ESPN channels Olympics coverage with its horrible Spring Training telecast

When I was a kid, I loved the Olympics. Dave Wottle in ’72, the U.S. Olympic boxing team in ’76 and of course the U.S. hockey team in ’80. Things started to change in ’84., although the U.S. basketball team was still a big deal. The nationalism which is at the heart of the Olympics, became a big turnoff. But probably a close second was the realization that the games were not produced with me in mind. In an effort to appeal to as many people as possible, there are all of the “getting to know the athlete” stories.

If you see 20 of those feature stories, there are probably a couple that are really, really good. But at the end of the day, three riveting feature slots don’t make up for the other 17 fluff pieces. What it boils down to is that the network is counting on the sports fans to show up regardless of what they present. So, their focus becomes on casual viewers. The approach makes business sense. The only way it changes is if enough people tune out.

I can tell you who won the 1976 Gold Medal in the heavyweight division – Teofilo Stevenson – even though it wasn’t an American. The gymnast who dominated – also not an American – was Nadia Comaneci. And, of course, all of us wanted to be Bruce Jenner. Woops. Can’t tell you much about the 21st Century Olympics, though, because I no longer care or watch.

My thoughts turned to the Olympics due to the broadcast of yesterday’s Mets-Nats Spring Training game on ESPN. Much like with the Olympics, I used to be a big fan of ESPN. Chris Berman, Bob Ley and Tom Mees doing SportsCenter before turning it over to the must-see TV of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. Craig Kilborn telling the world that it was offensive pass interference by Drew Pearson in 1975. All of the great NFL Films shows they would run. Shoot, I even would watch Sumo Wrestling.

Then it became something that I loathed. It was the ultimate choice of style over substance, if you think schtick and contrived talking head shows count as style. ESPN the network became something to watch only when it showed a live game. But the time spent on the television station was switched over to the website, which had terrific content and clear design. Now it seems like a joke to write that about the website, which is a cluttered mess of bad takes. And the final stake in the heart was when ESPN.com made you search to find MLB content, no longer featuring it regularly on the home page.

So, ESPN stinks and network Olympics coverage stinks. And get off my lawn.

But while recognizing these old man tendencies of mine, ESPN’s coverage of yesterday’s Spring Training game was, um, not good. It’s always important to know your audience. Who’s watching MLB Spring Training games? Here’s a hint – the sport’s biggest diehards. How do you appeal to diehards? Talk about the game and give them insight. A Spring Training game is just as likely to feature a club’s top prospect as it is to have an Opening Day starter. Give us something on Ronny Mauricio or Mark Vientos or Pete Crow-Armstrong.

What did ESPN give the diehards yesterday? Non-stop interviews during the game, yukking it up with these subjects rather than focusing on the players on the field. There was Juan Soto talking about dancing and Francisco Lindor talking about shoes and Dave Martinez talking about a rookie giving him a haircut. It was enough to make you long for a feature story about a Ukranian Olympic athlete destined to fall short of the medal round.

Before writing this, I searched the interwebs, looking to see if this had already been covered to death. To my surprise, there was a take out there that was completely different than mine. A story with no byline was published at a site called Mets Daddy entitled, “ESPN Broadcast Was Fine For Spring Training.” The main takeaway from the piece was that ESPN was using this exhibition game to showcase personalities and grow the game.

If you think anyone is becoming a bigger MLB fan because they saw a 360-degree view of Dave Martinez’ haircut – really, they asked him to take off his hat and turn around – I’ve got a few bridges to sell you. Non-sports fans tune in to the Olympics because it’s an event and they want to see what all of the fuss is about. Maybe you can argue the World Series is like that. Certainly, Spring Training games are not.

It was nice to see a Spring Training game not on the SNY/PIX schedule being televised. And when they went to a split screen, there was a chance to see one of the prospects actually play, even if you had to hope he turned around so you could see the back of his jersey to catch his name. So, for those of you trying to watch at home – Khalil Lee is 77, Vientos is 87 and Mauricio is 94.