Sunday, December 02, 2007

Why Does ESPN Hate The Nats?

(The cool kids tell me that you need to rip ESPN if you're going to call yourself a blog)

The Mets released their tentative schedule the other day, and it was notable in that it didn't include a Sunday Night game in DC to start the season. I chalked that up to being tentative, but a throw-away line in the Daily News indicates that that might not be the case: "The Nationals had lobbied MLB for their new stadium to be unveiled with the opening Sunday night game against the Mets, but ESPN balked at that matchup."

The past tense of that makes it seem like a done deal.

I'm shocked! Shocked that ESPN wouldn't want to carry a game featuring one of the worst draws in all of sports. Don't they know that the opening of the new park is an event of great historical significance?

posted by Chris Needham at 10:30 AM

16 Comments:

  • I'm not surprised. I thought it was cool for Nats brass to try and get the game, but it was a stretch from the beginning. Until this team starts winning games, ESPN isn't going to touch Nats baseball.

    And besides, this is ESPN. They suck.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/02/2007 11:37 AM  

  • Ah- I thought this was going to be a story trying to figure why Keith Law and Buster Olney hate the Nats so much. But that's ESPN.com, not ESPN TV.

    So getting on topic- I am shocked (SHOCKED!) that hometown ESPN boys Kornheiser and Wilbon didn't lobby the network to carry the game. Well, at least we can count on Wilbon to write a scathing article decrying the oversight, a day or so after Boswell notices that the Nats made a trade the other day for a potential big star.

    So nice having all the advantages of a big market team.

    By Blogger Positively Half St., at 12/02/2007 12:37 PM  

  • Am I sad? Yes. Shocked? No.
    I know how I feel about ESPN, and this latest news isn't surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn't random, ESPN was developed in a ratings-driven world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce itself from it. This ain't the first and won't be the last. We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later. It's sad, yes, but hardly surprising.


    Oh, God. Too soon? (No disrespect meant Sean Taylor at all. It's just that Wilbon's an ass.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/02/2007 2:02 PM  

  • ESPN is the is the redundant feed for NESN and YES. Surely you all knew that.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/02/2007 2:03 PM  

  • Thank god ESPN didn't bite. Few things in life are worse than an 8 pm night game in March. Can you say 40 degrees? Now opening day can be on a nice, sunny weekday afternoon.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/02/2007 2:44 PM  

  • ESPN hates the Nats because they aren't the Yanks or the Sawks. Kornheiser doesn't care about the Nats because they aren't the Yanks or the Sawks.

    By Blogger logan, at 12/02/2007 6:56 PM  

  • Not only am I not surprised, but I really can't blame them. Let's face it, the Nats aren't popular and we don't have anything that could be called "Nationals Nation" although that phrase would be both redundant and annoying considering how much it's overused already. Even if the Nationals could make a better case now after the Milledge trade, there are still no compelling storylines. Something more interested would be Yankees/Red Sox or Yankees/Dodgers (yes, I know that inter-league doesn't start that early) or some repeat of last year's post-season. Either that, or they do some death tie-in or some steroid tie in. We might be the Nationals, but we don't know drama (which, I suppose is a good thing in many ways).

    By Blogger Michael Taylor, at 12/02/2007 7:46 PM  

  • Forget ESPN

    The Nationals did not offer arbitration to Fick, and do not appear to want him back. Wow!!!! Add Milledge, drop Fick? What a great few days.

    By Blogger Natsfan74, at 12/02/2007 8:50 PM  

  • Ken Rosenthal's latest column on Foxsports lists this tidbit:
    The Nationals keep asking for Rickie Weeks for Chad Cordero, and the Brewers keep saying no.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/03/2007 6:59 AM  

  • So how can a Nats fan living in the NY area see any games this year? Do I need to buy the MLBTV package thing?

    I live in New Jersey and I just switched teams from The Mets to The Nats. It's not about being fair-weather - I just really object to The Omar and Willie show, and I'm respectfully and seriously changing teams.

    Go Nats!

    By Blogger Michael Anthony, at 12/03/2007 8:46 AM  

  • DirectTv or MLB.tv

    But if you do that, you'll have to watch Bob Carpenter. **sigh**

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 12/03/2007 8:47 AM  

  • I guess that Extra Innings is on most digital cable services too.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 12/03/2007 8:48 AM  

  • ESPN wants viewers. Shocker!

    What is becoming an alarming trend, Chris, is your continual ties to New York.

    My money says in 10 years, you're living up there, and think of us as your time in the back country.

    By Blogger Ray Firsching, at 12/03/2007 10:10 AM  

  • ESPN will give the Nats the love when they have enough home town fans to fill up their own stadium with people who cheer for the home team.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/03/2007 10:52 AM  

  • I was watching college football on one of the ESPN's on Friday night and noticed that during the MLB portion of the lower-third scroll, there was no mention of the Milledge-Church/Schneider trade. I watched as the scroll cycled around three times and each time under the MLB section, no mention of the trade. ESPN really doesn't think the Nats are worthy of any attention.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/03/2007 12:57 PM  

  • Does this make any sense?

    http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/2007/12/dukes-to-nation.html

    I guess adding depth is a good thing, but it can't be worth the risk with Lastings now in the fold? Anybody else hearing anything on Dukes?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/03/2007 2:56 PM  

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