This past sunday ESPN kicked off with two possible NBA final matchups with the defending champion Celtics facing the veteran squad of the Spurs as well as the head to head battle of Lebron and Kobe in the following game. The first game left many in Boston in shock as the Spurs handed the Celtics their second straight loss on their home floor. The unlikely hero, Matt Bonner from San Antonio came out of no where to score 23 points, leaving the Boston faithful in a state of frustrated awe. The later game did not dissapoint as well as even though the superstar matchup did not live up to expectations, the game was well worth it. The Western Conference Champion Lakers proved to much for Lebron's Cavaliers with a 101-91 victory. ESPN very intelligently chose these two games to televise, especially following Super Bowl Sunday.
The week carried on forward with a variety of solid college basketball matchups that would lead of to the sports biggest rivalry. The build-up for the men's North Carolina Duke rivalry in the middle of the week, featured several solid games. The former #1 ranked, Pittsburg Panthers took a late comeback to overtake the underrated Big East contending West Virginia squad. Led by small forward Sam Young, this veteran Pittsburg team will most likely playing deep into March Madness and in several more ESPN televised games. Following that Big East matchup, ESPN switched it up and covered another solid game, but looked to capture the Midwestern audience, with the powerhouse Kansas taking on unranked Missouri at the time. Missouri pulled the upset on their home court led by the effort of forward, DeMarre Carroll and gave some momentum into one of the greatest rivalries in sport.
ESPN set the stage for this "Wild Wednesday" and the performance on both North Carolina and Duke's sides lived up to expectations. In a packed Duke University, the Tar Heels of North Carolina were able to comeback from eight point half-time deficeit and beat an overall solid Duke team that is led some of the best shooters in America. Dick Vitale, the great voice of college basketball, led the ESPN telecast and gave a classic animated performance.
In the mean while of all of this hectic college basketball action, ESPN key in on as many know as the most popular world sport, soccer; which is highly unappreciated here in the states. The mix of exhibition as well as extremely important World Cup qualifying games looked to up the exposure of soccer to the USA and create a group of new fans and followers. ESPN2 took coverage upon two of the most pressing matches as international power Argentina took care of an aging French team. As well, the Mexico v. United States rivalry game later that night was full of bad blood between the two sides as well as being highly competitive. The USA took a 2-0 World Cup Qualifiying victory as a spring board for further success in the states for this mainly international sports.
ESPN, as the head honcho in the sports media industry, has been able to find an amazingly solid variety of sporting events to cover. On the other hand, the are so knowledgeable of their audience that they are able to prioritize the games at hand. By analyzing this action-packed week in sports, it is evident that sports media coverage is open to new opportunities as well as "sticking to their guns" in a way to stay on top and represent the best games.
No comments:
Post a Comment