The award for the most ridiculous, self-absorbed, overzealous all sports entertainment network in the world goes to...
ESPN, for the 10th year running.
They have once again proven that outside the 4 major sports, Tiger Woods, and the Williams sisters, you're really not much of an athlete. Unless you count token consideration of Cael Sanderson and -ahem- Sarah Hughes (don't even get me started on figure skating).
No offense to college athlete of the year Sue Bird (UConn BB) but a certain swimmer from Cal who set at least 6 AR and 1 WR over the short course season would have had my vote.
Anyone else? Natalie Coughlin, female college athlete of the year as awarded by the USMS discussion crew?
-RM
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by KeatherSwim
Did tennis get as much hype and TV coverage *before* the Williams' phenoms as it does now? I play it myself, but never paid much attention to the pro aspect of it until the last few years. I seem to recall growing up, that tennis was about like swimming in that it was a country club sport not destined for TV greatness. Now tennis has broken that mold, personally I think mainly because of a few greats that have sprung up.
That's an interesting point. There have occasionally been periods when tennis has gotten a lot of attention -- particularly when Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were at their peaks and behaving badly. The same for Andre Agassi before he grew up. But when Pete Sampras was the top player, the media seemed bored. (Likewise, figure skating never got as much attention as during the Tonya Harding scandal.) Which I guess shows that the media is mostly interested in spectacle. Of course, it may also mean that for swimming to get attention, the swimmers would have to have tantrums and generally act like jerks -- I think I'd rather do without the attention, in that case :).
Originally posted by KeatherSwim
Did tennis get as much hype and TV coverage *before* the Williams' phenoms as it does now? I play it myself, but never paid much attention to the pro aspect of it until the last few years. I seem to recall growing up, that tennis was about like swimming in that it was a country club sport not destined for TV greatness. Now tennis has broken that mold, personally I think mainly because of a few greats that have sprung up.
That's an interesting point. There have occasionally been periods when tennis has gotten a lot of attention -- particularly when Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were at their peaks and behaving badly. The same for Andre Agassi before he grew up. But when Pete Sampras was the top player, the media seemed bored. (Likewise, figure skating never got as much attention as during the Tonya Harding scandal.) Which I guess shows that the media is mostly interested in spectacle. Of course, it may also mean that for swimming to get attention, the swimmers would have to have tantrums and generally act like jerks -- I think I'd rather do without the attention, in that case :).
