THE ESPN HALLMARK CHANNEL

Certain things in life are highly entertaining to me.  Sports are one of those things.  I played some in junior high and high school; track, volleyball, tennis.  But only through my freshman year in high school.  Don't really have a competitive bone in me.  The only competing I do is inside myself against myself.  Others don't motivate me to excel or drive me to win.  I can drive myself to those things without one lick of competition.  I love real life stories of people.  That's why I read biographies, memoirs and autobiographies.  Professional sports have morphed into something through the years that is akin to the Hallmark channel.  Yes men, I said it.  Sports have too many personal stories woven into them.  Seriously, sports are to entertain us, not pull our heart strings or paint some sort of emotional picture in our hearts and heads.  I'm quite sure those player/athlete stories originated to fill time between games, quarters, innings, rain delays, Olympic venue changes, increase the female viewing population, or to give men an outlet to cry at and still be accepted by their male peers.  They will break away from the heat of competition to an athlete human interest story.  It is bracketed by music putting you more in mind of a musical score for the movie "Titanic" than befits a professional football game or Olympic archery competition.  I laugh every time I see one of those pieces.  It seems totally incongruent to me and almost cheesy.  I am a big Bob Costas fan.  The networks have used him in about every sporting venue and in quite a few of those candy-ass athlete human interest pieces.  But, come on Bob!  Really, if I tune into a sporting event, I don't want to hear you commentate on Michael Vic's life that led to dog fighting, jail and back to the NFL.  I want to hear your sweet announcers voice bringing a sport to life.  It's simple.  It's a sport.  Quite making it dramatic.  Make it a well-deserved break from life - a game, some entertainment, some play of sorts, highlighting some great athletic ability and call it a day please!