letter to ESPN

[Feraud]

Knowing that Nationals is this week and then checking the lineup on ESPN... well I couldn't help myself. Hence the following e-mail:

Dear ESPN,

This week in Sacramento CA, US Fencing is holding it’s National Championships and Summer National competition. For a network devoted to sports one might expect to find on ESPN some coverage of this national sporting event.
Tuning in to ESPN today though, however, what do I find? The National Hot Dog Eating Championships! How does hot dog eating qualify as a sport? Why are the contestants in this competition referred to as “athletes”? At a time when Americans are overweight in record numbers is this something that’s needed on TV?
Fencing in the US is a sport which continually struggles to get any media attention at all; TV coverage is almost non-existent. I suppose fencing isn’t all that exiting for most Americans to watch, but when I turn to ESPN’s lineup there are offered the following alternatives; Hot Dog Eating and The World Series of Poker. Many days of your TV lineup are in fact devoted to broadcasting a card game. You have got to be kidding! Watching poker on TV sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry. Since when did card-playing qualify as a sport? Can you honestly tell me people are glued to their screens to watch this for days on end?
I also see the “National Arm-Wrestling Championships” Now, is that honestly a sport worthy of national TV coverage?
Fencing is an exciting fast-paced martial sport and receives quality TV coverage in other parts of the world. Eurosport for example provides great programming that is exiting to watch. US fencers are winning medals in international competition, including a gold in the 2004 Olympics. I find it hard to believe that the above “sports” represent a more appealing alternative here in the US. I hope in the future ESPN will re-consider it’s coverage of Fencing.

Thank You

[mrbiggs]

I usually try not to be this way, but since it's a letter, you spelled "its" incorrectly in the first and last sentences.

By the way, that letter is hilarious, and so true. A few months ago, I turned on ESPN2 to find none other than the World Juggling Championships, and asked a friend how that deserves more coverage than fencing.

Great letter, but unfortunately, viewers actually, really, are more interested in the Hot Dog Eating championships than fencing. Someday, though...

[prototoast]

I turned on ESPN2 to find none other than the World Juggling Championships, and asked a friend how that deserves more coverage than fencing.

Okay, a couple things you have to know. First, juggling is made to be spectator friendly. It is entertainment, and even know they (the WJF) tried to pretend it was "sport" it is really just entertainment so people of all sorts could watch and appeciate it. Second, ESPN did not just decide they were going to show juggling. Jason Garfield (a juggler) wanted some publicity so he organized a competition, heavily promoted it, got some of the best jugglers in the world to attend, had many other jugglers pay money to attend, had a television show produced out of the competitions and PAID money to espn2 for them to show it... and the first time it was scheduled to air, it got bumped for tennis. Don't bash the jugglers for getting their act together and making TV happen. The real question is why isn't the USFA (or some ambitious fencers) doing the same thing?

Maybe juggling doesn't deserve more coverage, but this isn't a communist television system we have here. If you want your stuff on tv, get your act together and make it happen.

[Orangeaholic]

That article was funny and so true! Wow when did eating become a sport? I truely have to agree with you on all aspects. Actaully I had a day off and I did watch that juggling. I think I can truely say I have never been so bored in my life. Sorry if that offends any jugglers or hot dog-eaters...

Rep for you Feraud!

-Orange

[RebelFencer]

I'm an A05 in pie eating....

[mrbiggs]

Okay, a couple things you have to know. First, juggling is made to be spectator friendly. It is entertainment, and even know they (the WJF) tried to pretend it was "sport" it is really just entertainment so people of all sorts could watch and appeciate it. Second, ESPN did not just decide they were going to show juggling. Jason Garfield (a juggler) wanted some publicity so he organized a competition, heavily promoted it, got some of the best jugglers in the world to attend, had many other jugglers pay money to attend, had a television show produced out of the competitions and PAID money to espn2 for them to show it... and the first time it was scheduled to air, it got bumped for tennis. Don't bash the jugglers for getting their act together and making TV happen. The real question is why isn't the USFA (or some ambitious fencers) doing the same thing?

Maybe juggling doesn't deserve more coverage, but this isn't a communist television system we have here. If you want your stuff on tv, get your act together and make it happen.

I actually watched the juggling show. And enjoyed it.

Doing the same with fencing is more difficult because it isn't as easy to understand, and because it's not so much of a novelty. You can turn on the TV and go "huh, juggling, I didn't know that was a sport," but with fencing, I think the response is often "huh, fencing...what the hell is going on?"

