ESPN a necessary evil

Last year in my sports writing class, my professor indirectly challenged me to realize that ESPN is not truly refined journalism. The 'E' stands for entertainment and that is the Disney-owned channel's main goal, to entertain readers and viewers. Put simply, it's a cash cow.

I thought about it for a while, and right off the bat I refused to believe it. 'Sure, the 'E' stands for entertainment, and that's what ESPN does, but what's wrong with that?' I thought to myself. I was and still am a subscriber to ESPN The Magazine, and I'm a religious watcher of Sportscenter. I love reading anything by Bill Simmons, and while Rick Reilly talking makes me want to stab my ears, he's a great writer.

I could go on and on about how baffled I was that ESPN was being laid out in front of me, put on trial in the court of public opinion, and how I was responding like a kid refusing to believe the bully who told him there is no Santa Claus, but I digress. What's more, I refused to throw ESPN out the window and trash everything I thought I felt and knew.

If ESPN is the Playboy of sports journalism, I wanted to figure it out for myself, so I challenged myself to do exactly that. Roughly a year later, I can say that my professor was right, not that I didn't believe him. ESPN has an ombudsman, which is actually an ombudswoman at the moment. This person investigates and attempts to resolve complaints from viewers and readers. That's not a fact checker, it's someone who explains things to people who don't like the content. If ESPN were a legitimate news outlet, it wouldn't need to explain things like why Mel Kiper Jr's awful glare won't go away, and why it listed its Top 25 list the way it did.

But ESPN is an entertainment programming network, so it must appeal to its viewers. While it is a news outlet, it's more than that. It's hip-hop, pop culture, sexy, et al. It's sensationalism to the max, yellow journalism on crack.

Even Simmons, who I practically worship as a writer, is a Boston homer who gets paid to party at the Super Bowl and All Star weekends and write about it as well as his super suave sarcastic take on it all.

Coors Light Six Pack of Questions, Bud Light Hot Seat, Bud Light Freeze Frame Image of the Week.

After watching Justin Timberlake being featured on Sportscenter this morning, I have come to the conclusion that ESPN's constant drive to be hip and sexy, appealing to its audience and monitoring that appeal constantly, shaping and re-shaping its image, is what makes it great and awful all at once. It's become a necessary evil for any sports fan.

Unless you're truly old school, relying solely on newspapers and local news sources, you can't be a legitimate sports fan without watching, reading, or logging on to ESPN. It's the stranglehold the network has on our lives and that hold isn't loosening. It is owned by Disney after all.