ESPN AT 20

THE BEST

MARK McGWIRE IS IN THE HOUSE

Before ESPN, how often did fans living in Los Angeles actually catch a glimpse of Johnny Unitas or Mickey Mantle in action? Two, three times a regular season, via the odd “Game of the Week” national broadcast? ESPN brought the top sporting stars of the era into the living rooms of America every night.

INSTANT ACCESS

Once there was a time when living on the East Coast meant waiting for the Friday morning paper for details about Wednesday night’s Red Sox game in Oakland. “SportsCenter” and such later additions as the bottom-of-the-screen ticker-crawl downsized that lag time to a matter of minutes.

NICHE SPORTS FIND THEIR NICHE

Pre-ESPN, the television sports menu was fairly spartan: The Big Three--baseball, football, basketball--with periodic intrusions by golf and tennis. ESPN and ESPN2 provided a haven where fans of hockey, soccer, auto racing, volleyball, horse racing and billiards could also hang out.

REAL JOURNALISTS REPORTING THE NEWS? WHAT A CONCEPT

Putting sportswriters in front of the camera once was considered heresy. But as Howard Cosell proved years earlier, you don’t have to have played the game to get the story. ESPN has assembled the best sports news-gathering team in television with its hirings of such former print journalists as Chris Mortensen, Peter Gammons, Tim Kurkjian and John Clayton.

“THIS IS SPORTSCENTER”

News anchors joking and cavorting with the athletes they cover? All right, so it isn’t journalism at its finest. The “This Is SportsCenter” advertising campaign remains among the most clever on television--better than much of the network’s regular programming, if truth be told.

THE WORST

FRANKENSTEINERS, OLBERMONSTERS AND SERIAL KILBORNS

Sit-down sports anchors making like stand-up comedians was a dicey proposition to begin with. But once the likes of Charley Steiner, Keith Olbermann and Chris Berman became national celebrities--with another ESPN anchor, Craig Kilborn, landing his own talk show--the “Late Night at the Improv” approach became the standard textbook for aspiring clones across the country. The results have not been pretty, which is why Dan Patrick offers the kiddies out there the following advice: “Just because Dad leaves out the power tools doesn’t mean you have to play with them.”

CELEBRATING THE CELEBRATION

Too often, the “SportsCenter” highlights look better suited for a program titled “Showboating 2Night.” (Not to give ESPN any ideas). An entire generation of athletes have grown up watching and learning what lands one on “SportsCenter,” leading to Super Bowl victory-style celebrations for linebackers making midfield tackles with their team trailing, 32-6.

GEEKVILLE, USA

Televising the NFL draft in 1980 opened Pandora’s Box, leading to Mel Kiper Jr.’s christening as national icon and the annual ritual of televising snorting, whooping New York Jet fans rattling the balcony on draft day. NFL draft nuts and rotisserie league nerds consider ESPN an indispensable lifeline. Enough said.

THE ESPYS

A smirking, self-referential, self-promoting smugfest posing as a sports awards show. All of ESPN’s worst characteristics, dressed up in black tie.

ENOUGH ALREADY

In ESPN’s lifetime, media coverage of sports has gone from steady drizzle to blinding blizzard. National all-sports channels, regional all-sports channels, all-sports talk radio, sports Web sites, specialty sports magazines and overblown coverage in the sports section as the daily newspapers scramble to keep up. If we haven’t already hit the wall, we certainly are standing in its shadow. Less can be more, a wise man once said. But he never had a gig on “SportsCenter.”