The Sports Reporters

I have this love-hate relationship with ESPN’s The Sports Reporters. I loved it when it first came on in the late 80s. Sunday mornings back then were mostly about political talk shows. Dick Schapp and the boys gave sports fans a worthy alternative.

The halcyon days were when Mike Lupica, Bob Ryan and Bill Collins were the regulars. They talked about baseball more than what's offered now and it was a good source of analysis and commentary.

At some point, things went downhill. The more I learned about sabermetrics, the more I learned these guys were not into it. When reason didn’t work, they yelled. And if they ever had a reporter from the West Coast on the show, I missed it.

With all that is available now on TV and the web, I don’t feel too bad when I miss an episode of this show. But every once in a while they do something that keeps me coming back for more.

Like today. They actually led off with baseball. The discussion centered on Barry. Is he the greatest player ever?

What ensued was a Barry Lovefest. On and on the praise went. I kept waiting for Lupica to say something negative but he never did. He’s been hard on Bonds concerning the steroids allegations but he sure seemed like a convert today.

This was a remarkable episode. The guys even wanted to see the Giants in the post season.

Now if ESPN could just get a Bay Area scribe now and then…

Comments

[Ben]

Just be surfing around in net. I definitely fpund a very informal place with a lot of good stuff for everybody. I will
certainly visit your site again sometime. Really good work.

[Jay]

Thanks a lot Ben. Glad you enjoy it.

[steve coleman]

why the hell is the sports reporters bringing on their show that loudmouth stephen a. smith? there is nothing worse than having your sunday morning breakfast on a quiet day and having this mouth ruin the entire morning. gwt the bum off the air.