With the exception of if the Packers are playing a Monday night game the only time I turn on ESPN is for the College Softball World Series but even then I have to mute Beth Mowins, she just never shuts up. That never shutting up, I think, has more to do with the drop in ratings then anything else, with the possible exception of the NFL's abysmal officiating. Once upon a time you could enjoy a football (or baseball) game on TV with just one announcer in the booth. After all, it's visual, we can see what's happening. Then they added a color commentator, then a 2nd one, then a sideline commentator, then some slug roaming in the stands and then the most ridiculous of all, in baseball they interview players and coaches during the game! Bottom line is the game has become secondary to the talk show/discussion group mentality and that's killing them. Interesting story, while listening to a baseball game on the radio this Summer they had a TV guy fill in the the 2nd guy in the booth who was away that night. Still only 2 people in the booth but the interesting part was the comment the TV guy made when asked afterwards what it was like doing radio. His reply was "You guys talk a lot less over here.". Imagine, you can understand what's going on in the game on radio, where you can't see what's happening, with significantly less talking than on TV. So I resort to muting Troy Aikman, Phil Simms, Beth Mowins, Rick Sutcliffe, and others in order to watch the game. Now if they would just stop inserting homeruns the guy hit last game, last week, last month, last year, to the point where you're not sure what's current and what is a replay/flashback you might just be able to actually follow along. Imagine, you're watching a game and Miggy is coming up next so you dash out to the kitchen to grab something to drink and as you walk back in you see this long HR leaving the park. Wow, he hit another HR, only to find out seconds later that it was a replay of the one he hit earlier in the game. What the....!?? This behaviour, sadly, is not confined to ESPN alone - nobody knows how to televise a game any more.
I think too that ESPN has lost sight of what they're supposed to be about. They rely on sports for a living yet the majority of their programming over the past few years has become anti-sports, starting with Outside The Lines. The ever increasing negativity is a major factor, in my opinion, for the decline in viewership. For instance, whatever you think of Pete Rose, he is the greatest hitter to ever play the game and after 25 years deserved a fair shot at reinstatement. ESPN, however, went out of it's way, via OTL, to destroy that opportunity. That's not ESPN's job but is a textbook example of where the corporate mindset is. It's yellow journalism at it's worst. You might call it "Biting the hand that feeds you.". Just my $.02.
