The ESPYs are ESPN’s award show, and, well, they happened. Drew Brees won a lot. We think the ESPYs are kind of fun, in a highlight reel sort of way, but that’s the issue, too.  Reasons the ESPYs don’t work for us.

1. We saw those plays! All the highlights, interview clips, etc. are things that have already been done, except, we guess, for the “red carpet” type of stuff.  C’mon, SportsCenter gets watched by hundreds of thousands daily.  There’s little new material.

2. The highlight mentality Call us sports purists, but we think that the highlight-heavy clips and such distract from true enjoyment of the game.  So much of baseball, for example, happens between pitches, that you can’t get the full experience of watching–even on TV–if you’re just seeing bits.

3. Also, what about the kids? Kids are seeing athletes rewarded, at the ESPYs, for awesome feats of skill (and luck, and popularity, but leave those aside for now.)  These are their role models.  But what kids SEE is those amazing plays.  Result: they go for that crazy catch, or ridiculous basket…and skip passing, teamwork, and all the things sports are trying to teach them on and off the field.

Not that we’re hating on Drew Brees…