The ESPN/LeBron Problem

LeBron and ESPN, a vomit-inducing match made in heaven.

I get it. Even as an admittedly passive observer of the NBA for the past four years (the ’06 finals and the Mavs’ first-round exit in ’07 killed my love for the league), I get it. LeBron James is a big freaking deal. Biggest free agent maybe ever. And I get that ESPN loves telling me about it ad nauseum. Almost as much as the network enjoyed stalking Brett Favre.

But they don’t need to. Sports fans don’t need an hour-long special tomorrow night to get amped up about where he’s going. After all, ESPN has spent every last minute since the NBA season ended stoking the hype fire on, well, every conceivable platform: SportsCenter, PTI and Around the Horn not enough for you? Luckily you’ve got ESPN News for that. Oh, don’t forget about ESPN.com and Twitter. And ESPN: The Magazine.

And they present all of this speculation and, for lack of the better word, bull shit as news, with the sole intent of keeping you, the die-hard sports fan informed and on the cutting edge. But people need to understand that ESPN stopped becoming a news organization a long time ago. Sure, they still break news and report on all the happenings around the sports world, but dollar signs and the entertainment side of its operation has become way more important.