Storylines: The Best and Worst Thing About Sports

Last night, I tuned into the Home Run Derby. It's always fun to watch, just because players you never heard of can get on the national map, like Matt Holliday did last year.

This year's contest featured everyone's favorite story, Josh Hamilton, who wowed the crowd by blasting 28 dingers in the first round.

And that's where it all started to turn. Chris Berman and Co. felt such a need to say over and over again what a great story Hamilton was, it became to the complete expense of the other finalist (and eventual winner) Justin Morneau.

Has a Home Run Derby winner ever lost that much attention? The cover of ESPN last night was about how Josh Hamilton lost, not how Morneau won.

Now, I know that Hamilton is a great story. I read about him on ESPN when he came out of the gate hot. I read about him in Sports Illustrated when he was a triple crown threat.

There's nothing wrong with the media hyping up a good story. After all, it's better than hearing about more Donaghy, steroids, or SpyGate conjecture.

But the problem I have is when these story lines overshadow everything else, at the expense of other players and the fans.

Case in point: Jon Lester. A great story all around. Not only did he pitch Game Four of the World Series, but he came back this season with a no-hitter.

As a Red Sox fan, I was excited to see him get his due. But soon, you couldn't hear Lester's name without hearing the word "cancer."

And it became old. We all know he had cancer, we all know he came back. But to continually reference his disease every time you mention him takes away from him as a person and a player.

Do you think Jon Lester wants to be known as "the guy who had cancer" for the rest of his career? Probably not. He wants to be known as a great baseball player.

But the media, in its never-ending quest to fill space, has to find something for the talking heads to debate. 

Debate is fine. But with Josh Hamilton and Jon Lester, there is no debate. It's a great story, and I don't need every single ESPN commentator telling me what an inspiration it is.

Now I get to my point. The constant, 24-hour media cycle hurts the hardcore sports fan.

People like me, who spend the downtime during work on Deadspin, or HoopsHype, or ESPN.com, or SportsByBrooks hear about these stories as they happen.

As a result, we are numbed to these story lines by the time the game (or event) rolls around. So when the broadcasters start bringing the storyline up, fans such as myself know all about it.

Another example: The Rays. During the games against the Red Sox, if you drank every time the announcers brought up the fact that the Rays are good now, and used to be bad, you would have died of alcohol poisoning by the 5th inning of the first game.

We get it. They used to be bad, now they're good. Sure it's a good story, but you don't have to pound it into our heads.

The consequence of this over-hype of story lines? Jaded sports fans start to root against the subject.

Last night, I found myself rooting for Justin Morneau, because he seemed like a nice guy, just happy to be there, and he was getting completely ignored by everyone.

I found myself doing a fist pump when Hamilton started hitting line drives during the final round. That's when it hit me: Because of the over attention Hamilton got, I was rooting against him, despite the fact that I like him, and want to root for him.

After a Charlton-Heston-in-Planet-of-the-apes-like tirade, "Damn you ESPN! You blew him up! Damn you to Hell!!", it hit me.

This over exposure to oh-so-many story lines is good for the guy who is flipping channels, sees this guy hit 28 HRs, and then finds out that three years ago, this guy was strung out on booze and meth.

For us cynical bastards, it was just another re-hash of what was a great story, and now just seems like a recycled fluff piece.

Does it mean that I won't root for Josh Hamilton? No, but it also doesn't mean I won't start rooting against him as he approaches the RBI record, I'll just be sick of hearing about his former problems.

I think athletes deserve to be recognized for current achievements, without being associated with their past mistakes.

Because as great as Hamilton's story is, for all sports fans, he is also synonymous with substance abuse, and that's a legacy that Josh Hamilton and his fans don't deserve.