I officially take back anything nice I ever said about ESPN

Including what I said here. Because this is the worst thing I have ever heard from a "journalistic" outlet.

If you thought ESPN risked viewer backlash with “The Decision," wait until you get a look at the sports media behemoth’s latest approach to covering LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and their backup singers with the Miami Heat.

ESPN.com announced this week that it will launch the Heat Index, a section on the website devoted to, yes, daily coverage of James’s new team. Debuting Monday, the Heat Index (clever name, at least) has it covered from every multimedia angle imaginable, including columns, blogs, automated content, video, photo galleries, and well, you get the point.

Dude, come on. The Heat Index? These guys have hired 4 people specifically to cover the Heat, including every game AND every practice (oh, and some clever "chasing history" graphics...what happens if the Heat aren't that good?). They'll beat us over the head with the Heat, and then hide behind their monopoly of the sports news industry to say things like “Well, as a Packers fan who covered Favre once upon a time, [the idea of blanket covering the Packers is] intriguing personally... But there’s nothing cooking with anyone else right now. It’s all about LeBron and the Heat.’’ That's a direct quote from ESPN.com producer Patrick Stiegman.

Big guy, there's nothing "cooking" because you refuse to cook it (and by the way, nice subtle cooking/Heat parallel there, Stiegman...very cute. Next time try something along the lines of "If you can't stand the Heat, get out of the ESPN kitchen." It'll be great.) You (ESPN) are the only game in town, so people are going to watch your coverage no matter what. That doesn't mean that your harebrained decisions on what to cover and how are justified.

ESPN has a long history of covering what they own. They ignored international soccer entirely until they purchased the rights to air English Premier League games, at which point soccer highlights magically appeared on their daily "Top 10 Plays" segment on Sportscenter. They gave NASCAR and the NHL similar treatment, and now they're doing it with the NBA and the Heat.

Wait until you see how many Heat games ESPN covers this year... it's gonna be amazing. Actually, don't bother waiting. Just head on over to the Heat Index, I'm sure they'll tell you.

[Boston Globe]