A Plea to ESPN

I've recently been picked up by another blog and am now writing for Arctic Ice Hockey of SB Nation fan. I shall be covering the Winnipeg Jets for the foreseeable future so all Jets fans can catch me on arcticicehockey.com. However, I am also committed to Toe Drag and will continue to write for Toe Drag for the foreseeable future as well. So keep visiting Toe Drag and visit Arctic Ice Hockey if you want to read some Jets coverage. I'm in the company of some pretty talented writers and great hockey minds over there as well as on here with Steven. I just felt that I should inform everyone that I'm currently wearing two hats in the blogosphere. So without further ado, my first post since becoming a member of Arctic Ice Hockey. Check it out after the jump. 

ESPN has considered themselves the Worldwide Leader in Sports since 1979, the year of its establishment. Many years passed since ESPN finally became the sports titan that it is today. It started off similar to Versus network when Versus was still Outdoor Life Network. Come on, you remember post-lockout OLN hockey. I know you do. ESPN considers themselves the Worldwide Leader in Sports, but the past few years (I'd say from about 2004 until today) they've steadily decreased their coverage of sports that aren't football or basketball. They've increased coverage of NASCAR, which is good, but considering ESPN barely covered NASCAR at all in the past that's not saying much. Right now, ESPN's two crown jewels are the NBA and football. Much to the dismay of many American sports fans, the NBA is currently in a lockout, leaving a huge programming gap for ESPN to cover. ESPN typically would show games on Wednesday night, Friday night, and Sunday nights. However, those nights are now free and ESPN has attempted to fill the gaps in their time slots with more college football and more pro football. 

To me, this is incredibly frustrating. There comes a point where you just reach a threshold of the amount of football you can pump out to the viewing public. Considering the NFL and NBA could have been in a lockout this season, I can't imagine what ESPN would have done if that were the case. Make lockout shows? NFL Lockout Tonight? The way ESPN is managing the NBA lockout is unfair to MLS and NHL fans especially. ESPN at the very least needs to bring back NHL 2nite if only for a 15 minute segment or even as a segment on Sportscenter. I see ESPN showing more hockey highlights with each passing night, and that's great, but my fear is that if the NBA gets it together and starts up their season, things will just go back to the way they were. ESPN is isolating a lot of fans by shafting sports, hockey in particular. Steven and I would always make jokes in high school that ESPN shows more football than NFL network, but I'm upset that the joke has to be semi-serious. Even as I sit watching ESPN right now, NFL kickoff is on. ON A FRIDAY NIGHT. ESPN devotes so much time to a sport that is only played one day out of the week, and hockey (albeit getting increased coverage now) is only mentioned on Sportscenter. So please, ESPN, by diversifying your coverage and eliminating all of the superfluous football shows, you bring in an entirely new demographic if you can create even one soccer and hockey show each (MLS tonight would be great with Twellman, Lalas, Bretos, and Moreno). Get Buccigross, Linda Cohn, and Pierre LeBrun together with Melrose and Barnaby and at least attempt to have a show that's devoted to hockey. Millions of fans sore about the turn ESPN has taken in the past 5 years would thank you profusely!