ESPN-ABLERS
Worldwide Leader shows no shame in exploiting
JOE FRANKLIN, the TV and radio talkshow host and NYC character who died in January at 88, would walk into a crowded room scoping for a target or two to lecture.
“Young man,” he’d say to his mark, “the secret to success in my business, and in any business, is sincerity. Understand — nothing matters more than sincerity.
“And once you learn to fake sincerity ...”
Imagine the highfiving and nd joy jumping up at ESPN, N, the other day, when itss shot callers closed the deal to honor Bruce/ Caitlyn Jenner with its annual Arthur , Ashe Courage Award.
The ESPY Awards shows, from their 1993 debut, have made for standard ESPN viewing s in that they’re so much less — so selfpromotional, so much h cheesier — than they could’ve e and should‘ ve been. In its mission , to target and serve young, wiseguy audiences, the ESPYs s quickly became and stayed a nonqualifier e as anything special.
And so, with ESPN eager to make a splash at this year’s ESPYs, next month, which will be televised by ABC, what better way than to land Jenner, and present him/ her as the special guest star under the transparently bogus guise of his/ her above and beyond courage?
It’s not as if Jenner is without courage. It’s more that whatever courage he/ she may have has been lost to or hidden by all the attention he/ she can muster, including photo and video shoots of his/ her Vanity Fair glamor makeover.
I’m not sure if that takes courage, but it does take lots of lights, cameras, makeup and wardrobe consultants. Perhaps we’re just unfamiliar with the kind of courage it takes to abandon one’s dignity on behalf of any lifealtering decision.
Besides, if not for Jenner, the Ashe Courage Award may have gone unrewarded as undeserving of anyone else attached to sports. Maybe it was Jenner or no one.
But ESPN, under the Disney banner, is in its third decade of being a radical mixed messenger service and rationalization center— of being full of it. ESPN’s Jimmy Swaggart’s booth down at the Boom Boom Room.
And just as it didn’t matter to ESPN what happened to Ray Lewis’ bloodsoaked white suit after those two guys were stabbed to death, it didn’t matter that Jenner, following his driving role in a late February car crash that killed a woman — Jenner’s negligence is suspected— is still the target of a wrongful death suit, and could end up with a vehicular manslaughter charge.
But ESPN couldn’t wait. It had to strike while Jenner’s hot.
Although the ESPYs have been a desperate enterprise in which ESPN male “talent” is encouraged to publicly demonstrate their leering, sexist side, the Jenner part of the show will be slathered in phony respect and admiration, as if it’s legit and from the heart.
As Bob Costas Thursday told Dan Patrick, the whole thing carries the stench of “a crass exploitation play.”
And it’ll work. Doesn’t matter if Jenner’s being saluted by ESPN with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award or by Barnum & Bailey with its annual Bearded Lady Sideshow Award, it’ll draw a crowd.
As for more traditional ESPN sexism, last week also brought the latest sophomorics from Stephen A. Smith, who sees bigotry in every window but not in the mirror.
Smith, having noted that a Women’s World Cupper may have blanched at a free kick toward her head, on Sports Center said female players “may not want to mess up their hair.”
Geez. That’s not merely sexist, it’s stupid, unfunny and childish.
But Smith, growing practiced at apologizing — he was suspended for suggesting some women deserve a good beating from their men— apologized. Sorta. Kinda.
In another of those contingency apologies, Smith seemed to portray himself a victim of his own popularity, his own greatness.
“As usual,” he tweeted, “something I’ve said is gaining steam, so let me address this right now.” He then wrote that he’s sorry.
So it wasn’t so much that he cracked a terribly stupid, unfunny “girl joke” on ESPN, it’s at least partially ESPN’s fault for hiring him, thus allowing him a forum from which his words can “gain steam.”