ESPN

Aside from the fact that yes, I enjoyed watching the race on Saturday, ESPN really bothered me this weekend.

I don't care about the Little League World Series. Apparently a lot of people do, so they air it. That's fine I suppose. Luckily there was a cheap Steven Segal movie on during the day yesterday. But there is no possible way that a kid hitting a walk off homer in the 8th inning of a Little League World Series game should be the leading story on Sportscenter.

Recall, ESPN is owned by Disney. So apparently, they were trying to let a few kids' dreams come true. I mean I guess that's their business model given the whole Magic Kingdom concept. But if that's what they were going for, how do they explain the bent over sobbing clips of the Japanese pitcher who gave up the blast? How is that kid going to feel when he sees himself on TV crying? Keep in mind, ESPN has to be shown in Japan even when he gets home. Hideki Matsui exists. Not to mention a game between two division leaders in the bigs with serious playoff implications is much more important than the LLWS. Also, had the Australian Open, a major championship in tennis, been yesterday, it would have taken at least a seat until the second commercial. Thankfully, the LLWS is a bigger deal than the former VT QB.

Next issue. As you know, I was in attendance for the UT/Cal game last year in Knoxville. I won't be in attendance this year at Berkley. Yes, this is sad. I will be in Pasadena next year for the UT/UCLA game. Troubadour beware. But as you can imagine, I haven't been sleeping well for a week in anticipation not only for the UT/Cal game, but for college football in general. I have spoken of last year's thumping. As I was reading today, ESPN messed up some airtime in last year's coverage. Most of America missed Cal's first play from scrimmage. This was a 31-yard pass completion. I wish everyone in America saw that simply to see how UT bounced back from one play to dominate two and a half quarters before putting in the second team. Not to mention, this was the only bright spot for Cal all game...since I think about 200 Cal fans traveled to UT, a lot of people missed it.

Finally, who holds their "experts" accountable? Not only have they been stealing ideas from No Owens (see their Big 10 analysis on their College Football Pre-Season show) but in most professions, people are held accountable for being wrong and out of line. With that being said, why does Sean Salsbury still have a job? What made him an "expert" in the first place? Salsbury just yells and gets angry about things after people do them. As if they effect him in some way. He's terrible. Also, Lou Holtz picked Notre Dame to win 10 games this year. He picked this on the air. That's not an expert's pick. That's the pick of an old man who couldn't get it done in the SEC.

ESPN, like Starbucks, has us cornered. We can't do anything besides watch it. But it's getting out of control. I watch less sports these days simply because I can't stand the majority of how it's aired. I watched the first minute of Sportscenter last night. I watch sporting events. Most of the time, I am tailgating during College Gameday, and I get the feeling that this year that's even going to be too much to handle. Maybe I'm getting old and don't appreciate this "entertainment" that they provide. But there are a lot of people like me who remember Patrick/Olberman. We miss them greatly.