I was on a flight a couple weeks ago that had live TV on the screens on the backs of the seats. This was exciting. I wanted to check in here and there on the baseball scores, I didn’t want to pay for wifi, and the thought of a dose of nostalgic recreation via ESPN bottom line-watching got me giddy. We took off, I read a couple emails I’d queued up, and when enough time had passed for something to have happened in the games, I turned on ESPN2.
There it was, of course, the eternal bringer of scores: ESPN’s bottom line, the most useful tool in childhood for catching up on the day’s happenings without taking your parents’ phone off the hook or waiting for the next morning’s paper. I watched the MLB tab slowly creep closer as others passed through: Mexican soccer scores. NHL free agency news. “The Lead.” Finally, the MLB tab’s turn came. Two quick news hits and then…it was gone?
Surely, I thought, I missed the scores. I must have looked away, must have dozed off, must have done something wrong. But I watched again, and again it happened. ESPN was not showing baseball scores on the bottom line.
It was a befuddling experience, and it’s gotten no less befuddling in the days since. Getting rid of Baseball Tonight? Tragic, but business is business. Not even showing the scores, while giving a rundown of every single Liga MX goal? That’s a “What’s your problem?” moment.
So: What’s your problem, ESPN? Why don’t you want people to know what’s happening in baseball? What in the hell has possessed you, you from whom I once learned to love the game, to turn on me like this? To turn on all of us?
It’s not ok to not show baseball scores in the bottom line. It’s especially not ok if you’re giving Spikeball updates.
(Also, someone should really make an app for those screens that’s just a score ticker. Would have saved me a lot of heartache.)
