I have a beef with ESPN. When exactly did poker become a sport? How about darts? The World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Series of Darts (WSOD) have dominated ESPN’s programming schedule the last several months and it’s grating on my frayed nerves.
When did these bar room activities hit the big time and land primetime slots on the worldwide leader in sports? I would have to believe that these shows are drawing decent ratings, otherwise they’d can them like they did the NHL. I’d rather watch replays of college football games, even NFL classics, before I’d watch this crap. It’s POKER for God’s sake and there’s not even any suspense, THEY SHOW YOU WHAT EVERYONE HAS!!
And then there is the game of darts. If there was ever a sport that required absolutely no semblance of physical fitness or conditioning of the participants, darts is the game. I don’t consider ballroom dancing a sport (though it’s in the the Olympics), but at least they have to be in shape to compete. Flipping past the WSOD program on ESPN the other day, I saw one participant who looked like Norm from Cheers. And I’m pretty sure I saw him take a swig of beer between “innings.”
I’m sorry, but any “sport” in which you can drink a beer between rounds/innings/quarters/periods, should not be aired on ESPN. And for the people out there who watch this crap on TV … stop encouraging them! What the hell is wrong with you?
[...] Tom Meny wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI have a beef with ESPN. When exactly did poker become a sport? How about darts? The World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Series of Darts (WSOD) have dominated ESPN’s programming schedule the last several months and it’s grating on my frayed nerves. When did these bar room activities hit the big time and land primetime slots on the worldwide leader in sports? I would have to believe that these shows are drawing decent ratings, otherwise they’d can them like they did the NHL. I’d rather watch replays of college football games, even NFL classics, before I’d watch this crap. It’s POKER for God’s sake and there’s not even any suspense, THEY SHOW YOU WHAT EVERYONE HAS!! And then there is the game of darts. If there was ever a sport that required absolutely no semblance of physical fitness or conditioning of the participants, darts is the game. I don’t […] [...]