Because women can’t understand sports media that’s geared toward men!
The incomparable Pete Gaines alerted me to the impending existence of ESPNW, a version of ESPN that will cater to women and their tiny brains, because “women see us as an admirable brand that has authority. But they see us as their father’s brand, or husband’s brand, or boyfriend’s brand. They recognize it’s not theirs.”
Puke. You can’t put sparkles on sports and assume female non-sports fans will suddenly love it. Women who genuinely like sports already watch/read the real ESPN(s), and women who don’t like sports won’t bother with the version that is “theirs.”
Here’s ESPN.com tonight (click to enlarge):
…and here’s what I imagine ESPNW will look like (click to enlarge, because there’s some awesome stuff hidden in there).
Sigh. I can’t wait to see this fail.
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3 comments
1 ping
Kathleen
October 1, 2010 at 4:50 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Surely they’ll change the uniforms on ESPNW to better match the pink wallpaper though, right? As a woman, I really notice how that shade of pink and that shade of orange clash, and that’s how I know it’s not “my” ESPN.
And there are going to be more stories about their families and what good dads they are right? Like how they did the Olympics a few years ago, instead of actually showing any of the games and running sticky-sweet “get to know the athletes” stories instead.
So really, my response is “puke” as well.
Actually, if they still only seem to notice baseball played by the Yankees/Red Sox to the exclusion of the other 28 teams, I’ll probably still not watch them. Colors and parental testimonials be damned.
Kathleen
October 1, 2010 at 4:51 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
But I totally support the “Dreamy Guys and Their Butts” feature!
Chris
October 4, 2010 at 3:13 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
As another female who has been a rabid sports fan for basically my whole life, I hate this too. I watch ESPN. Heck, I even understand ESPN. I may not like the east coast bias, but hey, it’s pretty much all we have. And I don’t think it’s my father’s brand, or my husband’s. I watch more sports than both of them combined anyway.
mindahaas.net » Blog Archive » I’m trying to like espnW…BUT.
December 16, 2010 at 1:58 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[…] this happening in 2010? Like DiCaro said in her piece (seriously, read it), it would be great if my early skepticism was not the direction the site would end up going. At this point, I’m not going to bother […]