The Top 10 Overhyped Athletes on ESPN

Let's face it—none of us would be reading this article if it wasn't for the World Wide Leader.

Over the course of this decade, ESPN has gone from cable lynch-pin to media juggernaut.

With an empire that continues to grow, ESPN has firmly cemented it's place on our web browsers, radio dials, and (most importantly) our televisions.

However, with unparalleled growth comes far-reaching goals. Audience numbers need to rise, page-views should sky rocket, Arbitron diaries and PPM meters should only have four letters to deal with.

Things become focused on the bottom line.

This business mentality is where the flaws of ESPN begin to show. In the world of giant media conglomerates, you're only as good as your ratings indicate - regardless of the quality of your content.

In the past couple of years, the argument can be had that the quality of ESPN content has gone down. The show that started it all for ESPN—SportsCenter—has begun to stray away from covering the actual games themselves and has gravitated towards key characters within the games, some not deserving of the coverage time granted to them.

While characters drive games and ratings equally, ESPN's constant cycle of meaningless updates on these athletes have driven shows like SportsCenter from "Sports News" to "Sports Hype."

"Highlights be damned, some player socked his girlfriend in the head, so he will probably be suspended—here's your fantasy spin!"

Most of the daily games in professional leagues go widely uncovered, in lieu of mundane rating ploys.

The following is a list of athletes you are probably sick of hearing about on ESPN—whether they warrant the coverage or not—when you are just trying to get the score of the late game on The Bottom Line.

May we all rejoice the day when their everyday lives are left on the editor's desk.

10. Tom Brady

At the beginning of this decade, Tom Brady was nothing more than a bullet point on the long list of Michigan QB alumni while holding clipboards for John Friesz and Michael Bishop (True story).

Three Super Bowls and a New England legend later, every quarterback that enters the NFL is compared to this decade's Golden One.

Whether it's the on-going Brady v. Manning debate, a souped-up soundbite from his weekly Boston radio spot, or some grainy video of him leaving Gisele's apartment in a boot, your daily dose of NFL coverage isn't complete without an ESPN update on how Brady feels about his team's chances at winning the Superbowl, or lately, when exactly he is expected back on the football field.

While a trifecta of Lombardi Trophies warrants a boatload of coverage, ESPN needs to leave Tom's love life to the internet rags and trash mags where junk like that belongs.

Let the man rehab in the offseason, and leave the updates to once a month, not three times a week.

HYPE-O-METER: For play—GRANTED Everything else—NOT NEEDED

9. Duke/UNC Basketball

It wouldn't be a rivalry unless ESPN calls it one.

Whatever side of Tobacco Road you fall on, everyone can admit that ESPN shows off the strength of the Hype Machine when these two schools get together.

However, outside of the two seasonal meetings, a week doesn't go by during college basketball season where one (if not both) team(s) is featured on the network.

And of course, whether it's during the game or on SportsCenter afterwards, you can have a big helping of Dick Vitale stroking the ego of both schools—schools which have no reason to have their already massive ego stroked.

There are a plethora of other programs that would kill for that time, yet "spreading the wealth" doesn't seem to be an ESPN broadcast motto.

ESPN might as well ink deals with both schools and cover their entire seasons, and with the way ESPN is growing, might not be far off.

HYPE-O-METER: When they play each other: GRANTED Rest of the season: TONE IT DOWN

8. Chad Johnson

Remember when this guy was just a good wide receiver who kept his mouth shut and just came up with creative end zone dances? ESPN doesn't either.

From throwing his team under the bus, to openly trying to get himself traded, to changing his last name to a horrible bungling of the Spanish language —Chad Johnson (it's Johnson as far as this writer is concerned)would not be the character he is without ESPN plastering his face all over their channel.

The only reason he is on the channel to begin with is some of his entertaining end zone celebrations.

In years past, Johnson has been an elite receiver, but not enough to warrant scrutinizing coverage of his every sound bite. C'mon, ESPN, at least give us a receiver who has won a playoff game become a network staple before this guy.

HYPE-O-METER: NOT NEEDED

7. Pac-Man Jones

We get it, ESPN.

Pac-Man Jones is a scumbag who was arrested many times and turned out to be a bust in a Dallas uniform.

