My source of American sports news is typically ESPN. I used to watch their flagship program SportsCenter every night. But no longer. The presenters have become increasingly bro-ey and obnoxious (as epitomized by Stephen A Smith - one of the highest-paid figures in sports media, and somebody whose presence I find unbearable), and I am increasingly indifferent to sports like baseball and American football. Their 30 for 30 documentary series is excellent, but it's been ages since they had a new and decent episode. And now ESPN has made a deal with WWE to show wrestling. I have a major problem with this. Wrestling - more specifically WWE wrestling - is NOT a sport. It is sports entertainment. There is a huge difference. It's like comparing pantomime to Shakespeare. And the issue is that since making the deal, WWE news is getting mixed up with real sports news. Indeed, the main headline on the ESPN website earlier today - a website I often go on to check scores - was on wrestling. Which is ridiculous. You can't conflate these two entities. It would be like the BBC News reporting on events in EastEnders as if they were real. It just feels incredibly wrong. Yet another example of an increasingly messed up world we live in.
