Sports Opera

Obviously, not every man is in love with sports, but I would venture to guess that the percentage of men watching ESPN any given day is equivalent to the percentage of women watching the Hallmark channel. There's a lot more in common with these channels than you think.

The big story for ESPN today is the apparent murder/suicide of retired NFL quarterback Steve McNair. The guy was not a phenom, but he was a great player. He was 36 years old and had been married for 12 years. Unconfirmed story is that he had been seeing a young waitress who was expecting him to leave his wife and kids to be with her. Apparently, they were pulled over for a DUI one night last week. Speculation is that he figured that this would expose the affair, and went to her place the following morning to end the relationship. According to police, she bought a gun the night before, and according to a few different news outlets, she shot him and then herself.

It's a real tragedy, and here's how his former head coach, Jeff Fisher (former Chicago Bear) handled the inevitable press conference:

Really, the main difference between the channels is that this is the exceptional story. Most days, ESPN is about compiling statistics and broadcasting achievements. I've gravitated more toward sports in the last ten years for this reason. The soap opera aspect is usually how some assistant coach will now have to face his old boss during the season, or how an injured player has defeated the odds to heal and get back in the game. It's a break from reality.