Sports Media

I've found it increasingly difficult to tune out the sports talk noise to find the actual sports themselves. I listen to Mike & Mike on ESPN radio on my drive in to work, where the tandem banter back and forth about made-up controversies and issues. I read ESPN online but am looking more and more to online "journalists" (Deadspin, The Big Lead), who take their sports coverage with a grain of salt. And I watch major sports events on TV but wish I had a mute button for Tim McCarver.

A fresh example of the noise created by sports media can be found in the Pats-Colts game this weekend. The game ("Super Bowl 41 1/2") was hyped to the nines, where every radio voice and TV personality had their take on this regular season game. Note that the game was no more important than any other regular season game. It was simply a game between two good teams. But I would rather hear about the game itself, or a fake argument as to who is the better QB based on who is in more commercials or is dating a hotter woman.

I would rather have answeres to these questions: Why is Brady so good? How good are the defenses he has played against? How much better do his receivers make him (comparing this year's crop to last year's)? Has his style changed now that he has excellent deep threats and a top flight slot receiver? Etc.

I found a refreshing gem of an online sports outlet, in Play Magazine from NY Times. I couldn't agree more with this article, which seems to show that I'm not the only person becoming more and more disillusioned with mainstream sports media.

Other good (but lengthy) reads are the pieces on kickers and the legendary marathoner, Alberto Salazar. Also, a interesting article on the quality of SI can be found on Slate here.