About a year ago in this blog, I made a list of ten things that sports channels such as ESPN and FSN showed frequently, but that were either not sports or were boring beyond belief. Flash foward to this morning. As I usually do, I turn on ESPN2 to watch the Mike and Mike show. What awaits me is not the show, but rather the Australian Open tennis tournament. What is the f***ing deal with putting this stuff on at any time on a major sports network? Can't the Tennis Channel handle that?

This type of annoying habit plagues my favorite channels. Another example of this occurs when ESPN (yeah, I know it's a Fox blog, but whatever) preempts its 5 o'clock shows (Around the Horn and PTI) in favor of AN ENTIRE AFTERNOON OF GOLF!!!! What's the point of showing Joe Shmoe putting on the green, wiping his behind and walking sssssssssslowly up to the next hole? These 'sports' (I use that term loosely) are not sports that sane people watch copisously, but are treated like royalty. But at least they involve some modicum of athleticism. There is one activity that exceeds them all. Poker!

Poker easily is the greatest example of bull**** on TV. Think about it; what's the allure of watching  poker? Any 'game' where the 'contestants' look like blind tourists isn't appealing to me (thanks for the reference, Bill Simmons!). And where in the dictionary does it show how poker is athletic? What, is laying down that ace really showing your manliness? It's not athletic, and by that definition, it's not a sport. Period.

What can be done about this mess? Unfortunately, not much. Golf is so engrained on ESPN that at least ten to twelve tournaments (it seems that way) will be given tons of coverage. There will be at least ten SportsCenter 'specials' previewing these 'events'. And now that I think about it, it's the same way with horse racing. That sport has gone the way of the eight track in this country, but ESPN doesn't realize it. Even when it's sadly apparent that the Triple Crown will not be won, they devote tons of coverage to this stuff. They trot out Kenny Mayne and some guy named Randy Moss for this stuff. I'd rather see the real Randy Moss catch a touchdown than the fake Moss analyze SlammaLangaDingDong (there's a Joe Buck reference!) and his chances to win!

To wrap up my rant, it goes to show you that bull**** can reign supreme over the best channels. So when ESPN shows another Masters commercial on Sunday, I'll do what a true sports fan should do; I'll watch a real sport, American football (don't get me started on how had soccer is; I could write this blog for days!). Enjoy the games (by the way, NE and GB should win)!