Serious question here, What the hell is ESPN Randy Scott’s strategy here?
On Tuesday night, the SportsCenter host tweeted a video of Penguins captain and NHL superstar Sidney Crosby getting into a scrum with Flyers forward Travis Konecny.
Konecny had Sid in a headlock, Crosby gets out and shoves Konecny to the ice and shoves his head into the ice twice.
Mind you, he did it without the same violence that Tom Wilson inflicted on both Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich of the Rangers when the Capitals played New York on Monday night.
But as fellow Audacy sports writer Alex Reimer points out “ESPN anchor Randy Scott still compared Crosby and Wilson. Why let facts get in the way of a good hot take?”
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I’m not arguing that Crosby doesn’t take a cheap shot from time to time.
Heck, most superstars in the NHL get a little hot under the collar from time to time. Example: Alexander Ovechkin.
Wilson is a repeat offender who has been suspended five-times during his 8-year career. Sid and Ovi have not.
The NHL has a problem of promoting their superstars and that isn’t just a Randy Scott or ESPN problem.
Next season, ESPN (along with Turner Sports) will take the national reigns away from NBC Sports and any hope that superstars would be celebrated on those networks seem to be lost if Scott’s commentary tells the tale of what to expect.
NBC has been criticized for its commentators spending too much time calling superstars like Sid a whiner and not enough celebrating the type of talent the league has.
ESPN should be airing commercials with Crosby, McDavid, Ovechkin and other stars saying “holy crap! Look what type of talent you get to see on our network next season!” Not sarcastically calling Sid “Saint Sidney Crosby.”
To make matters worse, on Wednesday Scot doubled down posting a gif of Jerry Seinfeld enjoying a cup of coffee with the words “Wakes up.. Checks Mentions.. Penguins twitter throwing active tantrum..”
Way to get one of the NHL’s most popular franchises to watch your Network.
Tom Brady is celebrated as the greatest of all-time, LeBron’s accomplishments are celebrated in basketball and baseball is realizing they should celebrate young, exciting players like Tatis.
Yes, you should be critical of the way a player plays on the ice, field or court but do yourself a favor and try to actually promote the product that will air on your station.
Disenfranchising an entire fan base because you’re reportedly a Caps fan or whatever isn’t a good start or look.