ESPN is really, really bored
Oh how our society has changed.
When it has nothing better to do, ESPN always has the speed dail of today’s most famous rappers. First, the four-letter-network felt it would be a great idea to have Lil Wayne and Skip Bayless go head to head. Don’t get us wrong: it was really entertaining, but only because Skip Bayless is a moron and got shut down by a dude who can hardly string a non-lyrical sentence together.
And now they’ve got 50 Cent in the studio.
The steroid talk was fine to start off with. After all, Mr. Cent is from New York. But if you’re going to interview the hardest rapper around — a dude who has been shot more than a half-dozen times — about his thoughts on Plaxico shooting himself and then telling him he’s very wealthy and then asking him if he’ll give some of his money back to help the less fortunate, have a black guy conduct the interview.
No, we’re not a racist bunch here at TSC. Not at all. But there have been so many research projects conducted that suggest a black man will answer with more ease and validity if he’s being grilled by a person of his own color. Have Stuart Scott or Steven A. Smith run this interview.
Next, wake up Mr. Cent and have him look decent enough for TV. We get that he’s a rapper, but hell, even Weezy wore a suit.
And finally, if you’re really interested in getting rappers on the air, make sure they’re diehard fans. Jay Z is. Lil Wayne is. And 50 is not.
Brett Favre retires. Do you care?
No.
Tiger Woods returns. Does that matter?
I’m not a big golf fan.
Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby. You’re wearing a hockey hat.
The hat matches the shirt, man. You set me up.
The thing that bothers me about ESPN is the way they constantly repeat seemingly unimportant if not outright boring aspects of a story. With the Brett Favre story, they could’ve at least offered up some human interest angles to the story or done something to make it less dry.
For example, a group of Brett’s fans put together a really cool book – “Letters To Brett Favre: A Fan Tribute” – comprised of hundreds of messages from fans all over the world. On top of that, the project’s author is a young stroke survivor, and potions of the profits from the book are being given to the Special Olympics in honor of Brett.
This is a great story, one I would have enjoyed hearing about on ESPN. Did they cover it? No. Instead, they played hour after hour of the same Favre stats we all have embroidered on our brains from sheer repetition. I had to hear about this story through a small town newspaper that was sitting in the lobby of my doctor’s office.
If you’ve had enough ESPN for now, click off your set and go visit the web site for the book. It’s far more interesting than anything our friendly neighborhood sportscasters have talked about recently.
http://letterstobrettfavre.com/