The Lynx and Other Things

Cheryl Reeve as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Lynx defeated the Chicago Sky 70-61 Sunday to open their 2017 WNBA schedule.  It was played before a modest audience at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, their temporary digs while Target Center in Minneapolis gets a makeover.  Both teams looked a little rusty, given that some of the players went overseas to play basketball during the winter and others did not, but the Lynx made enough of their shots to win the game.

The Lynx, who came within a few seconds of winning their fourth WNBA title this decade before losing to the Los Angeles Sparks, are being picked by most basketball experts to do it again.  Most of the core players--Seimoine Augustus, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles--are back, but is this finally the year age and time catches up to the Lynx?  Coach Cheryl Reeve might dismiss that talk publicly, but even she could see that one day younger WNBA stars such as Breanna Stewart and Elena Delle Donne could outhustle and out play her team.  Career-ending injuries are also a possibility.

Still, the Lynx do have the means to take another run at a championship, with their biggest threats coming from the league champion Sparks and Delle Donne's Washington Mystics.  Can Minnesota win another WNBA title before time runs out?

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The Lynx' TV package has improved greatly this season with Fox Sports North doing 17 telecasts (most of them at home), along with some national appearances on ESPN2, to bring the total number to 24 games.  That's still not as many as the deal Minnesota United, the new pro soccer team in town, is getting.  WFTC-Channel 29 is running most of their matches, with the exception of the ones shown on FS1 and ESPN.  So why are the Lynx games still heard on a small FM country music station?

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Speaking of United, they've improved in their first Major League Soccer season from a team that set a record for giving up too many goals to a tighter outfit that shut out Sporting Kansas City at home, and lost a close match on the road at Toronto.  We still don't know who most of the players are, but we do know that they're going to be competitive as the season progresses.

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In an off-season that's seen veteran NFL quarterbacks Tony Romo and Jay Cutler moving to the TV booth as game analysts, what about Colin Kaepernick?  He's been having trouble finding a job since he left the San Francisco 49ers.  Is it because the image-conscious NFL, which spends millions of dollars to prove how patriotic they are, doesn't want to hire a guy who took a knee during the "Star Spangled Banner" (which Kaepernick said he won't be doing any more because, well, he made his point)?  That might be changing because ESPN reported Monday (through its radio affiliate KIRO in Seattle) that the Seahawks might have some interest in Kaepernick, as well as Robert Griffin III (another "where are they now?" QB), as a backup to Russell Wilson.  If that doesn't work, there's always TV.

ESPN: The Game Has Changed

ESPN (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What if we told you that people who are fed up with the rising cost of cable and satellite have ditched them in favor of streaming movies and TV shows on their computers and smartphones, creating a day of reckoning for sports channels?

No, this isn't the beginning of another ESPN "30 for 30" documentary.  The Disney-owned sports network just whacked at least 100 jobs last week, most of whom are writers, production people and on-air talent.  True, there have been layoffs before, but none of this magnitude.

The ESPN brand includes several TV channels, two regional networks, a Spanish-language channel, a radio network and a magazine.  They also own their own events to televise, including the X Games and some college football bowl games.

It's not just cutting the cord that's caused Disney's stock to go down every time ESPN loses subscribers.  The rights fees and long-term contracts to the NFL, NBA, MLB and the college conferences keep accelerating, resulting in various forms of cost-cutting that might not be obvious to viewers.  It's telling that some of the layoffs involve reporters and commentators who covered such sports as hockey, auto racing and golf--events ESPN does not televise.

Another reason some people have turned off ESPN is because of what they believe is the network's coverage of sports and society from a liberal perspective, whether it comes from its commentators and contributors or not.  One recent example came during the coverage of the NFL Draft, where after it was announced that Oklahoma football star Joe Mixon had been chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN showed footage of him beating up on a woman.  That alleged incident drove Mixon's draft value way down.  For those who complain about the network's supposed progressive stance, there's always the chance they'll mention former football star Tim Tebow at least once a day.  He's currently playing minor league baseball for the Class A Columbia Fireflies in the New York Mets organization.

ESPN has also weathered the loss of on-air personalities that used to define them:  Chris Berman, Mike Tirico, Brent Musberger, Keith Olbermann, Colin Cowherd, Jason Whitlock, Brad Nessler, Skip Bayless and others.  In their places are so many sound-alike play-by-play announcers, "Sportscenter" broadcasts that rely less on scores and highlights and more on personalities, and debate shows that aren't much different than what you'd find on CNN.

ESPN is the most expensive of all the cable channels, yet it is also the hardest to give up.  This is also true of other sports channels, whose contracts with individual teams and cable providers (some of which last decades) restrict them from going the over-the-top route like HBO, leaving sports fans with no choice but to stick with cable.  Something has to change, or else it's game over for sports on TV.