Although I don't exactly know when the SportsNation section started on ESPN.com, I started visiting it when the television program "SportsNation" made its 3:00PM EST debut on July 6, 2009.
Since then, the "Average Joe" has been able to make his or her opinion heard on ESPN, extensively through the use of Twitter, and polling through the SportsNation page on ESPN.com.
In my opinion, ESPN has completely blown away other mainstream news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com in terms of interactivity and usability. Quite simply, ESPN is allowing the users to determine an entire hours worth of programming every week day.
I like this. I like this because no longer can the elite sports journalists of today sit on their pedestal and declare themselves the rulers of the collective sports galaxy.
Colin Cowherd, one of the anchors to the television program, has been known to ruffle some feathers as one of the pretentious sports personalities at ESPN.
While I disagree with the great, outstanding majority of his opinions on many, many topics (LeBron, soccer in the United States, hockey, mid-major sports, just to name a few), his time on SportsNation seems to have made him realize that the sports fans of America speak louder than he does.
While I disagree with the great, outstanding majority of his opinions on many, many topics (LeBron, soccer in the United States, hockey, mid-major sports, just to name a few), his time on SportsNation seems to have made him realize that the sports fans of America speak louder than he does.
I cannot factually state that his opinion has always been different than the majority of sports fans out there, but I can say I've seen him lambasted on the air by his co-host Michelle Beadle (I would marry her in an instant, just throwing it out there) because of his grossly exaggerated opinions on many topics.
Now, once you get past that Michelle is a strikingly beautiful woman who definitely knows more about sports than I do, you realize that she represents all of us, and says all of the things that we wish we could say to personalities like Cowherd.
She stands up for the voice of the "Average Joe," because it deserves to be heard. What does this mean for sports personalities, on any medium? You better be careful and do your homework, and you had better not ruffle the wrong feathers too often, or you are going to be called out on it, and in a very public manner.
Journalism is heading down a new pathway, one that isn't under the shroud of closed culture newsrooms and elitism. The "Average Joe" isn't so average when he is allowed to 1UP-Mario style and become a part of something bigger and better.
I think the big time media should look towards ESPN as an example of effectively using their audience as a means to create better content.
Journalism is heading down a new pathway, one that isn't under the shroud of closed culture newsrooms and elitism. The "Average Joe" isn't so average when he is allowed to 1UP-Mario style and become a part of something bigger and better.
I think the big time media should look towards ESPN as an example of effectively using their audience as a means to create better content.
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