[esskreemr]

You'd have a better chance at getting the Nats on CSTV (They showed parts last year as part of their Olympic Pursuit Programming).

http://www.collegesports.com/online/...s-contact.html

[Araznal]

I agree with esskeemr about starting smaller, but you should send the letter anyway (or did you already do it?) just because it's true. They might not listen, but at least you said what was already on the minds of everyone here. Somebody needed to say it.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

At least a small start---Suzie Paxton (Olympic fencing commentator in 2004) was at the Summer Nats with a camera crew shooting segments for a new web network: "Women of Action."

She interviewed several Div 1 women sabrists and shot the Div 1 competition.

It's not ESPN2...but it's a beginning.

[great bowyer]

i saw the very end of the hotdog eating. that greatly disgusted me. all i can think is someone needs fired from espn. sorry if i offend anyone, but that is how i feel.

[Feltan]

Just wondering why the Nationals were not webcast. Seems easy enough, and they already have the website to host it.

Regards,
Feltan

[millsisland]

I usually try not to be this way, but since it's a letter, you spelled "its" incorrectly in the first and last sentences.

Ummm... And it's exciting, not exiting.

[Purple Fencer]

Hopefully ESPN will open their eyes and see the sport as a new thing to present to the people.

WE FINALLY got drum corps out of PBS this year....September 6 on ESPN2...be nice to get the activity out to a larger audience, even though we all KNOW people may surf the tube and say "huh....marching band", even though band and corps are different activities.

[haroldbuck]

While I agree poker is not a sport, fencing couldn't get the ratings that poker gets in a hundred years.

[Araznal]

Maybe 101? Maybe?

[Chafunkta]

Great job on the letter, we need more people sending in responses to let ESPN know that some viewers would be excited to watch fencing. The letters, however, don't have to be bashing the other programming. However much ESPN thinks that World Series of Poker goes against athletic competition, it still gets HUGE ratings, and that's why ESPN broadcasts it. If we made ESPN recognize that fencing would be enjoyable to watch; then maybe it could be played on-air. The only way to get fencing on air is to prove that it's a money-maker. It's a shame, but the world is run by economics; and not by ideals.

I think you did a great job with your letter, and I encourage you - as well as all others - to keep it up.

ps: By the way it's exciting; not exiting.

ESPN puts into it's programming sports that people understand and can relate to. A lot of people play poker (especially now since it was broadcast on TV). They can understand it and can play it at home. Same with juggling, although not at the level of professional jugglers. People can watch that, relate to the time they once tried to juggle and say, "man, i could never do that!!" With fencing, however, not many Americans even know what it is. And once they see it, they just think, "oh, so it's two guys trying to poke each other" and cannot see the feints and disengages and all the intricacies we respect so much.
I've had many conversations with people that think that fencing is just sticking a sword in someone; that it requires no strategy. I've talked to some who believe it's just whoever is fastest wins. I've even talked to one friend who told me "hey- there's these guys down in the park that fence every afternoon." So I went and checked them out. Turns out it was two guys hacking away at each other with two tree branches. This is what my friend thought was "fencing."

Back to the main point, if fencing were easily understandable and could be related to the modern instant-gratificatious American more easily, perhaps it could gain some TV time. Unfortunately, and not to sound like an ***, fencing takes awhile to learn and respect as a sport. I think you have to have experience in order to enjoy spectating it.

[drseudo]

i saw the very end of the hotdog eating. that greatly disgusted me. all i can think is someone needs fired from espn. sorry if i offend anyone, but that is how i feel.

Couldn't disagree more. Takeru Kobayashi is one of the most phenomenal athletes (competitors, if you like) currently active. Read this profile if you don't believe me. 'Competitive eating' sounds like a bunch of fat slobs with pies; it's not.

[mrbiggs]

Couldn't disagree more. Takeru Kobayashi is one of the most phenomenal athletes (competitors, if you like) currently active. Read this profile if you don't believe me. 'Competitive eating' sounds like a bunch of fat slobs with pies; it's not.

Really fascinating article. I could see how competitive eating, now, could even be considered a sport, but I don't think it's athletic, and it is at the same time harmful to your body.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I'm an A05 in pie eating....

and i'm an A06 in umass fencing boys.

your point?

[drseudo]

I could see how competitive eating, now, could even be considered a sport, but I don't think it's athletic, and it is at the same time harmful to your body.

No more harmful than (American) football, surely. Maybe less; at least in a hot-dog eating competition you can't tear your ACL, or have a 300-pound man in a helmet headbutt you in the chest so your heart stops.

Unless it's an Aussie-rules hot-dog eating competition, of course, in which case all bets are off.