ESPN the phenomenon

For one of my show and tells in the class I brought up the topic of ESPN introducing a new 3-d network sometime in 2010. I used this story to launch into a bigger discussion of how ESPN has grown since its inception and carved its own little niche in our culture. If you were to read the wikipedia article about ESPN there is a section entitled, "ESPN in Popular Culture." Although this section mostly outlines how ESPN is portrayed in various movies, songs and tv shows it highlights how this specialty sports network has gone from a small time station to a multimedia monster. In terms of its impact on our society I think it's very comparable to that of MTV in the 80's.

Cullen discusses how Michael Jackson's inclusion on MTV's playlist was a major milestone in popular culture in that it signaled the integration of black artists into mainstream music. Personally, I think the growing popularity of ESPN has a tremendous amount in integrating black athletes into mainstream celebrity culture. The concept of the black jock is a stereotype of the black celebrity. However the growing presence of ESPN as a network which has its own annual awards show (filled with "real" stars that are actors, musicians, socialites) has helped the mainstream population view these black athletes in a more positive light. The constant barrage of information about sports and athletes, more specifically black athletes, gives the consumers more complete insight into their lives. This increased interaction in turn increases the celebrity status of these athletes who can then use that status to escape the stereotypes and associations generally held for black athletes. So for example, Shaquille O'Neal has used his athlete status to launch a reality tv show where he competes against other stars in various competitions to prove that he can be good at anything. By using his athlete status, he has been able to vault himself into more mainstream market of prime time television. Granted his show isn't very popular but nevertheless its a start and some of that success has to be attributed to the growing popularity of ESPN.