San Antonio Spurs: Why ESPN Is Not The Worldwide Leader in Sports in Spurs World
Whenever I have a choice, I almost always choose to watch the San Antonio Spurs on the local station with Bill Land and Sean Elliott over the national stations, especially ESPN.
There is a reason.
If ESPN was the "Worldwide Leader In Sports," they would not show so much favoritism to a few select teams and players, but rather they would show more relative equality to all teams in all leagues.
A quote that I read yesterday from one of the few ESPN-NBA writers that I actually respect, Marc Stein, said it all.
In his weekly power rankings, his quote for his third-placed Spurs (despite having the best record in the league) read: "Portland's Nate McMillan tried to shine some spotlight on the new, runnin' Spurs with Sunday's proclamation that this is 'the best team in the league right now.' To no avail. Call it the quietest 20-3 start of all time."
The quietest 20-3 start of all time? Another coach's compliments are to no avail even though he's played against the Spurs along with several other top teams and knows how to compare them? Let's explore why that is, or at least in the eyes of ESPN.
To begin with, the Spurs have played only two games on national television against the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers. While the Bulls are an intriguing matchup, what is so great about playing the Clippers (not to mention three times in a month) compared to, oh I don't know, Dallas?
This brings up another question: why did ESPN pick the Houston Rockets vs. Charlotte Bobcats game over the much anticipated IH35 Rivalry game against Dallas (November 26) and the first since they last met in the playoffs?
The best reason I can come up with is they're still hung up on Yao Ming: a player that never did and never will live up to expectation due to frequent injuries.
Whatever it is, their choice selections are questionable at best.
Another annoyance I have with ESPN is their constant coverage and favoritism towards LeBron James, the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers.
ESPN has caught the ire of many NBA fans by agreeing to do The Decision and continuing to support it. The outcome of every Heat game gets the top storyline, win or loss, no matter what. It's the only team whose games they grade and give pregame "thoughts."
They have even set up their own page strictly for the Heat. Rumor has it that they will only take it down once they get 13 losses (shouldn't be too long), but I doubt they will.
Ultimately, there is a simple answer as to why the Spurs have the "quietest 20-3 start of all time"—because the media doesn't pay attention!
Normally they are all over the team with the best record, the fastest start, the first to get 20 wins, or whatever.
All teams except the Spurs.
It continues to be all about if the Lakers will three-peat or if the Heat will win 70-plus games and a championship. Well, in case the Worldwide Leader hasn't noticed, the Spurs are the only team on pace to do so right now. There's a shocker.
When I was in college, my only hope of seeing the Spurs was either when they were on national television or when they played against Houston on Fox Sports. It often got to the point that I put it on mute because I couldn't stand the announcers' biases even when the Spurs were winning.
Miami and Los Angeles can enjoy all the ESPN coverage they want. I'll stick with my good ol' duo of Bill and Sean and not give ESPN all the praise and satisfaction they think they deserve.
Not that they care. I'm just another Spurs fan.
