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I am a sports fan.  I watch ESPN when the rest of my friends are getting down with the O.C.  I know football stats, not nail polish colors.  I fill out March Madness Brackets, I play fantasy football, and I spend those blustery winter Sundays falling asleep to the 49ers.  I constantly inundate myself with information: not important things like the stock market or the rising cost of housing, but Mel Kiper’s draft projections and how the hot stove is looking.  

And now, this brilliant month of January, is my happy place.  The Super Bowl is here.  The NBA season has almost started to matter.  The Mock Draft boards are fired up around the country.  I can almost smell the grass growing in preparation for pitchers and catchers.  It’s a good time to be a fan.

So when I was given the opportunity to write a column for Sports Media Watch, I had a flood of ideas and opportunities for an interesting angle.  Apparently, they weren’t interesting enough.  So, the question was posed to me:

“What would it be like to be a fan, to gather as much sports media as possible, but without ever tuning in to ESPN or any of their media outlets?”

Yikes. 

I wasn’t sure about that.  You’re talking to a girl who lives on ESPN.com during work (don’t tell my boss!). You’re talking to a girl who watches SportsCenter religiously, and who, though she hates to admit it, worships at the altar of the great and mighty Dan Patrick.  I bought satellite radio just so I could tune him in.  It’s sad, I know.  I am disturbed. 

But, then again, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?  There are plenty of other great resources out there, right?  Right?  Somebody back me up here!  There was only one way to find out.  Call me the sacrificial lamb.  I was going to go Bristol-less, and see what happened.  No ESPN.com, no SportsCenter, no ESPNU, ESPN II, Classic, or even Desportes.  Technically, I should probably take out ABC and Disney, but I think you can let that slide.  And here’s what my week looked like, the highs, and the lows. 

I have about a 30-minute commute to work in the mornings.  Usually, this involves a heavy dose of cussing out Colin Cowherd.  I listen, I get angry because he’s a self-righteous moron, I tune out.  Curiosity gets the better of me, and I check back in after I’ve cooled off.  Repeat.

This morning, I listened to music, and had a nice, relaxing drive in.  Oh happy day!  Even now, I can feel my blood pressure sinking.

A couple of hours into my morning, I happened to check into SI.com.  There, in a small corner of the front page, I found out that Kobe had himself a pretty good game.  81 points.  81 POINTS!?!?!?!  Who was he playing, my high school basketball team?  And Kobe picked a night when he knew the NFL would supplant him?  Odd, don’t you think? 

This is where this week is going to be a problem.  I actually came in this morning and did work, as opposed to checking out ESPN.com for an hour or so.  For shame!

Apparently, ESPN broke it.  Peja for Artest. I heard it on the local country station, but I received several phone calls relaying the story as told on ESPN.com (that’s not cheating, is it?).  My favorite Euro seems to be headed east.  And the breakup of my beloved Kings seems to be nearly complete. 

But wait: we may jumped the gun a bit. Somebody told me that the trade is off, and about 4 pm the rest of the sports world caught up.  I’m not one to peruse the myriad of fan blogs and sites out there for breaking news, I tend to be almost completely reliant on Bristol for news and updates.  From radio, to the Internet, to television, I’ve never had to go outside of my comfort zone for information.  And it hurt not to be the first to know around the office.  The secretary knew before I did!  We’re talking about my reputation here!  And it’s not like SacramentoKings.com is breaking anything newsworthy these days.  When Webber got traded last year I think he was still the front-page picture for 2 weeks.

Besides, no one else that I knew who cared about this deal seemed satisfied to get information from anyone but ESPN.  Is the Worldwide Leader really the best?  Obviously, they were just as wrong as anybody else in this instance.  Are we too forgiving?  Is it possible that they may indeed be fallible?

The on again off again Peja for Ron saga appears once more to be a go.  I saw conflicting reports all over the web from the various websites I checked in with.  Sportsline still has it a no-go.  SI seems to think it’s back on.  Sporting News… well, I don’t think they know what they think.  My guess is there’s a definitive answer somewhere out there, but it’s as likely only in the head of Geoff Petrie, and gulp, Ron Artest.

I flipped through every non-ESPN sports channel that I have when I got home tonight.  Just to get the lay of the land.  The NFL Network, Fox Sports, and the local sports stations are great.  What ESPN has done so well over the last 20+ years is branding.  When you want information, you go there.  It’s like Kleenex.  Not the only product available, and maybe not even the best, but the one that we know and gravitate to because we trust in them.  As a culture, we are often afraid to try something new.  And this affects us as fans too.  Through my first three ESPN-less days, I’ve seen that I choose the network because it’s what I know, not always what is the best.  Admittedly, had I been able to, I would have camped out on ESPN.com all day to gather my information during the trade saga. 

I do have one major complaint.  Outside of ESPN, radio is a scary place.  Sports talk, at least in my area of the country, is not good.  Not good at all.  I already admitted to my unhealthy relationship with Dan Patrick.  And say what you want, but truly, the man is the gold standard when it comes to Sports Radio.  He’s good.  But local guys tend to be, well, cheesy, and the slant they give to the home team can be downright annoying.  My one saving grace so far this week has been the NFL channel on Sirius Radio.  The best thing about satellite in this sense is that you get not only radio shows, but also the audio from some of the television broadcasts.  That’s pretty cool.  So with all the pre-Super Bowl hype, there have been some great interviews and commentary, along with Senior Bowl feedback and draft projections.  And I love draft projections. 

My last day.  Looks like I will indeed survive.  This is what I’ve learned:

- ESPN is not god.  A die-hard sports fan can find other excellent outlets to gather information, disagree with sportswriters, or cheer for their team.  Don’t sleep on SI or the NFL Network.  Remember not the titan in this case. 

- When a particular media outlet has dominated the industry for so long, it’s easy to forget that there are other resources.  Again, it’s all in the branding.  And apparently, ESPN does that better than anyone. 

- We’ve been almost warped as a sporting culture that ESPN is the holy grail, and that information outside of Bristol is neither good nor can it be trusted.  This is simply not true.  But, the fact that Peja for Artest happened in a week where I couldn’t be continuously checking ESPN.com for updates served to show me that I expect ESPN to be first and best, that I they set the standard, at least for me, in sports reporting.  Is that right?  From now on, I will have to do my homework better, too.

- I definitely did not miss Stephen A. Smith.  Of course, I regularly tune out when he comes on.  That guy is just annoying.

- I did have to check right back in with Bill Simmons on Monday when the week was up.  He’s kind of a hack, he has a terrible radio voice, he knows very little about sports that don’t concern a Boston franchise, and he is overly obsessed with The O.C.  But, the guy is entertaining.  And isn’t that what sports is really all about?

So yes, I did it.  I went through the cleansing ritual that I feel every true sports fan should partake in on an annual basis.  I said no to Bristol, and I just might be a better fan for it.  It’s good to remember what else is out there.  It’s good to know there are a lot of people who care, who know, and who report on the happenings outside of ESPN. 

But I will not give up my Dan Patrick again, not without a fight!