We’re happy to have college basketball back. So why won’t ESPN let us watch?
All in all, considering we are living in a global pandemic with rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, we college basketball fans should feel fortunate we actually have games to watch this 2020-21 season.
It’s a shame ESPN apparently doesn’t feel the same way.
Since the season commenced on Nov. 25, the “Worldwide Leader” seems intent on showing and talking about everything but the game you are watching on the screen in front of you.
To be sure, no one televises more college basketball than ESPN. The cable network has been a great promoter of the sport, with by and large excellent play-by-play broadcasters, incisive analysts and good production teams, all of which makes their recent habit of treating the sport as a secondary endeavor all the more frustrating.
One example happened on the very first broadcast of the delayed start of the season. Ohio State was playing Illinois State. Out of curiosity, I flipped on the game to check out the score only to see the players on the floor relegated to about a third of my 60-inch screen. On the other two-thirds, bobbing up and down from his home in Florida, was none other than Dick Vitale.
I like Dick Vitale. Seriously, he’s one of the nicest human beings on the face of the planet. There’s a special place in heaven for all he has done to raise money for children’s cancer research. And he has been a great ambassador for the sport. But on this occasion, I can’t imagine that Ohio State or Illinois State fans, happy to welcome back college hoops, wanted to see Vitale go on and on about everything but Ohio State and Illinois State.
And don’t get me started on the Maui Classic, held this year in Asheville, N.C. Problem: Bill Walton doing the Maui Classic. Yes, one of the greatest college basketball players in the history of the sports is a fun, quirky character with his tie-dye shirts, Grateful Dead addiction and fun-loving attitude. But if he’s on the broadcast for your team, you can forget it. It’s not about your team, or the opponent, or the game itself. It’s all about Bill.
Fast forward to Sunday night’s game between Kentucky and Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Karl Ravech was doing play-by-play while Jimmy Dykes was handling color. Yet for a sizable chunk of the first half, the screen was split in half so Ravech and Dykes could talk to Mark Teixeira, the former New York Yankees first baseman and Georgia Tech star, who works as a baseball analyst for — you guessed it — ESPN.
Providing in-depth analysis on Kentucky’s turnover problems, or explaining Georgia Tech’s surprise success, they were not.
Even when the ESPN broadcast doesn’t rearrange your screen for an in-game “special guest,” the announcers often spend too much time talking about matters that have nothing to do with the game we are actually trying to watch.
The apparent goal is to attract an audience wider than just fans of the two teams involved. But what about the core audience? Isn’t ESPN turning off those same fans by shrinking the screen for segments in which the action on the floor becomes secondary to whatever it is ESPN is trying to promote at the time?
ESPN has plenty of good people broadcasting college basketball. Dan Shulman is a personal favorite. Sean McDonough is a pro, one who makes sure to tell you who just scored a basket or committed a foul. Fran Fraschilla is an excellent analyst. Dan Dakich can flat-out wear you out, but he brings a different perspective to the game. And I don’t always agree with Jay Bilas, but I appreciate that he’s not afraid to put himself out there with his opinions.
I just wish ESPN would stick to the game. Describe the game. Analyze the game. Cut back on the “five best freshmen in college basketball” segments, or the special non-basketball guest segments, or the “look-at-us” segments.
We college basketball fans are just thankful to have games. So let us watch. Please.
