ESPN reminds me of that garbage truck. You’ve seen it. As merrily it rolls along, garbage flies out of the back. It just redistributes some of the refuse, turns garbage into litter.
Last week ESPN was all over the steroids story, daily and nightly, presenting some very important work within “SportsCenter.”
Thursday, ESPN even ventured where few journalists dared. It aired the strong suggestion that Arnold Schwarzenegger never would have become a movie star – nor governor of the country’s most populous state – had he not first won fame and fortune as a steroid-aided champion bodybuilder.
ESPN then stuck Schwarzenegger’s feet in the furnace for not doing enough to combat the use of muscle drugs and formulas among teens.
And yet, outside of those that carry pro wrestling, no network has been a more tacit promoter of steroids and other illegally obtained and/or applied performance-enhancing drugs than ESPN.
World’s Strongest Man competitions have for years been an ESPN staple. From Jan. 10 through tomorrow, it will have been aired 61 times on ESPN or ESPN2.
WSM competitors are so juiced,Sports Illustrated reported several years ago, that they don’t even bother to deny it anymore. The WSM championships used to be held in the U.S. No more. Curiously, they’re now held in places such as Zambia, Morocco, Kuala Lumpur and Malta.
The primary TV sponsor of the WSM is MET-Rx, the muscle supplement maker that also has been a longtime sponsor of steroid-synonymous (and drop dead synonymous) pro wrestling. MET-Rx’s sell slogan is, “Bigger. Better. Stronger.”
You get the feeling that guys and gals on steroids are eager to have fools believe that their physiologically unnatural bodies are the work of MET-Rx.
But the biggest boost WSM gets is from ESPN. And we wanted to know how – especially in light of its drop-dead-serious steroid series last week – ESPN could continue as the TV home (61 exposures in 49 days) of WSM. But ESPN, given several days to answer that question, chose not to respond.
Yikes. Ch. 4’s Len Berman, from spring training on Thursday, reported that the Knicks had acquired Malik Sealy. He meant Malik Rose. At the close of his segment, Berman corrected himself. But then Sue Simmons, back in the studio, chirped, “Who’s Sealy?”
“That’s another player, altogether,” replied Berman.
Malik Sealy, a onetime star at St. John’s, was with the Timberwolves when, five years ago, he was killed in a car crash.
The Boys Who Cry “Scoop!”: ESPN has given itself credit for breaking so many stories that it lifted from other news organizations that its claim, Wednesday, that ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith (a.k.a. Screamin’ A. Smith) and Ric Bucher scooped the Chris Webber-to-the-Sixers story was tough to believe.
Then it turns out that an NBA Network source swears that ESPN began to take credit for the scoop after the Sixers announced it via a mass e-mail.
In town Thusday with other members of the International Olympic Committee’s Selection Committee, Nawal el-Moutawakel, the chairwoman, said exactly what Mayor Bloomberg would have scripted: in order to host the 2012 Olympics, she said, “New York City needs a West Side Stadium.”
Problem is, long before she was invited here to provide her input, no one bothered to ask New Yorkers if New York City needs the 2012 Olympics. And how many millions has NYC already spent just trying to land the Olympics that New Yorkers were told they so badly want?
Corrections: We wrote here, two weeks ago, that Main Events had given ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” another bad card. But that latest card was not supplied by Main Events.
And last Sunday we wrote that TNT and the NBA had combined to tell a half-hour lie about the start of that night’s All-Star Game – that it would start at 8:30, not 8:00. But it began at 8:58, thus nearly an hour’s worth of false advertising. What used to be played Sunday afternoons is now played at 8:58 Sunday night. The NBA deserves all the bad it gets.
Just when we’d given up on Jim Dolan, the Rangers are off to their best start ever. They’re undefeated in selected re-runs on MSG … Rafael Palmeiro did steroids while endorsing Viagra? I’m confused. Heck, I still can’t figure out how he hit 219 HRs from ages 33 through 37, but only 78 from 23 through 27.
ESPN.com last week reported that Villanova “Stunned No. 3 Boston College,” 76-70. But playing at home – where it crushed Kansas last month – Villanova was a 4½-point favorite. Then again, ESPN isn’t into sports that much anymore. But if you’re looking for oral sex scenes in ESPN original movies …
Scott Hamilton, after beating testicular cancer, is now undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. We don’t know if he was the best in the world, but no one on skates radiated more personality; when he started to skate, we started to smile.