I’ve long been a fan of the Little League World Series coverage on ESPN. I’ve made it a point to be tuned into the happenings of Williamsport for the last 20 years or so. Attending the event someday is on my somewhat short sports bucket list.
The passion of the fans. The excitement of the communities represented. It’s truly the best of sports on display.
And that’s why I hope producers, directors, and executives at ESPN take note of how unpolarizing the coverage of the Little League World Series truly is. Look up the mentions on Twitter, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find negative thoughts. Its Twitter, so there are negative thoughts, but you don’t see nearly the level of vitriol for the announcers or the production that you get with other ESPN events.
The main reason, at least in my estimation, is during the Little League World Series on ESPN, the focus is on the game. Production folks are focused on telling the stories of the teams involved, the announcers are focused on showcasing the excitement and fun had by the players, and the sideline reporters are focused on making sure they get interviews with family members and coaches to add to the broadcast.
In short, it’s virtually the antithesis of ESPN’s coverage of many events, especially college football. Tune into any non-primetime game, and you’ll find several hours of discussion on what the following week’s College Football Playoff rankings should be, what the preceding week’s College Football Playoff rankings were, and which players in the SEC should be at the top of the Heisman Trophy race, sprinkled in with the slightest attention paid to whatever game is happening on the screen at the given moment.
Turn on a random NBA game, and you’ll hear plenty of discussion focused on Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and which player has “taken the league by storm” that month, mixed in with some focus on the game at hand.
I get it. “Play the hits!”, is something everyone working in radio or television has heard time and time again. But, more often than not, viewers aren’t tuning in to Buffalo versus Northern Illinois on a Wednesday night in November to listen to talk about whether Alabama or Georgia should be ranked at the top of the latest CFP rankings. They’re tuning in to watch some football. If they wanted to be entertained by talk about the Heisman Trophy race, they’d seek out talk about the Heisman Trophy race.
I, by no means, am saying the space inside a broadcast is wholly sacred to the action on the field during the time on the clock. The focus — the real, true, honest focus — of the broadcast should be centered on the game at hand. This is what you get when ESPN covers the Little League World Series and, to me, is some of the network’s best work.
Karl Ravech, the always outstanding Kyle Peterson, and the often maligned but improving Jessica Mendoza have all been shining stars over the past week, and I think ESPN’s dedication to focused storytelling on the game is the chief reason why. No wacky, zany alternate broadcasts. No references to “our friends in the desert”. There aren’t manufactured storylines about what this specific game means for the tournament as a whole.
There are just two hours of spectacular television, showcasing the best youth baseball players from around the country making lifelong memories. A simple formula that I hope producers and directors at ESPN can consider making more frequent use of.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
