SportsCenter

ESPN's SportsCenter has now been on the air for 20 years and in those 20 years, it has become the standard by which all other sports news programs are measured. From the creative, entertaining way that highlights from the day's sports events are portrayed to the informative features on all of the major American sports (baseball, football, hockey, basketball, etc.), SportsCenter keeps its viewers up to date with everything that is happening in the world of sports. All the personalities appear to be knowledgable on all types of sports which is important to this type of program and SportsCenter has launched the careers of several of its anchors, most notably Craig Kilborn and Keith Olbermann. (Dan Patrick has been long rumored to also be leaving to pursue other options.) Regardless, though, of who are sitting in the anchors' chairs, SportsCenter provides an informative and entertaining hour of sports news that has made SportsCenter the longest running series in television history, with well over 20,000 episodes at the time I wrote this review.

When I first watched Sportscenter on ESPN in the 90's, I got hooked on the highlights, not to mention the interviews with sports stars and celebrities and stories behind the athletes as well as live look-ins on games. I also liked the music and the fast pace of the show. Not to mention the "This is Sportscenter" commercials. To this day, in the age of Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, I still watch Sportscenter to see what I have been missing. Watching the HD highlights are pretty cool. Recently, Sportscenter became a live marathon for several hours from 9-3p.m., although they play the same highlights over and over again. Not to mention the annoying Bottomline ticker.

Sportscenter's usefulness has gone with the appearance of the internet. As a result, the anchors, most of whom are horribly unfunny and annoying (are you listening Stuart Scott?) have had to resort to cheap gimmicks to attract viewers, rather than actually have any real sports reporting. So now, the show is for people who have no real knowledge of what sports is all about. Instead, it is for people who think sports is all about dunking, showboating, and classlessness. Oh yeah, and plenty of Michael and Tiger. I really love knowing that Tiger came in 23rd, 12 strokes behind, rather than getting any real clips of the WINNER.

I have always, and always will love, Sportscenter. The Big Show. It is the only show where you can be completely informed on almost all goings on in the major (and minor) sports, and have a least a few laugh out loud chuckles. I love the catch phrases by anchors such as Stuart Scott, Dan Patrick, and Kenny Mayne. And Mayne is so deadpan. It's hilarious. The intro is really awesome as well... "Sportscenter: NOW" Dan dan da, dan dan da.

SportsCenter has become unwatchable. This morning's 7:00 a.m. Program covered one game during the entire hour (Chiefs/Ravens). Showed highlights and talked about it four different times. No baseball (it's September and playoffs are not that far off, no Tennis (Semi Finals of the US Open). Just one game, contract issues for a Bengals player and previews of upcoming NFL and college games. Doesn't ESPN have a hundred other talk show options that I happily skip? This isn't just today. When baseball is covered, it's Yankees and Dodgers. This time last year, the Yankees were at least 10 games behind Baltimore, but we always saw Yankees highlights. Orioles would get coverage if someone hit a homerun, or Mike Trout hit a homerun against them (and that was the highlight)

What used to be a great way to start my day has become unwatchable......