Barry's ESPiN Zone

Not since the days of O.J. Simpson and his murderous tirade has there been so much television and radio time devoted to one obvious criminal. Traveling through the XM radio dial, I stumble on ESPN radio's Game Night hosted by Doug Gotlieb of all people and some other guy, insert newscaster wannabe with some kind of a shtick. I stopped on this station not knowing the nerve numbing drubble that I would soon endure.

OK, I admit that part of the reason I stopped on this station was to listen to the redneckian stylings of Dale Ernhardt Jr. after his win at the Crown Royal 400. There is something about the simple knowledge of NASCAR that gets me everytime, and hell, who doesn't want to hear about "wreckin'," "burnin' out dem tires," and everyone's favorite "rubbin's racing" references? My inner hillbilly was truly in heaven. Then it all started to turn.

What started as a way of feeding a guilty pleasure, became all Barry F'n Bonds radio. "Is Barry going to catch the Babe on this homestand?" "What will MLB do to acknowledge 714?" "Should we care about 714?" I should preface this with a brief background reset. During the Giants at Dodgers Sunday Night game of the week on ESPN, Giant shills John Miller and Joe Morgan spent the majority of the telecast on Barry watch. Even when Barry wasn't at bat, the camera and the conversation would shift to Barry Bonds and his troubles, nevermind that there was actually a game going on. If I wanted to hear so much about the inner workings of the Barry Bonds situation, I am sure ESPN could have sent Bob Ley to do the game with the "Outside the Lines" banner as the television graphic. I was even surprised I didn't see Jeremy Schaap interviewing Barry in left field or the dugout. Hell, I am sure the "The Sports Reporters" could have also set up shop in the pavillion seats to hold a roundtable discussion on the matter. Lord knows I want to know what Mike Lupica and Mitch Albom have to say at about the whole situation.

This past Sunday's Giants at Phillies game was no exception. ESPN even got it's "money shot" when Barry went yard to come within one homerun of the Babe. This added more drama to an otherwise lousy game, as Miller et al waited with giddy anticipation to show Barry rounding the bases with the ESPN logo proudly displayed in the upper right hand corner for intellectual property purposes. Thankfully, that moment did not come on Sunday, and little Joe Morgan would have to wait a while before anointing Barry Bonds "The Greatest Player to Ever Wear a Uniform."

Now we get to the heart of the matter, besides being the "Wide World Leader in Sports," ESPN has taken it upon itself to be the Wide World Leader in the Barry Bonds PR machine." Not only is this beast taking up airtime during the NBA and NHL playoffs, but now ESPN radio will be bring you every at bat, live, during "Barry's quest towards history!" What started as a simple career of a pissed off Arizona State outfielder that managed to upset Jim Leyland enough to have the ex-Pirate skipper come within inches of kicking Barry's ass, has mushroomed into the sorted details of a steriods infused ego on the ESPN weekly show, "Bonds on Blondes," errr "Bonds."

ESPN then has become the official distrubutors of the Bonds talking point, displaying a side of the steroids injecting persona that is controlled by Bonds, edited by Bonds, and dictated by Bonds. Fox News has nothing on these tactics. The Bonds show leads in to SportsCenter, where the "news" that is transmitted by "brilliant sportscaster" Dan Patrick and the like use clips of the Bonds show in vignettes and "news" pieces. I guess this only follows the same logical line of reasoning that makes it acceptable to lead off the Fox 11 news here in Los Angeles with the latest on American Idol and why Terri Hatcher was dumped by Ryan Seacrest, (ah...He's gay, that's why!). And, in another philosophical dilemna, how can you be JOHN BEARD, and not have a beard? But I digress.

When legitimate news outlets start using self created "reality" content and start representing that content as news, then it is no longer news, rather propoganda. Republican talking points, Bonds trying to tell people he is a good guy. It's all the same. Therefore, ESPN has taken that leap along with Bonds, and has decided to sell itself to the same deceit in order to cover a news story and get that exclusive interview if Barry ever manages to break Hank Aaron's record, which by the way was achieved without using steroids. In ESPN's attempt to present Barry's chase towards 714 and beyond, they have decided to become the offical Fox News Channel, and Dan Patrick the official Tony Snow, of the Barry Bonds Administration and shape public perception of a cheater and an all around bad guy.

This then leads us to all Barry radio and television, much like all-DNA radio of 1994-1995 when the public heard all the great occurances of the O.J. trial. With the non-stop barage of Barry coverage a person can, much like the O.J. case, start to think of the accused as the victim, and this tactic may work to soften the image of a jerk and a criminal. Of course, that's why you read this blog, to get the "straight story" with no spin.