The cure for ESPN-TV is radio

The harder ESPN tries, the more annoying it gets. Consider:

- its cute wannabe-comedian announcers who aren't terribly interested in the action on the field.

- its carney graphics team which pastes Disney over much of what's happening on the field.

- its wasted effort to attune viewers to every other game that is being/has been/will be played.

- its affinity for showcasing stupid people in the stands and press box.

- its infantile slobbering over people it thinks we should care about but we don't.

- its distracting "reports" from its token woman on the sidelines.

ESPN presents a football game as something for which viewers must search by trying to ignore their intrusive, show-biz crap.

Which is why, during the game with Illinois, I turned off ESPN's sound and turned on the radio announcers. They tell you what's going on, and that allowed me ignore ESPN whenever it started to piss me off and I could actually hear football announcers tell me about the game.

As a bonus, the radio guys were a few seconds ahead of ESPN's delayed broadcast, so that by the time I saw it on the screen I already knew the outcome. Ha. Score one for me, ESPN, because I am no longer oppressed by your creative genius.