The recent passing of Jim McKay to me, gives much more reverence to
this issue. ESPN and to a lesser extent, FOX have ruined sportscasting
in the long run. The mysteriousness, and sense of class and
romanticism has been severely dullited. Now, everything has to be
about "look at me", sensationalism, overhype and confrontation. I
wonder what Mr. McKay (who was still alive when ESPN/Disney began
their take over) would think of ABC Sports being eaten up and
shallowed by the self-proclaimed "World Wide Leader".
ESPN also had a very detrimential effect on "Wide World of Sports".
Because there was this emerging cable network that dedicated itself to
a variety of sports 24-7, that really dimished the unique and special
feel that "Wide World of Sports" gave every Saturday afternoon on
ABC.
The real beginning of the end of ABC Sports happened when Cap-Cities
bought the network in 1985. Cap-Cities was a penny-pinching type of
organization. So it's no real surprised that shortly there after, ABC
quite easily, lost the rights to the Olympics (to NBC for the Summer
from 1988-1996 and onward and CBS for the Winter from 1992-1998) and
Major League Baseball after 1989. Also, production values for "Monday
Night Football" were reduced under Cap-Cities.
However, it wasn't until Disney came into the picture in the late
1990s, that the ESPNization of ABC Sports gradually came into effect.
While it made sense from a finacial standpoint, since with ESPN
footing most of the bill, ABC wouldn't have to worry much about
loosing too much money on rights fees. However, a sense of intergrity,
innocence, tradition and pride became lost in the process.
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Edited by dan5card (Tue Jun 17 2008 08:29 AM)
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