm sitting at a computer and blogging and not programming for the WWL. But if anyone has a better idea, it'll be welcome in the comments throughout the day.