The Oversaturation of Sports

If you flip on cable TV at about any time on any given day the odds are you will be able to find some kind of sports event or sports related show within a few minutes of channel surfing. Whether it be one of the five ESPN networks, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports network, or a collection of other local channels sports channels can be hard to miss. The odds are that they will all be talking about roughly the same thing most of the time too.

Is this a bad thing though? One positive is that in a world where we have wars and a troubled economy sports can create a great distraction from the realities of life around us. Do we really need 24/7 coverage though on every form of media imaginable? In my opinion there is an oversaturation but just like many things that can cause such a diverse amount of opinions multiple ways to voice those opinions develop.

I have to admit that I have a more unique relationship with sports than just a normal fan. My career is wrapped around sports and the existence of sports so I have an invested interest in it. Possibly that’s why I think there is too much sports in the media though, I never really get a great escape from it at work like most people. Sports just don’t serve as the kind of escape to me that it is for some people.

My main issue arises in a situation like the A-Rod scandal that is going on right now. Do we really need to spend half an hour of an hour long highlight show talking about 1 man? I realize Rodriguez is a larger than life athlete because of his contract and skill but there are so many good things going on in sports that could use some attention.

It’s because of coverage like the coverage of A-Rod or Bonds or Michael Phelps that I find myself tuning into ESPN less and less and turning to channels like Discovery or even Disney channel. They are safe bets to have original entertainment that will have variety and be something unique. I will turn to ESPN when they are actually airing a game because I enjoy watching sports I just don’t really enjoy listening to so called “experts” talk about it anymore.

To me there isn’t a lot that can match the thrill of an exciting live sports event or even an exciting game on TV. I’ve found though that sometimes the less I know about the situation around a game the more I enjoy it. I just want to go and enjoy the game for the game, not because the starting point guard called the opponents center a momma’s boy.

The sporting world seems to be on a mission to accent the individual and forget about the team. For example all you hear about is the Lakers while the Spurs are just a side comment. The Spurs are a great team, while the Lakers are a good team and you realize that if you can see past the fact that Kobe Bryant is on the team. I can’t say when the name on the back of the jersey became more important than the name on the front but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing it go back to valuing the name on the front.

These are a few of the things that the oversaturation of sports talk has just made worse in my opinion. We live in a world where if a station like ESPN wanted to they could air actual sporting events almost 24 hours a day but instead they generally only have sports from 7-10 every night and leave the rest up to their “experts.” I consider myself lucky that I have been exposed to a wide variety of sports and wish that ESPN would air a lot more soccer and also start airing things like Rugby and Aussie Rules Football. I would much rather watch a sport I had little knowledge about than listen to an old retired player try and talk with the idea that since he played he knows all there is to know about a sport from the front office down to the waterboy.

For the sake of not dragging my opinions out for too long I will wrap this up. I will probably go into each portion of this in more detail later since more is needed to full explain my views, hopefully that all comes off as intelligent and not just complaining. If nothing else I hope it makes you think a bit because we would all be better off thinking more and not just following the crowd.

The Daily Run

Distance: 2.8 miles

Weather: 70 degrees, a great Florida day

Notes of interest: nothing special just a nice day for a run