We didn't need your legal analysis, we didn't need the TNA Wrestling clips, we didn't need Chris Mortensen breaking down every sentence coming out of Jerry Jones' mouth stating whether or not the situation was going to happen.

The guy was a Bronx Tale who needed to stay away from football the minute Roger Goodell "indefinitely" suspended him.

Yet with every sound bite, legal motion, or rumor, there you were ESPN, hyping the story of a convicted criminal that a very little number of people cared about.

HYPE-O-METER: NOT NEEDED

6. Tim Tebow

Again, ESPN, we get it. The kid is a beast. An absolute lion of a competitor. He loves him his Gators, and he loves him his Jesus.

But the fawning on the World Wide Leader has gone beyond anything the term "man-crush" can describe.

Anchors gush about Tebow as if he is their own child. While his skills on the field are more than admirable, the landscape of college football is not Tim Tebow vs. everyone else.

Let's hold off on anointing Tebow anything more than a tremendous system quarterback. "I love being a Gator," isn't going to fly at the NFL Combine. Unless Mel Kiper is talking about the sound bite afterwards.

HYPE-O-METER: TONE IT DOWN

5. Manny Ramirez

Ah, the 2000's: The decade everyone became a Red Sox fan. Including ESPN.

2004? The sporting world should have been all over the Red Sox. A guy basically stapled his foot together to help a team full of past ghosts (real or not) beat their biggest rival in stunning fashion.

The story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox is why any of us watch sports to begin with.

However, in the years that have followed, it's not baseball unless ESPN is giving you in-your-face coverage of every character that made that team great. Nod your head if you have seen the following on the World Wide Leader more than once:

"ESPN BREAKING NEWS: RED SOX PITCHER CURT SCHILLING WRITES ABOUT STEROIDS IN HIS BLOG"

"THIS JUST IN: RED SOX OWNER JOHN HENRY TAKES BACKHANDED REMARK AT YANKEES BRASS"

or, my personal favorite:

"SPORTSCENTER SPECIAL: BREAKING DOWN MANNY BEING MANNY"

Ah, that phrase. "Manny being Manny." Once a term tossed around by Boston faithful to explain the quirks of their beloved left fielder, ESPN quickly rammed ManRam down our throats so much, the catchphrase—to borrow another—jumped the shark somewhere around 2007.

And even as Manny acted like a spoiled brat—ESPN jumped at every opportunity to let you know Ramirez needed to be traded.

While Ramirez went on to have a monster second half of the year in L.A., the back and forth between the Dodgers and Manny via ESPN served as nothing more than leverage for Scott Boras.

Until the season starts, I don't need to see that clip of Manny riding on a beach cruiser on his way into morning practice. But I am sure we will all see it again and again. After all it's just ESPN being ESPN.

HYPE-O-METER: TONE IT WAY DOWN

4. Tiger Woods

Hype is a funny thing.

It can be the cloud that hangs over a player, team, or franchise for years—or even a career—if left unfulfilled.

In today's landscape, you can see the tatters of overhyped stars and how they will always be followed by what they were supposed to come.

However, every once in a while, a player comes along and justifies all the hype surrounding them. Tiger Woods is one of those athletes.

Woods is without a doubt the most dominant athlete of the decade. 12 PGA Majors this decade, 14 overall, third all-time in tour wins with 66—and he is arguably just entering his prime.

More impressive than all the wins is the audience he draws into the game. Golf would not be golf without Tiger.

While ESPN does sometimes push the coverage - whether it's his injuries on his personal life—there isn't anyone that can say Tiger Woods isn't deserving of the coverage he gets.

This is why and how ESPN grew the empire they now control. Michael Jordan dominated the 90's—and if we didn't see it live—we told our buddies to catch the highlights on SportsCenter.

The same holds true for both Woods and ESPN at the beginning of this century.

No more proof is needed than a late Sunday in March this year around 8 o'clock when this writer sent a text message to his brother and father saying, "You need to watch SportsCenter to catch what Tiger did today."

HYPE-O-METER: WARRANTED

3. Alex Rodriguez

All the money, all the stats, all the controversy—Alex Rodriguez brought it upon himself.

All the coverage is brought to you by ESPN.

Beyond the steroid allegations—Alex Rodriguez has been among the elite baseball players of this past decade.

