So a funky thing is happening in ESPN right now. It is absolutely irritating and is quite strong enough to be pointed out. This article was ultimately inspired by an article by the usually-reliable Bill Simmons when he claimed that the basketball game that featured the Bulls ending the winning streak of the Heat was the greatest regular season game of all-time.
That does it.
I am calling you out ESPN, I honestly am.
ESPN, you folks are caring more and more about basketball, neglecting the other sports not because of a so-called resurgence of the NBA, but because your company that runs you has full authority on the NBA Finals and access to most of the major basketball games. And while before it led to a few jabs and a few jokes, we are now seeing a rather dangerous pampering and protecting of the National Basketball Association that’s reached levels I’d never imagine.
I noticed the potential special treatment when your network was extremely quiet about the referee gambling situation (that led to the utter destruction of the extremely fun Sacramento Kings back in the early 2000s), even though it was a scandal that should have been approached and referenced constantly because of its destruction of a former dearly loved franchise known as the Sacramento Kings. The Kings should have gone into the NBA Finals back in 2002 as they were the better team in the latter half of that Western Conference Finals series. By the end of this year, they might lose the Kings altogether, while the NBA remains intact and incident-free because the leading network in sports news didn’t do much in covering the story of illegal gambling.
And now we have come to this season in which you can’t escape the NBA talk. It’s atrocious. The Super Bowl even calmly got supplemented underneath the marketing train of the NBA. Spring Training and the spectacular (Too many amazing moments to count) World Baseball Classic tournament got pushed to the side because ESPN was too busy trying to promote its NBA brand on the path to the NBA Finals----which will once again be broadcasted by the brother network ABC.
And good luck trying to escape and avoid the LeBron/MJ talk, and Lord only knows what will happen if LeBron and the Heat get that second title. What strikes me more is that they are two totally different players in terms of position, style, and technique. The 50th birthday of Michael Jordan was just a pure attack on the senses, dedicating an entire freakin’ week (seemingly a month) on the man’s birthday. Perhaps the most disgusting display was an entire Sportscenter presentation on just his shoe brand. Every, single, time, LeBron pulls off something we have to compare him to the greats, even though his path still doesn’t quite compare to that of Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan because the circumstances are different and he doesn’t have a rival. And P.S., Magic and Jordan never dreamed of joining forces with other superstars when the going got tough.
We can’t escape the talk about rivalries left and right and all over the place----when truthfully the only rivalries that currently exist are Lakers/Celtics, Knicks/Nets, Lakers/Clippers (Although that Heat/Bulls one may hold some merit if they meet in the playoffs). For the last time, LeBron and Durant do not hate each other; they are good friends that actually train together. Against ESPN’s best wishes, we are not seeing hated rivalries developing, no matter how much you try to spin this. You don’t see any attempts to make a rivalry out of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper in Major League Baseball. The only true player rivalry I see in the NBA is Shaq’s odd decision to pick on Dwight Howard in a monthly basis, and ESPN blowing it out of proportion. Stop it.
ESPN, stop it. Stop the massive overhype. Stop the constant building on non-stories. Stop exaggerating the success of certain players. There. Are. Other. Sports. Stop trying to make us care so much about the NBA. Let the public become interested, don’t spoon feed so much of it to us.
I’m getting sick.
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