Almost every sports fan I know begins or ends his or her day by watching ESPN and hearing SportsCenter’s famous “dun-na-na, dun-na-na,” while watching highlights of the previous night’s sporting events.
But sometimes the highlights are missing.
It is impossible to watch every play of every game as it is happening, so having a show that compiles highlights of the events is a great idea.
Unfortunately, SportsCenter has ventured so far from strictly televising highlights that it has turned into a frustrating hour of listening to Stephen A. Smith or Herm Edwards rant about terrible NFL teams.
I understand that the NFL is popular in the United States, but I can’t be alone in saying that the NFL receives a ridiculous amount of press.
For example, a little over a week ago, Todd Helton, the first baseman for the Colorado Rockies recorded his 2,500th hit, which is an impressive feat no matter what you say about Coors Field and the altitude.
How long did analysts dive into that? They mentioned it during the brief highlight of the game, and the following segment dedicated almost 15 minutes to “Johnny Football” and his showboating against Rice.
Tuesday morning’s 10 a.m. edition of SportsCenter began with coverage from the first Monday Night Football game between the Eagles and the Redskins.
The highlight portion of the coverage lasted about two minutes, and the other eight were spent by analysts discussing their opinions. The over-analyzation of the games cuts into the coverage of every other sport.
Also during Tuesday’s episode, it took almost 30 minutes until the program mentioned the heated playoff race in baseball; instead, SportsCenter analyzed a tweet from NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon.
So why do I keep coming back? It’s sports.
As a fan, I turn on SportsCenter as my background noise when I study, when I eat and when I get dressed — it is almost always on.
The impact that sports has had on my life draws me back to the show that I always say I hate, but love.
Most of us will never stop watching SportsCenter based on the sole fact that I, like many people in America, love sports, and I feel the need to be in the know about the right score, the big play, or the big highlight from the night in sports.
ph835608@ohiou.edu
@PaulHolden33