But if someone exclusively watched the World Wide Leader for the extent of it, someone might think Rodriguez was the second coming of Babe Ruth.

The contract, the massive stats, the back-and-forth with the Yanks and the Sox, the scrutiny in a Yanks uniform, the stripper allegations, the rendezvous with Madonna...all of it down fans' throat with the help of the ESPN.

To borrow a phrase from one of the great SportsCenter anchors Keith Olbermann, ESPN's coverage of A-Rod is "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Alex Rodriguez gets Tiger Woods coverage without the Tiger Woods resume. No matter how many times Tim Kurkjian or Buster Olney say he's the best player in the game, ESPN would be better suited concentrating on players who win championships.

HYPE-O-METER: NOT NEEDED

2. Brett Favre

Just the mention of his name anymore can elicit the rolling of eyes and yawns of displeasure.

Logically, one would think the height of sports coverage for a certain player would come during the the peak of his career. Yet from 2006-2008, the Hype Machine was in full effect, despite the fact the Favre was a shadow of the quarterback he once was.

A perfect example of how ESPN has spiraled out of control can be seen in the coverage of Brett Favre's un-retirement, trade, and flame-out season with the New York Jets.

It felt like an hour did not go by without Chris Mortensen telling ESPN he got a text from Brett Favre or Ted Thompson updating everyone on everything from who was interested in Favre to what Favre ate for lunch.

As if that wasn't nauseating enough, as Favre ran the Jets into the ground, all we heard from people like Tony Korheiser and Mike Tirico was "Doesn't it look like Favre is having fun out there?!" No, Tony, it didn't.

To make matters worse, Aaron Rodgers had to endure living in a constructed shadow by the Monday Night Football crew—a shadow nobody seemed to care about but the network broadcasting the game.

The Favre coverage is a wonderful example of how ESPN tends to dictate storylines, rather than letting them develop for themselves.

HYPE-O-METER: GO. AWAY. NOW.

1. Terrell Owens

If there was ever a man that embodied the definition of "character," Terrell Owens is it.

Owens is a wet dream for any network looking for a ratings grab. A tremendous athlete whose physical skill is only transcended by his ability to act like a diva whenever a camera or mic is put in his face.

Questions about the size and scope of ESPN's coverage can be looked at when re-telling the story of the 2008 Cowboys season.

When an entire fan base is calling out a network—spear headed by an infamous YouTube clip—it may be time to head back to the drawing board and wonder if your mission to bring people sports highlights is spiraling out of control.

Of course, there would be no reason for the hype if Owens hadn't captivated audiences with the suggestion that his one-time QB Jeff Garcia was gay.

Or with a public display of his workout regiment in a New Jersey driveway. Or calling a mega press conference after what was thought to be a suicide attempt turned into nothing more than another part of the show in Mr. Owens' three-ring circus.

From doing crunches to crying about his quarterback, ESPN has made sure you have seen T.O. antics again and again and again.

And the roster full of NFL analysts at ESPN will let you know that the coverage is warranted because T.O. is, without a doubt, "the best receiver in the game." And he is—right?

To borrow a breakdown scheme from ESPN's Matt Berry (who is one of the good things happening at ESPN), here is a look at two players:

Over the past two seasons:

Player A: 150 catches, 2,407 yards, 25 TD's
Player B: 171 catches, 2,584 yards, 13 TD's

While the touchdown disparity jumps off the page, you can make the argument that both receivers have put up elite numbers. Player A is Owens, while Player B is Falcons WR Roddy White.

The casual fan who turns on SportsCenter would never know who Roddy White is, despite the fact that White has done almost what Owens has done on the field.

Yet ESPN's coverage is anchored with everything from a 10 minute feature package on how the relationship is between Romo and Owens is holding up, to a Sunday Conversation with Stephen A. Smith that tries to show "the other side of T.O."

Owens and his ability to make sure that camera is always focused on him is astounding, and ESPN laps it up like a dog at their water bowl.

The hype given to Terrell Owens is so outrageous, it shows that the content on ESPN is about entertainment value more than the actual games themselves. What ever happened to the games being entertaining in their own right?

But who are we all kidding? We all watch, and will continue to do so. After all, if you have your popcorn ready, someone has to give you a show.

HYPE-O-METER: PLEASE, WE'RE BEGGING YOU, NO MORE