ESPN's Big Mistake

For the past 25 or so years you can count the big mistakes ESPN has made on one hand. In fact I can’t think of one that truly stands out as a total disaster with a legitimate backlash. Bowling coverage is stupid and annoying but not offensive. Stump the Schwaub only appeals to people like me who actually think they might have a chance of beating him. Their own 25th anniversary celebration was obnoxious but understandable and actually made for a decent highlight reel of my lifetime.

That unblemished record seems to be coming to a totally unnecessary end.

I cannot imagine any reason that a network, especially one as reputable as the “Worldwide Leader” would want to be in the Barry Bonds business right now but apparently ESPN has piggybacked itself with the most controversial, abrasive, and ultimately guilty athlete of our generation on a number of levels. Obviously they pimp their own show “Bonds on Bonds” incessantly but their ties to Bonds are starting to leak into their everyday programming especially on “Sportscenter” and “Baseball Tonight”.

It is pathetic and deplorable commercialism to headline an (allegedly) objective magazine program with coverage of an irrelevant event such as a Bonds’ third inning at bat while more pressing and legitimate stories are pushed to the backburner due to some programming affiliation. Not only is it stupid, it’s transparent and irritating.

Here’s the problem in its simplest form. Everyone knows that Barry Bonds took and likely still takes steroids. Game of Shadows proves that statement beyond a reasonable doubt, as does his appearance and late career statistical explosion. By putting themselves in the corner with Bonds ESPN has presented itself as a part of the team to either spin or redact Bonds’ involvement with the BALCO scandal and rampant steroid use in baseball. Whether or not that is true is irrelevant because from the outside looking in that’s how it appears. Further, by beginning each “Sportscenter” and “Baseball Tonight” with coverage of meaningless Bonds at bats, thereby giving less attention to more important stories like the NBA and NHL playoffs, ESPN only emphasizes the impression of collaboration and conspiracy.

In a time when everyone should be pulling out of Bonds’ corner ESPN is moving in the opposite direction. Now instead of being able to objectively report on baseball’s investigation into steroid use and the Grand Jury’s investigation into Bonds’ potential perjury ESPN has to consider (before reporting) what effect their reports will have on the ratings of one of their own shows. That is a conflict of interest that no sensible network would want and one that should be examined and scrutinized regularly by the millions of people who turn to Sportscenter daily for its entertaining and informative coverage of all aspects of the sports world.

The decision to go this route with “Bonds on Bonds” makes no sense. The brass at ESPN had to know that he was not going to give all-access to the cameras and allow them to film him with a needle sticking out of his ass. With that knowledge going in they should have known that what was going to come of their coverage was going to look like a puff piece and would irrevocably associate them with an about to be exposed villain.

The show comes off like an attempt to humanize one of the most arrogant, selfish, and deceitful athletes of all time and to be the network that purveys that type of portrayal sets up a difficult and troublesome dichotomy for ESPN between legitimate news coverage and individually affected spin.

What becomes of “Bonds on Bonds” when he is tried and convicted of perjury, which he clearly committed? What will ESPN do if and when he fails a steroid test? What about when some evidence surfaces that proves beyond a shadow of a Giants fan’s doubt that he is guilty of all the things we know he is guilty of? Does ESPN suddenly jump ship and cancel the show? Or do they become a part of Bonds’ legal team, a group set up to discredit and dissemble the facts that are piling up against him? Furthermore, if nothing incriminating ever comes out and Bonds goes on to break Hank Aaron’s record how will the network cover it? Will they celebrate it as a legitimate achievement that we all know it is not? Their absurd bit “Top 40 Bonds Moments” only makes the case against them worse.

ESPN, the network which spends more time on my dial than any other, has truly painted itself into a corner here and something needs to change. They cannot continue to pretend that coverage of Bonds should lead every episode of “Baseball Tonight” and most “Sportscenters” and expect that viewers everywhere will not start questioning the validity of their prioritization.

It’s my feeling that Bonds is not someone with whom you want to be associated with in the coming months and if I were making the decisions at ESPN we would be jumping off of this bandwagon ASAP.