It's all in the game

To this end, ESPN is doing what it's supposed to do: Go to news as it happens, if possible. But in baseball, and especially with Bonds' latest inability to hit the long ball, these live cut-ins will only infuriate those viewers who don't care to see Bonds do anything of note. Is there a way ESPN can run a scroll: BONDS IS COMING TO BAT, PLEASE TURN TO ESPNEWS TO WATCH ...
Isn't that what ESPNEWS is for? Of course, not everyone has access to this ESPNEWS thing, so that may seem impractical, but why hasn't the ESPN genius marketing dept. figured out this is a perfect way to force the channel onto the cable subscribers? It was like when Fox Sports Net launched its econd channel years ago, they strategically put the Dodgers on it. How could cable systems in LA not add it to their systems? The complaints were too much, no matter what FSN was charging in additional subscriber rate fees to each system ...
Hey, maybe the ESPN mensas thought this out. Maybe there won't be a great clamoring for ESPNEWS if Bonds is relegated to that channel. But at least we can consider the possibilities...

And about games people play:
The last nugget in Michael Heistand's media column in today's USA Today:
"DirecTV wants to turn video game action into sports television. The satellite TV carrier, owned by Fox parent News Corp., will next year launch The Championship Series, a video game pro league. The idea, says DirecTV executive vice president Eric Shanks, is to create something somebody would want to watch. "Our whole attitude of treating it like a real sport hasn't been done before," he says. "This won't be lifestyle TV where you just see the back of players' heads and their computer screens." Instead, he says, Fox will show the action in the games being played and use "virtual cameras" that can go "anywhere in the virtual action."

Wait, our head is spinning here. Before they force us to drive the porcelain bus, maybe everyone's thinking too far outside the Xbox on this. There are channels devoted to this stuff now on DirecTV, right? USA Network has recently signed a deal with something called Major League Gaming, a story so alarming that NPR felt it was worth covering. Then, ESPN.com made the announcement this week:
It will have a section on its site this fall called the ESPN Video Games Channel for sports video game news and reviews, trailers, audio and video podcasts, industry analysis, interviews and more. “Sports video games are a big part of the overall experience for many of today’s sports fans,� said John Kosner, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN New Media. “It is important to us to serve the broad range of interests that our millions of users have, and collaborating with Ziff Davis Game Group brings two trusted content brands together for fans and advertisers.�

This is about VIDEO GAMES wanting to be as legit as a real sport ... then what, as a demonstration sport for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Silicon Valley (don't laugh, San Francisco is one of the U.S. finalists that they're considering to submit at the IOC).
If my kids tell me someday they'd aspire to become a pro video gamer, I'll know I've officially failed as a parent.