After watching what felt like the 11^th New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox match-up televised on ESPN during the 2005 season, one asks themselves why they are watching another boring 9-1 win by the Sox.

More importantly, why has ESPN hyped this mid-August game as the match-up of the season? The rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox has been an intriguing story in sports for decades, but this storyline, along with sagas like Terrell Owens vs. Donovan McNabb. continue to be overplayed by the “worldwide leader in sports.”

Sports fans are turning to ESPN out of habit, but they are receiving dramatized news and are missing out on the day’s news. ESPN and some of the other networks that carry sports (CBS, ABC, etc.) have lost credibility by moving away from pure journalism in favor of FOX News-style “infotainment,” where analysts yell at each other. and the features are based around drama rather than relevant news. ESPN has shifted its attention to appealing to the casual television viewer through loud personalities, and has forgotten about the audience that has made them the top sports medium on the planet.

ESPN’s top anchors, such as Stuart Scott, Dan Patrick, and Chris Berman, have drastically changed their coverage style over the past few years. When Scott leads the audience through a highlight on SportsCenter, his feeble attempts to sound hip and add rap lyrics to his dialogue leave the typical viewer confused as to what exactly happened in the game. During his interviews, Patrick pushes the envelope by asking rude questions to his guests to the point that it becomes uncomfortable to watch. Berman, probably the most respected ESPN anchor during the past 20 years, hosts the weekly feature called “The Top 10 Plays of the Week,” that usually ends up being the top 10 stories or scandals of the week featuring many of Berman’s incoherent babbling and nicknames. Not that ‘The Top 10 Plays of the Week” is some kind of treat, due to the overkill of top 10 lists cluttering the ESPN programs everyday.

Some of ESPN’s analysts have lost some of their credibility as well. Dick Vitale’s persona is loud and in-your-face, but he is never impressive to viewers with his knowledge of college basketball teams. Other analysts from ESPN and other networks, including Brent Musburger, Joe Theisman, Tim McCarver, John Salley, Bill Walton, and Tom Arnold, rarely provide any intriguing insight and sometimes just sound ignorant. Joe Theisman really captivated the audience when he stated, “nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein.” Brilliant.

ESPN, during the past five years, has tried to diversify its daily programming, but this didn’t lead to better sports coverage for the network. This new lineup, which seems to be more entertainment-oriented, has even included major motion pictures during primetime hours. Most of ESPN’s daily line-up contains catty arguments and obvious favoritism to specific teams and even specific sports. Now that hockey games aren’t covered on ESPN and college basketball gets most of the air time, hockey is rarely featured or discussed on SportsCenter or any of the afternoon and late night programs. When there is a college basketball game that goes down to the wire or when an elite team loses, it is the top story on SportsCenter. An overtime shootout or hard-fought victory in the NHL, however, is usually overlooked on ESPN.

This past year, most of the feature stories focused on Barry Bonds, Terrell Owens, the New York Yankees, Ron Artest or the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant saga rather than positive sports images like the Detroit Pistons or the Seattle Seahawks. Barry Bonds, who is never considered a fan favorite, is selling out and tainting one of the most coveted records in sports by appearing in a weekly reality show as he approaches Henry Aaron’s all-time home run record.

ESPN’s insight leading up to the largest college football game of the year, the Rose Bowl, was flawed by airing a week-long series asking the question: If Southern California were to defeat Texas to win a third-straight national championship, should the Trojans be considered the greatest college football team ever? Texas was in a secondary role leading up to that game, but ended up winning, making ESPN and USC’s defense look foolish.

ESPN created a huge buzz leading up to the Super Bowl by magnifying comments made by Seattle Seahawks’ Jerramy Stevens and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Joey Porter in an attempt to stir drama between the two respective teams. All sports fans would be interested in more insight and analysis of what to expect for the biggest football game of the year. Turns out, Jerramy Stevens predicting that the Seahawks will win isn’t necessarily bashing the Steelers, but more of just strong confidence in his team’s ability.

ESPN may always be the top source for sports news, highlights and information because their viewers just have a habit of tuning it in. But it would be a nice relief if the network as a whole would try to return to the journalistic focus of sports as opposed to the big production. Otherwise ESPN will find itself losing loyal viewers. The days of opening an edition of SportsCenter with a thrilling hockey highlight instead of a 15-minute discussion on a mediocre college basketball match-up may sadly be over unless ESPN realizes they aren’t living up to their elite status.

Steven Michalovich is a regular contributor to Atomic Sports. He can be reached at steven.michalovich@atomicsportsmedia.com.