It seems like every day since the end of the regular season ESPN has had some story about the Dallas Cowboys to run and talk about. Not only that, but these ridiculous stories are often listed as "The Lead" on their bottom line. Am I the only one that is getting sick of this? This is like the Brett Favre saga all over again. Who really cares that Jerry Jones thinks the Cowboys were tardy too often last year? Why is it a leading story that the Cowboys are going to "consider cutting Terrell Owens"? Is this really surprising or newsworthy? Wake me when they actually do it! Free agency doesn't even start until the end of February, and no one starts resigning or cutting players until AT LEAST after the Pro Bowl!
This is becoming a growing trend not only in the sports media but in the news media at large. The primary drawback of the 24 hour cable news world is that some of the most insignificant minutia becomes top story-worthy simply because the networks have way more air time to fill than they have stories of interest to cover. I could make a comment here about ESPN's love for the Cowboys and the NFC East in general, but you could argue that we got the same over-coverage of the Broncos' firing of Shanahan, Brett Favre's retirement saga last year, and any number of other stories that have gotten way more coverage than they deserve. Would any sports fans have really been that upset about steroids if ESPN and the other networks didn't sensationalize it?
I think the average sports fan has pretty basic needs when it comes to sports coverage:
1. Tell us the score - Obviously this is point number one. We can't all see all of the games, and most of us wouldn't want to if we could. There are going to be games in all sports (except football) where you simply don't care to watch your team play because either a) they're much better than their opponent and should win easily, so you do something else; or b) they're much worse than their opponent and you'd rather not watch your favorite team get demolished. Not to mention those times when you actually have a life outside of sports! Anyway, these are the scores we need to know. That and the scores of your other, lesser-favored teams and your teams' rivals.
2. Tell us of anything crazy or historic that happened - We all want to know when a guy goes off for 6 TDs or 30 points in a quarter or throws a no-hitter or hits a buzzer-beater, etc. Again, we can't watch every game, so tell us what cool shenanigans we missed.
3. Let us know when major off-field news breaks - Trades, hirings, firings, injuries... these are important stories. NOT whether Tony Romo plays a large enough leadership role or why the team plane was an hour late!
Everything else is just fluff. Sure we like breakdowns of games that just happened or games that will happen soon, and sure we all flock to mock drafts, trade rumor boards and the like all the time because it's fun to speculate and fantasize about your team making that one big move. But none of this is truly necessary and a story about a rumor should never lead a major sports program.
Sorry about venting (and no I didn't just have a Coors Light), I just had to get that off my chest.
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Imagine this nightmare scenario: Bill Parcells returns to the Cowboys and brings in Brett Favre. I think ESPN's producers would just about wet themselves in excitement.
I think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph, though. The reason they do that stuff is because people watch it. If you just want scores, stats, and highlights, you can get those on the internet. The same goes for news. The big stories are all on the internet. Television "news" these days is basically just a bunch of talking heads spouting off their opinions.
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