Hmm.. ESPN isn't important to the sports fan? Give me a break. Maybe the diehard fans ignore it, but it is very, very important to the casual sports fan.
I hate and cringe during many of their shows, which is why I don't tune in as much as I used to, but 50cent hit the nail on the head--it's a love/hate relationship.
Look, the Cowboys are a huge draw. If something crazy happens, it will be covered and it will be covered for a huge segment on Sportscenter. The same for the other big franchises, the Lakers, Yankees, etc.. If all they did was bow to us every time, the majority of fans would hate the show.. whether we are "America's Team" or not, we are still outnumbered by the other 31 NFL teams.
What happens as soon as someone bad mouths us on ESPN? It gets posted here. Hell, they don't even have to bad mouth us.. how many times have we seen something like "Keyshawn picks us to lose", "Tom Jackson picks us to finish 3rd in the division", etc?
And Colin Cowherd may love the Eagles, but he also loves the fact that we dumped TO and he has said nothing but nice things about us all offseason. He thinks we're going to be a better team without him, and that we are one of the teams to beat in the NFC. I'm not necessarily sure he's a Cowboys-hater, more of a TO-hater.
They love when us as fans have those types of reactions, because it just draws in more ratings. After all, it's a business.
