Where has my SportsCenter gone?
I remember a SportsCenter that showed highlights about sports. The concept behind SportsCenter was so simple it was a mind-blowing show with sports highlights, along with colorful quips about the tremendous athletic plays and mildly degraded those on the flip side of those tremendous athletic plays.
It was absolute genius.
But the SportsCenter I remember has long gone by the wayside. The boo-yah! gravy train has been replaced with a sickening mixture of overanalysis by people that not only make me wonder how they got their jobs, but leave me in awe as to why they are allowed to keep them.
The priceless witticisms such as, "I play my enemies like a game of chess" and "Like a man smoking at a gas station, he was about to blow up!" are now gone.
The golden age of SportsCenter has faded into something that looks just a little bit too much like MSNBC.
Perhaps the biggest example of times changing at SportsCenter has been the coverage of the Shaq-tacular trade that has not even happened yet.
I don't find it upsetting to talk about an upcoming trade that involves an MVP type player such as Shaq, but the mind-numbing conversations such as what all this will mean in the long run are worthless - because I know exactly what is going to happen.
Shaq's trade will eventually go through and my onetime friend - SportsCenter - will recycle its barrage of pointless questions: Will Kobe come back to L.A.? Will Shaq fit in at Miami?
And to analyze the answers to these burning questions that have already been covered numerous times, Stephen A. Smith and friends will discus the far-reaching consequences of what the Shaq trade will do for the world and all of humanity.
Perhaps they could do all of this in video game format to try and trick me into watching long enough until I realize that I am not playing a video game and this garbage has replaced my SportsCenter, and at the same time destroyed any urge I will ever have to play another video game.
This lack of sports in SportsCenter seems befitting of the direction ESPN is taking.
I saw a hot dog eating contest on ESPN the other day, which was interrupted for a commercial for the annual outdoor games that will be shown on ESPN, and instead of being outraged, I was simply saddened.
Not only was the hot dog contest shown with the full graphics you would expect during an actual sporting event, there were play-by-play commentators giving viewers the rundown as to what was going on behind the contest.
Is this really what ESPN has come to? Is it just some disturbed joke attempting to alienate actual sports fans?
As concerned as I am about how many hot dogs Takeru Kobayash can eat, I will never forgive ESPN.
They have betrayed me with their hot dog eating contests, pool, bowling, badminton, outdoor games and poker tournaments.
The lack of focus ESPN has exhibited has spilled into all aspects of its programing, and it's unfortunate that SportsCenter has become just another program that has lost its luster.
Andrew Kolly is an intern at The State News. He can be reached at kollyand@msu.edu.
