ESPN loses heart, soul with layoffs

If you missed live coverage of the NFL Draft’s first round the other night, we’ve got you covered. An estimated 100,000 attended the outdoor event. The best part of an extremely long telecast was the city of Philadelphia’s reaction every time Roger Goodell took the podium.

Here is the exact quote, which we have meticulously transcribed for your reading pleasure. “BOOOOOOOOOOOO!” It went on like that all night. Now, the commish won’t win many popularity contests. But most feedback from Philly denizens should be taken with a grain of salt. It wasn’t long ago Santa Claus received the exact same reception.

• It was a shock to the system to see the best of ESPN – the beat writers and journalists who actually know and report on what’s going on – laid off in this week’s mass purge in Bristol.

Ed Werder? Andy Katz? Brett McMurphy? Jayson Stark? The list goes on and on.

Exorbitant rights fees are at the root of the layoffs. ESPN pays ungodly sums of money to broadcast NFL games live, along with MLB, NCAA and other events, which, with fees for those exclusive rights numbering in the billions, it clearly can’t afford. To supplement that money, the network charges a large sum of money to cable companies for the right to carry the network.

The problem is we live in an age where many are eliminating cable all together because it costs so much and much of what’s on TV, including sports highlights, can be seen elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. ESPN is said to have lost 10 million subscribers in the past three years.

That’s why the cuts were made. It hardly makes a dent in escalating debt. But the company must give an appearance to shareholders they’re on top of things.

At any rate, the days of ESPN as the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports” are over.

• As much as I miss the glory days of SportsCenter, the go-to show for nightly highlights and news for some 30 years, ESPN can’t rely on its signature show to generate revenue. In this world of instant information, it’s simply too easy to find highlights elsewhere.

But the direction ESPN chose by hanging its hat on to the insufferable hot take format of on-air “talent” like Stephen A. Smith, is disheartening.

ESPN’s greatest appeal, aside from live sports, was an army of reputable, knowledgeable, plugged-in journalists. Most of them were handed walking papers this week. It’s business, not personal. But it’s a shame.

• A Cliff’s Notes assessment of the season’s first month for the locals: the Yankees are overachieving, the Red Sox are underachieving and the Mets are, well, the Mets.

• Loved this from Steve Rushin, writing in this week’s Sports Illustrated: “There are 2,430 major league baseball games in a regular season…which works out to 7,452 hours of baseball. During that time the ball is in play for approximately six minutes of every hour, which means that televised baseball is really just … two guys talking.”

That about sums it up, don’t you think?

• Every Aaron Judge atbat is must-see TV.

• Among those let go by ESPN this week was Woodbridge’s Darren Haynes, a former football star at Amity Regional and the University of New Haven, who realized a lifelong dream three years ago when the network hired him to anchor SportsCenter. Young, talented and resolute, Haynes surely won’t be out of work long.

• It took me a while to come around on interleague play. I’ve been fully on board for a while. Catching a three-game weekend series like Cubs at Red Sox, only the second time since 1918 the teams have met, is a baseball enthusiast’s dream.

• Pretty much every major league pitcher throws in the upper 90s now. Every bullpen has a specialist that regularly hit triple digits. Twenty years ago, you could count the number of guys doing that on one hand. The cynic in me says new radar gun technology is flawed; the realist says the increased number of Tommy John surgeries is proof that the increased velocity readings are probably correct.

• The West Haven Twilight League is hosting an alumni picnic on Saturday, May 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the West Haven Italian American Club, 85 Chase Lane, in West Haven, downstairs and on the outside patio. All former players, coaches, umpires and volunteers are invited for complimentary hot dogs, hamburgers, beer and soda, with a cash bar available. RSVP by today to Joe Roche jeroche11@gmail, or Vin DiLauro whtlbaseball@ gmail.com.

• The aftermath of the Dustin Pedroia-Manny Machado dustup should be interesting.

Machado’s slide didn’t seem malicious. Pedroia agreed. Yet former UConn pitcher Matt Barnes felt the need to throw at Machado’s head, two days after the incident, a dumb retaliation pitch that accomplished the rare feat of agitating his own teammate, Pedroia, as much as the Orioles.

Afterward, Pedroia condemned Barnes’ actions and then caught flak from Boston media for throwing a teammate under the bus.

It’s all playing out like a bad soap opera subplot, where there must be retribution for every perceived slight. So when the teams meet again at Fenway on Monday, don’t be surprised if Pedroia gets plunked in batting practice by the ghost of Babe Ruth.

• Chris Sale has a 1.19 ERA over 37.2 innings. Opposing pitchers have posted a 0.95 ERA against Red Sox hitters in that time frame. Boston is batting .157 as a team when Sale is in the game; a healthy .296 when Sale is on the bench.

With such a glaring lack of support, Sale must feel like his new teammates are a bunch of deadbeat dads.

• They say April showers bring May flowers. But at the rate it poured down this month, we’re due for a May tropical rain forest.

FRANK FRANKLIN – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Register columnist says while the Yankess are overachieving at the moment, every plate appearance by Aaron Judge has become must watch television.