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For all of those who didn’t see this week’s column in the Fairfield Citizen and since (for God knows what reason) it didn’t make it online, I’ve pasted it into here. Let me know what you think.

Pickens’ Perspective:

Unlike many Yankees fans, I was being driven insane by what was happening on the television, especially on Sunday night.
ESPN’s coverage of Sunday Night Baseball drives me up a wall. Maybe I’m just a biased Yankee fan, but I always thought that Jon Miller and Joe Morgan had a vendetta against the Yankees. Miller, after all, was a commentator for the Red Sox. Morgan has given off that public opinion for years, but denies a dislike of the Yankees.
Sunday night especially annoyed me though. For any diehard fan out there, watching a Yankees/Red Sox game is a prize enough. It is mentally taxing from the first pitch to the last out, and sometimes beyond. With the Yankees going for a sweep and the opportunity to send the Red Sox way back, I was especially excited, until the third inning rolled around.
What happened in the third inning? ESPN decided to take over the game and parade Luis Tiant into the booth. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the greatness of the game, and Luis Tiant was a great. But El Tiante was on there to promote his ESPN special “The Lost Son of Havana” which aired on Monday night. Tiant was in the booth for a whole inning, talking about striking out Joe Morgan in the 1975 World Series.
It isn’t just that ESPN plastered itself over a meaningful baseball game, it’s that they always do that. Deanna Favre used to make her way into Monday Night Football whenever the Packers were on, because if you haven’t noticed, ESPN has a love affair with Favre. ESPN self-promoted its parent company, ABC, by allowing Jimmy Kimmel into the booth a few years ago, until he took things too far and was banned.
My chief question is this, why doesn’t anyone notice this? Why doesn’t anyone care? This isn’t a journalistic complaint, this is me, the fan, coming out. I don’t want ESPN to interject itself and pound itself down my throat. That’s mostly the reason I’ve stopped watching ESPN, other than games. Do you honestly still love hearing “Boo Yah!” when watching Sportscenter? Do you honestly live and breathe for “Manny”, “A-Rod”, “T.O” or “Tiger”?
If you want to complain about the economic divide between athlete and fan, ESPN is the most significant contributor. They have given athletes a voice and created rabid fan interest. They’ve allowed Chad Johnson to become Chad Ocho Cinco. They’ve been instrumental in turning a 5-year, $50 million contract into an “insult.”
I’m not saying ESPN is solely responsible for all that, but they have also gotten progressively worse as the years go by. The shameless self promotion spills over into its radio ventures (“You know us, we know sports”? Really?) or its game coverage (calling Baseball Tonight’s crew “The best team in baseball”?). They constantly talk down to their audience, with almost no repercussion. People flock to Bill Simmons’ column because it is like the average Joe fan, only then Simmons responds by putting down his readers! The list could go on and on about the arrogance of the “Worldwide Leader.”
I’m not the first to complain about this, just the most recent. Can ESPN get away with this because they’re the only sports outlet? No, they are just perceived as the only sports outlet. I can’t tell you how many times friends of mine have missed great games because they were on FSN, MSG or SNY.
The masses have moved away from the NHL. Why? Because ESPN doesn’t promote it, because it isn’t on its networks. The league has never been better, but the average ESPN fan would have you believe that the NHL is made up of Sidney Crosby.
My general question is, does anyone in Fairfield feel the way that I do? I know people other places do, but does it matter to you? ESPN may put your kid on TV someday, but it isn’t helping them now. I’m just as guilty as anyone. I own jerseys, I shell out money for games and I am a diehard sports fan. ESPN drilled me early, but I’ve fought back and said enough is enough.
Has enough become enough for you?

I’m not alone in this. Strangely enough, in the same weekend, my former co-worker Lauren Knego of the Home News Tribune in New Jersey wrote a similar column. That can be found below.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090815/SPORTS0101/908150321/1095/RSS05

Fall sports preview

The Citizen’s fall sports preview will come out on Sept. 15 or 17. Not quite sure which just yet. I have an idea for the cover, but as always if anyone has suggestions for storylines for teams, by all means send them to me.

Odds and Ends

Does anyone else have a sneaking suspicion that the Cardinals will reinvigorate John Smoltz’s career if he actually does sign with them? They seem to do that with everyone… I’m not looking forward to the next month of Brett Favre coverage… I do enjoy that ESPN’s Chris Mortensen “reported” that Favre was coming out of retirement, when Fox’s Jay Glazer had that story on Monday… If anyone else hasn’t heard about the New Jersey Nets recent season ticket promotion, by all means click the link below…

http://www.newsday.com/blogs/sports/watchdog-1.812020/nets-market-their-players-and-other-teams-players-1.1367133

As always, take good care.

