E:60

I watched the premiere episode of E:60 tonight. I came away impressed with the show. It was good to see ESPN doing a news show rather than a bunch of opinion from ex-athletes and coaches. The stories on tonight's show were interesting and engaging.


They had stories on the Miami Northwestern High School football team whose star RB committed statutory rape, the estranged relationship between Cecil and Prince Fielder, Dr. Bob who single-handily changes point spreads in Vegas, and the story of Jason Ray who was the North Carolina mascot who was killed in an accident but saved 4 lives by donating his organs. It was interesting to see how one guy can affect the point spread in Vegas. The story of Cecil and Prince Fielder was sad. Bill Simmons becoming a video game star at the end was mildly funny, mildly annoying. The guy looked like a total geek out there with the Celtics, telling Paul Pierce to pretend its the 2008 Finals and the Celtics are about to win the championship. Plus, the guy has no basketball ability what so ever.

The only part of the show I disliked was in-between stories when the correspondents and produces staged a production meeting. The questions seemed staged and the answers written out before. The show will do fine on the stories, it doesn't need the acting.

Ray of Hope Story Refreshing

This is the story of Jason Ray, the mascot for North Carolina who was killed after being struck by a car earlier this year. After reading it I don't see how you can't feel sadness for his family and joy for the families of the people he saved. The young man clearly had a passion for life and the people in it. It is so tragic that this is the way he had to go. Though if you can ever beat death, he clearly has done it.

His death saved the lives of 4 other people. He bettered the lives not only of these people, but of their families and friends as well. The way those peoples' lives are affected is a direct result of Jason deciding to donate his organs. It should inspire anyone who isn't a donor or cannot decide if they want to be one. Like he says, what good is my heart if its buried in the ground.

These are the kind of stories that should be reported on. These are the acts that make you proud to be involved in sports and be a fan of sports. While this act is great no matter who did it, the fact that it has a tie in with college athletics only makes it more important that the story be told.

Ray of Hope [ESPN]

ESPN's Next 50 NFL Hall of Famers

ESPN’s Page 2 released a list of the 50 active players that they believe will make it to Canton. Now ESPN has a habit of creating these ridiculous lists that provide people with something to argue about. I am going to bite on this one.

The premise of this list is crazy because players are included on it that have never taken a snap in the NFL. How can you create a serious list when you have no basis for some of the players on it. If you want to create a real list ESPN should find the players already retired whose numbers are on the edge of Hall Fame numbers, then weigh Super Bowl rings, value of players around them, etc. to see which ones deserve the Hall.

On to the list:

First, here’s a breakdown position-by-position of the 50 entries:
6 QB
7 RB
8 WR
2 TE
3 OT
3 OG
0 C
6 DL
8 LB
2 CB
4 S
1 K

I completely agree with the 1st 3 entries. Favre, Brady, and Manning are absolute show-ins. The problem I have the list is order of the offensive lineman. The fact of the matter is that Walter Jones is the best offensive lineman of the decade. He might be the most dominant LT in the history of the NFL. There is no way that Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace, and Steve Hutchinson should be ahead of him.

The only reason why Ogden and Pace are ahead of him is because they have Super Bowl rings. While ring is always nice, it should not weigh as much as it does. The LT can not single-handily take a team to a championship. Last year in Minnesota Hutchinson was nearly as effective with Jones next to him. He got beat and blown up on many occasions. Jones not only held his position down, but was consistently helping the LG out who was missing his assignments.

I also have a problem with Shawne Merriman at #21. He is a cheater. He got caught last year using steroids. If you get caught cheating you can’t be considered ahead of people who have played the game honorably.