Don't Blame ESPN for Our Craziness over LeBron

I have been reading a number of sports commentators who are blaming ESPN for showcasing the LeBron James announcement of where he intends to play next year. If we can blame ESPN for this, let's blame the rest of the media for giving any attention to the Jersey group or Lindsay Lohan. They are providing the public with the coverage they covet. As the saying goes: "don't blame the player, blame the game".

ESPN is a network that has a brand promise that it covers all sports all the time. They have moved from TV to every conceivable form of media to meet that brand promise. So, when a legitimate sports story--where LeBron James will play--comes up, who can blame them for covering it fully. They must; it's their primary job and expressed responsibility.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think the whole LeBron situation is beyond over-hype. This is a ball player who is looking to find a new home and we all talk about it in every forum available. Even the Daily Show with John Stewart took up most of its conversation with Julliane Moore by talking about whether LeBron would join the Knicks. Both Stewart and Moore are Knick's fans. This is a show that usually focuses on important things. Moore was on the show to plug her new movie. Bet the movie studio was not too happy that she spent 90% of the time fretting about basketball. They never got time to show a clip from the movie, but they did spent about 60 seconds mentioning it.

Americans have developed an unbelievable interest in sports figures--even more than the sport itself. We focus on individuals. Perhaps we are all taken with their huge salaries and life styles that seem almost "other worldly". They live like movie stars, while fans are loosing jobs. Their salaries help push ticket prices to the breaking point for most fans. But, attendance and viewership keeps increasing, so we obviously do not object to already overpriced talent taking advantage of our support. Imagine what will happen to ticket prices in Miami to support the salaries of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James!

So, why would sports commentators complain that ESPN should not have given time to LeBron's "people" to air an hour-long show for him to announce his decision? Perhaps the writers are concerned that their purview is being undermined by ESPN. They should wake up and realize that it already has been The never ending talking heads on ESPN make reading sports commentators superfluous. The writer's only purpose now is to focus on local teams.

The media are whores to the athletes. I may not like ESPN's decision, but I think it was the right thing to do. If they refused to air the LeBron announcement, they would not have been true to their basic brand promise.