Good un-excerpted commentary ping ...
Posted on 09/18/2014 4:52:37 AM PDT by LeoMcNeil
There was a time not too long ago where you could turn on ESPN or sports talk without being subjected to politics. Unfortunately sports programing has turned into an endless stream of political issues pushed almost exclusively by sports journalists. The NFL is their current target. Ray Rice beat up his then fiancee. Everyone has known that he punched her for over six months, the NFL responded with a 2 game suspension. Then a video of the attack came out. Suddenly the NFL suspended Rice indefinitely and ESPN has decided to have a “national conversation” about how we need to “reprogram” how boys are raised. A handful of football players engage in domestic violence and suddenly the political hacks at ESPN want to reprogram all boys.
It doesn’t stop there. Adrian Peterson apparently spanked his son with a switch. This is a relatively common occurrence, especially down south. Peterson is hardly the model parent, he has seven illegitimate children. Apparently he cares enough to discipline his kids. Nevertheless he’s been charged with child abuse in Texas. The Minnesota Vikings deactivated Peterson for last weeks game. The announced he would play this upcoming Sunday. That is until the ESPN echo chamber wouldn’t stop hammering the Vikings for their decision. By yesterday the Vikings had relented. ESPN celebrated their reversal, on one show declaring that the Vikings couldn’t play Peterson because of all the “noise” coming from the outside on this issue. All of the noise came from ESPN of course.
NFL fans don’t particularly care about what Adrian Peterson does with his kids. Vikings fans in particular don’t care. He hasn’t been accused of murder, unlike ESPN commentator Ray Lewis. Even in the case of Ray Rice, everyone agrees his conduct was outrageous. Nevertheless his fiancee forgave him and married him. The video didn’t change anything for most fans, it only confirmed what had previously been reported. Unfortunately for the last several weeks ESPN has been running these two stories in an endless loop. They’ve been preaching at fans about violence against women and children while endlessly warning the NFL of “appearances.” The message has been clear, ESPN is warning the NFL that they won’t stop with these stories until they’re catered to.
The problem here is two fold. First, fans don’t really care about these stories. People who turn on football commentary shows want to hear stories about games played last week or previews of this weeks games. Football fans don’t turn on ESPN for political or social commentary. Second, these journalists and commentators over at ESPN seem to think they’re Woodward and Bernstein. They talk incessantly about these social issues in their echo chamber and therefore they assume everyone agrees with them and/or cares about the topic. These guys fantasize about taking out Roger Goodell or some other important person in sports. They imagine they’re “educating” their viewers. In reality, they’re annoying their viewers and face losing them as a result.
People watch sports to escape politics and just about everything else in their lives. ESPN was created 35 years ago to foster that escape 24/7. Unfortunately in the last few years they have subjected viewers to an endless stream of politics. These days they’re talking down to viewers like we’re naughty boys who beat our wives and kids. The fact though is that fans aren’t all in on these stories. We don’t like what Ray Rice did but his actions hardly warrant the sort of gab onslaught ESPN has served up. The Peterson story is worse because it assumes that everyone is in agreement that spanking children is wrong. In reality, most parents spank. Worse, ESPN has created a one network echo chamber that makes it seem like the entire country is turning on the NFL and the Vikings unless Adrian Peterson is banned. The reality is the opposite, fans don’t particularly care about the subject matter and most would rather see him play. There’s going to come a point where fans stop watching commentary shows. One imagines that even at that point the leftists at ESPN won’t stop pushing politics.
And MTV used to play music videos. So what?
Cut the cord. There are plenty of ways to get visual entertainment that doesn't involve giving money to liberal Democratic causes.
Good un-excerpted commentary ping ...
“Everyone has known that he punched her for over six months...”
That’s a lot of punching.
Perhaps the author meant something else.
ESPN is the leftist PC version of sports. The whole damn thing is a charade to promote their godless & selfish worldview.
I don’t know who I despise more: ESPN & their crews or the worthless jock-sniffers that watch them.
Everything is turning into a mindless Twitter format..retweet, retweet, retweet......
Once a day, first thing in the morning to get her attention? Depends on your definition of “punch”, right?
Perhaps the author did intend something else...
You can’t just blame ole Keith on this one....they’ve ALL TURNED into Keith Olbermann.
Actually, that smarmy shemale Bob Lee may be the worst of the bunch.
I think the basic premise here is wrong. ESPN has figured out that there simply isn't enough content to fill a 24/7 schedule for sports. They also figured out that talk radio and cable news have a great business model based on 24/7 content -- sensationalist commentary on current political/social events -- that doesn't cost them a penny to generate. That's how you end up with "sports stories" in the media that used to be relegated to People magazine in print and "Entertainment Tonight" on television.
Overriding agenda-driven sports, entertainment, music, news. Soap operas of socialists.
/click
I agree with the author about ESPN,but Peterson put a slave whipping on a four year old!
Is it reasonable to assume that he took time out to eat and sleep?
As ESPN and the the other leftist bleating networks surround the NFL castle with their torches and pitchforks ready to burn it to the ground, I wonder if the suits in the corner offices give any thought to where their money will come from once the golden goose is well and truly lying dead, roasted in the smoldering rubble.
You have an alternative now..FOX Sports...
ESPN should not be in the business of politics. But calling what Petersen did an act of caring is repugnant.
When the author claimed Peterson was merely disciplining his kids he proved himself to be a total moron.
The issue isn’t what Peterson did, the issue is what the Vikings did because of the ESPN echo chamber. Nothing changed concerning what Peterson did and what we know about it between last week when he was charged, Monday when he was reinstated by the Vikings and Wednesday when he was deactivated again. The only thing that changed is that ESPN wouldn’t stop talking about it on an endless loop. They frankly are following Alinsky style tactics. It mirrors the created hype on network political news.
Personally, sports has been an enduring passion in my life but I have NEVER been able to stomach ESPN.
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