OK, last one: first of all, I've always felt that Scott Van Pelt--along with Kenny Mayne--is the best ESPN has to offer, for many reasons. He is self-depreciating and humble, and has shown so with messages to Deadspin, on the radio, etc.

Well, after giving Kentucky's Rivals site a shout on SportsCenter tonight, he posted the following on Kentucky's free board:


var postUser123372548=795288;
DrawHeaderNew (93, 'Ellicott1', 795288,'','',4885,'',1,123372548,1383,'You fine people are bananas',123372548,888,'#ffffff','','','');
Ellicott1Post #4885MyFanPageAdd Buddy
You fine people are bananas
Reply
....I had to mention you on the show because I saw there were 5,000 + of you on here. Love the passion.I recall how bitter you were when we lead the show with VMI. As I think I explained that night, you all will ALWAYS be news because of who you are.We weren't "anti-Kentucky" that night or "on the bandwagon" tonight.You are KENTUCKY which, as I said on the show, puts you on the short list with UCLA, Kansas, IU, Duke and Carolina for all time programs. When something like VMI happens, we are going to lead with it. When a player establishes a new scoring record at a school with all your history, we are going to lead with it. Pretty simple.As a hoop fan, I enjoyed it because I think Meeks is fantastic and I love how he carries himself.SEC is wide open ..good luck the rest of the way.I'll drop in from time to time to say hey - I know ESPN sucks, or so I read, but I have developed a think skin. I know it's all rooted in a passion for sports that I share.Y'all be easy. SVP

That's about as cool as it gets.

Labels: ESPN, Scott Van Pelt, SportsCenter

Here's a quick recap of today's 5pm SportsCenter:

-Pat Forde--who I typically like--had a three-minute or so "story" (?) about Dana Torres. Torres, as most in Omaha know, qualified for the Olympics in swimming at the age of 41 and just two years removed from having a child, and just 8 months removed from having shoulder surgery. They had Forde on and he talked about how something is fishy about this story, and it's fishy because of the Mark McGuires and Barry Bonds' of the world.

What?? You're going on national television, on the most influential sports show in the United States, insinuating someone used steroids with LITERALLY no proof? All you have is a couple of anonymous swimmers that were at the meet that made "funny faces" during the medal ceremony? That thought it was odd that someone like that can come in and swim her best race of her career?

This was stunningly irresponsible by Forde, and even more so by the producers of SportsCenter that allowed this to air. I just did a Google news check, and nowhere is this even remotely insinuated. But because it is such a great story, Forde sees it as "suspicious," and is allowed to all but accuse her of using steroids? On live TV?

I hate frivolous lawsuits, but I hope Torres goes after ESPN. Just terrible.

--Then, there's A-Rod filing for divorce. OK, A-Rod is one of the biggest stars on the planet and he's an athlete. I suppose this kind of story on a sports show needs special treatment...time to bring on the expert at being a celebrity and an athlete...Mike Golic? What the hell is going on here? Mike Greenburg interviewing Mike Golic about how this will affect A-Rod and the Yankees, and how it will affect A-Rod's and Madonna's families? (By the way, he said it won't affect the Yankees because them and the Dallas Cowboys (?????) are used to a "circus tent" being around their clubhouses at all times." Oh. OK.)

This is not egregious or anything, just f'ing annoying. A-Rod getting a divorce gets 5 minutes on a show that used to feature sports teams and the highlights of their games. But I believe this has been pointed out a time or two.

Anyway, the Forde thing is disgusting. Even if he's right, there's literally no proof whatsoever anywhere to even thinking about throwing around accusations like this one. This, my friends, is libel to the nth degree. It's amazing how in the world this segment got on the air.

Labels: ESPN, ESPN sucks, Pat Forde, Reputation Destruction, SportsCenter

Let's see...it is April 23rd. 22 days into the baseball season. A regular-season matchup couldn't be that important, could it? I mean, you've got the NBA and NHL playoffs. The NFL Draft is coming up this weekend (although I do not have any idea as to how you could possibly cover it anymore).

You're a producer and/or writer for ESPN's SportsCenter. You ask yourself, "hey, what should we lead off with on the show today?" What's your answer?

"I've got it! 9 straight minutes--from the top until the first commercial break--on the Yankees/Red Sox series this weekend!"

Really? That's your answer? After you covered it ad nauseum all weekend, not to mention roughly 1/3 of the SportsCenter that aired last night/this morning? We still need an uninterrupted 9 minutes of this? And you're already showing commercial teasers for more repeats of this series for later in THIS SHOW?

I understand that the Red Sox and Yankees are the biggest rivalry in baseball. It is home to the two most popular teams in the sport. But does it really merit obnoxious coverage three weeks into the 162 game baseball season? In particular when the NBA playoffs have gotten off to such a underdog-themed start?

No, none of this matters. What matters is that ESPN does not believe that sports exist outside of the northeast corner of the United States (unless USC is playing football, and...well, that's about it).

I am not even sure why I'm even typing these thoughts out--it is an obvious complaint, and has been talked and written about as much as this series as been covered on this episode of SportsCenter. But sometimes when you can't take it anymore, you just can't take it anymore.

Labels: Bad Ideas, ESPN, idiots, SportsCenter, Sucking