The Demise of Sportscenter

   I had to get up super early this morning, so just for some background noise, I tossed on SportsCenter AM. Growing up, SportsCenter in the morning had been the go-to for all my sports highlights, recap of the previous night’s events and insightful analysis about them.  However, what I saw this morning was anything but the TV show I had watched religiously as a child. What had once been a mecca of all the best in the sporting had instead been replaced with nothing but fluff.

        The very first thing I saw when I turned on the television was a piece titled the “Top 20 SportsCenter Not Top 10 Countdown”. In case the essay of a title didn’t cue you enough, this segment was to be a countdown of the most iconic “bad” plays in sports history. Setting aside the fact that I completely disagreed with almost every single play in the countdown, the logic behind the production was almost as embarrassing as the actual product itself. SportsCenter was originally designed to catch viewers up to speed with highlights from the last night’s games. Instead, this countdown was a compilation of overplayed blooper reels during sporting events that occurred no more recently than 5 years ago, capped off by the “iconic” butt fumble, which might have been played on SC more times than a millennial checks their phone during the day.

        At least during the way too long of a title segment SportsCenter showed replays, though. One of the next segments was a piece on the UCLA-UConn Women’s College Basketball matchup. Instead of discussing the phenomenal young talent on both teams, ESPN instead led with a tweet from the UCLA student section’s Twitter account about how UCLA was guaranteed to win the matchup and followed with a Twitter video of UConn head coach Geno Auriemma’s response to that tweet. By the time all this nonsense was over, SportsCenter only had time to show 3 highlights from the game itself, which seems rather lacking, considering the magnitude of the game itself.

        I don’t know how it was even possible, but somehow things got worse. Later in the show, someone covered a piece on the Davidson-Nevada basketball game, which was supposed to be a significant matchup, though was overshadowed by a prop bet made between Nevada alum JaVale McGee and Davidson alum Steph Curry. The details of this bet were unimportant to the matchup itself, but SportsCenter made sure to spend more time “expertly analyzing” the details of the bet than they did the on the basketball game itself. In fact, the only coverage provided of the matchup was one highlight from the game to show that Nevada won, meaning that McGee had won the wager. Ultimately, instead of focusing on a significant matchup between two good teams, SportsCenter was more focused on covering a private wager leaked and made viral through social media.

        I think the Worldwide Leader In Sports may need to consider looking into a new nickname based off the content they’ve been producing as of late. It’s not just SportsCenter that needs an overhaul, either. The whole TV lineup aside from the dwindling sports coverage itself has been in a downward spiral. I mean, the only thing more Highly Questionable than whoever greenlit that show to begin with is what purpose Gonzalo LeBatard (aka “Papi”) serves to a supposed sports talk show, as he certainly didn’t make the cut based on good looks and charm. Therefore, someone please teach ESPN how to compartmentalize their product. If you establish yourself as the leader in sports coverage, then social media, outdated highlights and fluff pieces have absolutely no business in any of your programming. Stick to the sports highlights that I grew up loving, along with the vast majority of modern sports fans. However, should ESPN continue throwing together such disappointing material, consider it an invite for the next wave of sports media to end the sports leader’s reign.  

Written by Paul Choma