Well, the NFL lockout ended this week, which means ESPN's Sportscenter will be bringing back all of our favorite NFL related segments, including one which aired yesterday for the first time since the lockout ended. For those of you that have watched ESPN in the last 8 or so years, they have one recurring segment that bothers me more than any other (and if you read this blog enough, you’ll realize that that’s saying a lot): Cold Hard Facts. For those of you unfamiliar with the segment, out of ESPN’s own mouth:
Coors Light "Cold Hard Facts" is a regular feature airing on SportsCenter on Thursdays at 6pm, 11pm and Fridays at 1am. In the feature, one of ESPN's top analysts tackles a "six pack" of questions related to the day's hottest topics.[1]
Shameless product placement aside, Cold Hard Facts really isn’t a bad idea. During football season, for instance, it could be a great lead-in to the weekend games. Six interesting facts wouldn’t be hard to come up with: Team B hasn’t won a game against Team B on the road in 16 years. Quarterback A is has a 52 passer rating when Receiver A, who is injured, doesn’t play. They could be interesting and offer insight about the upcoming games, and with only six for a whole week, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge to make them meaningful. Instead they just ask one of their “experts” six questions all of which require answers that are opinions or predictions. Not only is this stupid and pointless, since it’s the exact same thing they do every day on SportsCenter between highlights, and is in no way a special feature, but it’s the exact opposite of what it promises. The segment is called “Cold Hard Facts;” shouldn’t it offer something remotely factual? When I turn on Baseball Tonight I would be upset to find an entire episode dedicated to soccer, not to mention how pissed I’d be if every single show already only ever featured soccer. Things have names for a reason. I don’t call my website “Bort Valentine’s Cooking Blog.” I know it’s just a weekly segment on SportsCenter, but come on, at least try to have it make sense.
On a different note, tomorrow we’ll be introducing our weekly Radio Shack “You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers” segment where we’ll take real emails sent by our readers and respond with an unrelated Oscar Wilde quotation.
BV
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