Bad sports, good sports: how FOX ruined my Saturday
I am amazed at the fact that I can be regularly surprised by things that happen in the world of sports, despite the number of years that I have spent watching games. When the surprising things involve incredible acts of athleticism, it’s a great thing. More often, though, I am amazed at the lengths to which the media will force us to bear witness to whatever crap they think we should be talking about today. I am generally not one to rail against the media, realizing that what we watch and read is often a real reflection of what we are already discussing. Sometimes, though, there really is something to the idea that certain omnipresent sports outlets (read: ESPN) have a vested interest in making sure that we focus closely on the things that they are most interesting in bringing to us.
Saturday afternoon, I was watching the Phillies play the Mets. To be fair, this one was on FOX, not ESPN. Early in the game, the network inexplicably broke into the game to bring us live coverage of Manny Ramirez’s at-bat against the Padres. In case you were unaware, Ramirez was suspended for fifty games for violating Major League Baseball’s rules against performance enhancing drugs. He returned on Friday. Correct…. Friday. So Saturday was not even his first game back. What was FOX thinking? Why on earth was it necessary to break into the Phillies game to show this? First, this was not the return of a conquering hero. He was suspended for cheating. Second, did they think that Phillies or Mets fans were interested in this? I know that I, for one, could not have possibly cared less. Third, as I stated, this wasn’t even his first game back! To compound the atrocity, they broke in for every at-bat he had. So my enjoyment of the Phillies win over the Mets had to be interrupted multiple times so I could see this cheater bat in a game that meant very little in the grand scheme of the things.
Each time it happened, I got angrier. Yelling at the TV began with the second occurrence. By the third, I had no doubt of what my column would be about this week. I just can’t understand what they could possibly have intended by foisting this upon us. Were we supposed to be rooting for Ramirez? Jeering him? I guess the point was that we should talk about it. Which I guess I am doing here. Damn.
Bad sports, continued:
2) A 72-year-old cricket umpire was killed when he was struck in the head with a ball during a match in Wales. What a terrible story.
3) Not sure I like where this suggests college sports is headed. Evan Berry, the brother of the University of Tennessee’s star safety Eric Berry, has accepted a scholarship offer to play at UT. He is thirteen.
Good sports:
1) Joey Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win a competition on Coney Island. I read about this on ESPN.com. Fun stuff, but someone please explain to me why this is sports.
2) Roger Federer won his 6th Wimbledon title, and his 15th grand slam tournament. Amazing.
3) Albert Pujols made another all-star team, leading all vote-getters. He is incredible. Boy, I really hope he is for real. There is no reason to think he is not. There just have been so many disappointments, as player after player turns up dirty. I truly hope he is for real.
R.I.P Steve McNair. You will be missed.
Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday
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Mannywood at it’s worst. When Bonds, an accused cheater, was going for the home run title, they broke into every game for every at bat he had… but at least that made some sense. This is just ridiculous.