ESPN's view on sports skewed

By Matt Coller
Staff Columnist

When you think of journalism without integrity, you think E! channel.When you picture amoral reporting, you see National Inquirer.

But for me, what comes to mind first these days is ESPN.
Last week viewers were forced to suffer through analyst after analyst sorting out the repercussions of a David Ortiz jersey being buried in the new Yankee Stadium.

I don’t know about you, but this story reminded me of such headlines as, “Oprah gains 140 pounds,” and, “Man gives birth to gigantic turtle baby.”

I awoke to ESPN News reporting that Ortiz’s early season slump had been broken because his jersey had been unearthed. Hmm, you wouldn’t think Papi’s 268 career home runs or .382 OBP would have anything to do with him not staying below .100, right? No, it had to be the jersey.

If there was any productive unearthing, it was the digging up of some problems I’ve had with America’s favorite sports network.

We’ll start with the shameless lack of promotion of sports that aren’t played on ESPN — such as NHL hockey.

Although attendance at NHL games in 2007-08 averaged around 16,000 per game, “Sportscenter” continued to show more Major League Soccer highlights while hockey analyst Barry Melrose sat in the dark collecting dust.

But because ESPN shows MLS games, they are reported on. So, according to them, hockey is only America’s fourth favorite sport if it’s shown on their network.

And is it any coincidence that “1st and 10,” “PTI” and “Around The Horn” never seem to have any NHL-based questions? I think not.

But moving forth on the Lutheran-like list of grievances — the NFL.

Major League Baseball season is starting and both the NBA and NHL are entering their playoffs. So, why is ESPN showing a two-hour long special on NFL team schedules?

Not to mention “NFL Live” keeping its slot through the entire off-season. OK fellas, only seven more months to go. Thanks Sean Salisbury, but in the month of March, the good-ole boys are really stretching for stories.

I can’t decide which is worse: seeing the latest photos of TomKat on a beach in Monaco or hearing the latest Brett Favre teaser quote about coming out of retirement.

The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states, “Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.”

If we call reporting on a supernatural No. 34 courageous, and doing it because Yankees/Red Sox is on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball fair and honest, then we have a problem.

Another thorn in my craw is the women of ESPN. Aren’t we a little tired of some ditzy blonde running up to Kobe Bryant at half-time asking him, “How did you feel after you hit that three-pointer?”

Isn’t it a little sad that, even though there is a large contingency of talented women in sports journalism, all the ESPN ladies sit, read a teleprompter and pass it off to the all-male crew of analysts?

This is a network where women ask the questions, but never give the answers. They stand on the sidelines but never sit in the booth. ESPN gives females in sports broadcasting the idea that they should be baking a pie while the men are talking, and this is outright offensive.

In the end, we’re talking about a place where Derek Jeter jump tosses and Johnson HOF jackets are king, the offensive line doesn’t exist and there’s no such thing as a successful sac fly.

To me, it isn’t honest journalism to have the power to inform the public about the intricate aspects of sports, but instead choose self-promoting reporting and mindless fluff.