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I heard through the grapevine that Fairfield Ludlowe field hockey coach Pat Kiely will not coach the team this year. This has been confirmed by Fairfield Ludlowe’s athletics website.

A source told me that Kiely will be replaced by Cathleen Hamill, although this is unconfirmed. Hamill has been Fairfield Warde’s JV tennis coach.

The 2008 season was Kiely’s 15th as the head coach for Ludlowe field hockey. The Falcons’ field hockey team was 3-12-1 a year ago and 3-9-4 in 2007.

Links

For those of you who missed it, linked below is a story of Fairfield resident and Bluefish manager, Willie Upshaw. The Bluefish have lost three of four since the story came out, which obviously means that I jinxed them. http://www.connpost.com/fairfield/ci_12994383

If you want more Bluefish coverage from me, let me know, I can get over there most nights. If not, then follow them through Rich Elliot’s beat reporting in the Connecticut Post.

If you haven’t heard the disappointing tale of Patrick Kane’s Saturday night, read it below. Kane has been one of the brightest young stars in the NHL, and to see him potenially lose his career over $.20 is pathetic. I’ve been a huge fan of his, and I’m very letdown. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/chi-10-blackhawks-patrick-kane-caug10,0,1492568.story

On a happy note involoving Fairfield and hockey, Chris Drury got together with his buddies to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their LLWS championship. The Post’s Chris Elsberry had the story. http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_13023010

Odds and Ends

The Red Sox being swept by the Yankees does not spell doom for those from Boston. The Sox are not dead yet, but any thought of them winning the AL East is likely over. They should worry about the teams behind them, as Texas has now crawled even with them, and the Rays are just 1 1/2 games back of them… I think the Red Sox are collectively slumping, which happens especially in August (that’s why they’re called the “dog days”). For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they’ve lost six games in a row. Like I said before, they’re far from done, and I think it is just a slump. What would worry me more than their offense is how badly their bullpen has been… From a Yankee perspective, I wouldn’t be stunned if they lost 10-0 tonight to Toronto. This is a classic letdown game, especially with Sergio Mitre pitching… Has anyone else noticed that the Yankees now have the best record in baseball, and also have the largest lead of any division leader? The Dodgers are slumping and so are the Phillies… Six and 1/2 games is a tough lead to lose with just seven weeks left in the season. But ask Met fans, it can be done.

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Sorry for falling off the face of the Earth for the last month or so. There has been a lot going on both work and non work related. The summer is a great time to take time to yourself and to worry about non-work related things. This is what I’ve been doing.

For anyone that follows this that has missed certain things in the Citizen sports section, below there are links to stories that both I and other people have written:

Here is a story about 8-time Fairfield town tennis Men’s singles Open finalist Casey Jones, who finally broke through and won after finishing second seven times. http://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/sports/ci_12956814

Here is a story written by Tim Parry about Fairfield Warde’s new spread option football offense. http://www.connpost.com/fairfield/ci_12934703

And here is a story about Teddy and Emily Mason, who each will be going to dueling Northeast Conference schools to play lacrosse. http://www.connpost.com/fairfield/ci_12904257

Bluefish Blazing

Ever since Fairfield native Willie Upshaw took over the Bluefish last week, the team has been scorching. As of today, they’ve won nine straight games. I’ll try to get Upshaw for an article in next week’s Citizen.

Odds and Ends

I doubt that the Yankees will go through the entire month of August without attempting (and succeeding) to acquire a starting pitcher. Sergio Mitre isn’t getting the job done… The Mets need to make more than one move, but getting Billy Wagner will help their bullpen immensely. It probably will be too little too late though… I’m not trying to sound like a typical sportswriter, but Omar Minaya was completely out of line in criticizing Adam Rubin at Minaya’s press conference. This is just one more black eye for the Mets year, and Minaya probably should lose his job over the things that happened this year… Not to keep piling on Minaya, but does anyone else notice that he really doesn’t say anything in his press conferences… The Red Sox helped themselves quite a bit, but they will have to doctor their lineup to keep giving regulars at-bats. Dropping either Mike Lowell or Jason Varitek out of their everyday lineup won’t sit well with Boston fans, especially the way Martinez streaks. I also can’t figure out where Casey Kotchman fits. I know he’s great defensively, and can play late innings, but he has some pop too, and they essentially traded a solid lefty bat and a decent defensive first baseman for a decent lefty bat and a solid defensive first baseman. LaRoche and Kotchman are not that different of players.