What is wrong with ESPN?

Somebody tell me what is wrong with ESPN? On one hand, I love the network. It has wonderful HD capabilities, the best show on television in Sportscenter, and the second best show on TV in College Gameday. In the past 25 plus years, ESPN has flourished from Bristol baby to booming media giant. Owning the right’s to more games and events than any other sports network, it has become the Michael Jordan of media. But somewhere in the shuffle of millions of games, anchors, and guest hosts, ESPN has lost its identity. The self proclaimed Worldwide Leader of Sports will literally give a microphone to anyone. You’re a former pro athlete with drug problems? Come on down? You’ve been charged with assault? Say hello. Michael Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson were wonderful NFL receivers, yes, but that is precisely it. They are not “professionally” qualified broadcasters. Dee Brown had one of the greatest dunks I have ever seen with the “blindfold” and “pump” at the 1991 Dunk Contest, but he is a terrible broadcaster. Swin Cash may be an All-Star in the WNBA, but she is atrocious in front of a teleprompter. I admittedly watch ESPN on a tri-daily basis. I wake up, pour my cereal, and turn it on. I follow it during the day in the office, and I watch it every night before bed with a cold brew. It’s the only show I religiously watch other than Entourage, although it should be noted that Katherine Heigl’s efforts on Grey’s Anatomy last spring made a respectable push. At the end of the day, ESPN provides the 24-hour sports coverage that the sickly obsessive sports fan such as myself requires. Baseball Tonight is a wonderfully hosted show by Karl Ravech that provides great highlights and used to provide great analysis. But with the recent additions of two former baseball players in Fernando Vina and Eric Young, the show now dramatically suffers in that department. Seriously, Young was so bad the other day that I muted the TV every time he spoke, and Vina hasn’t made a significant point in two months.