Sports, Racism, and "SC6"
- Chris McAllister
- Mar 9, 2018
- 2 min read
The one thing I love about sports is that it is supposed to be about the competition. Sports has the ability to make people forget about the day-to-day and for once - be in the moment. Yes, sports has the ability to unite us in a way that nothing else can.
Cause you can always talk about baseball.
Until now, that is. It seems that there is no aspect of our world today that is not "infected" with the uber-partisanship. Sports used to be the exception - now it is just as bad as the rest. ESPN was the one channel, over the course of my life, I could turn on and not be thoroughly disgusted, annoyed, or irritated by something I saw for one simple reason - it was solely about sports.
Now, ESPN has decided that it has to be that social agent for change. First off, we have The Undefeated or as their own tag line states -
The Undefeated is the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture. We enlighten and entertain with innovative storytelling, original reporting and provocative commentary.
The problem is that it is not an "exploration" - it is a declaration of racism against anyone and everyone.
As you can see from the menu bar, you would know this is going to focus on 'racism' in some way, shape, or form simply because of the inclusion of HBCU. Then you get down into the actual articles - everything has something to do with racism. No exceptions.
This is where people tend to get upset, angry, or just simply frustrated. People do not go to a sports website to be lectured about the "horrible world" in which they live. Sports, just like the movies, is supposed to be an escape from the world.
What makes this worse is that this site is promoted on the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" website which misleadingly makes people think it is a sports website as well.
But never let a moment to preach about racism pass you by.
About 13 months ago, ESPN launched a new SportsCenter dubbed 'SC6.' It was supposed to be about sports with a new vibe to it. What it is is The Undefeated on television. Michael Smith and Jemele Hill co-anchored the show and used it as their own platform to share their opinion about everything - and occasionally they talked about sports highlights too.
Jemele Hill is someone all of us know for her opinions on everything else too.
Amazingly, it did not work. Oh, the shock.
As I said before, sports was an escape from the harsh reality of the world. I sat at home last night and watched two ACC tournament games on ESPN for one simple reason - to forget about the day and enjoy a good game. Amazingly, that worked!
'SC6' does not. Ratings dropped, ESPN laid off good on-air talent, and the lecturing about racism, inequality, and all continued while what people wanted to see was the highlights.
Fortunately, that is coming to an end. Smith and Hill are both off of the 'SC6" show and maybe it will actually go back to being SportsCenter. Then I will go back to watching cause I want to see -
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