Before I headed off to school this morning, I caught a couple minutes each of Mike & Mike and First Take on ESPN2. In the span of just a few minutes, I saw last year's Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes hawking a rather ugly pair of Reebok trainers and a First Take host open her interview with Detroit Lions quarterback Drew Stafford with the following: "Drew, what does it take to have girl-approved hair?" In case you're curious, that line is adapted from Axe's hair products, for which Stafford is a spokesman.
These help you train better. Whatever you say, science.
Santonio Holmes with Greeny & Golic and his shirt matched his shoes.
I realize it's the Super Bowl and everyone is cashing in, but it's more indicative of what's happening at in the world of sports - and at the World Wide Leader - the past several years.
Advertisements are a big part of ESPN's SportsCenter
Looking specifically at ESPN, from their partnership with EA Sports that produced the strangest NFL Countdown segment ever...
...to asking their analysts which player in a given game needs to taste greatness the most...
What might greatness taste like? Miller Lite thinks they have the answer.
...the commercial/infotainment element of sport is certainly at its apex. But it's not just ESPN, as noted in posts from the past couple of days. Television, advertising, and sport are more intertwined now than ever before, across all sorts of sports - professional, amateur, or otherwise.
Is there any way for consumers to opt out of this growing machine? Well, more and more sporting contests are available online. Also, blogs are also doing some good work right now - when it comes to insightful information and analysis - especially if you are interested in a sport that doesn't receive much television coverage. And finally, players have opened themselves directly - some more open than others - with technological tools like Facebook and Twitter.
It may not be the end of the world, or even the end of sports, just that the line between advertising and content is getting more and more blurry, and we fans have seemingly so little input in that process.
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