E60: ESPN flexing its power in sports reporting

Obviously, E60 is something that I support. I am a life long sports fan. I am only doing journalism because I was not good enough to play professional sports. I practice journalism because I aspire to be a play-by-play anchor for ESPN. My main goal is to have a career in the sports world, preferrably ESPN.

As you can see my opinon is a little biased because I like almost everything the my future employer (hopefull) does. The concept of E 60 is something I have wanted to see for years. It gives us an insight into who these athletes are off the field. It is also the most investigative and thought provoking interviews that ESPN does.

The story I examined focused on Tennessee Titans Quarterback Vince Young. Young underwent some difficult times and ESPN reported that he might have attempted suicide. In the E60 interview with Young, he revealed that he was depressed to a certain extent and also had a difficult time dealing the pressure put on his shoulders by himself and the fans.

This story was excellent and reporter Michael Smith did an excellent job of interviewing Young. The former Rookie of the year, dodged the question about his suicide, so Smith kept asking it. As a result Young finally answered the question and even though the former Longhorn dened the rumors I like that Smith confronted him with it.

The one flaw with the interview was the shooting of it. The photographer used the zoom too much and it became distracting.

The question I have about the E60 program is this: Could any other station pull off this type of journalism?
I believe that most of these stories can only be done by ESPN because ESPN has the recognition of being the top sports journalism company in the world. I doubt most of these athletes would open up to their local beat reporters. Another example of ESPN's reputation providing it with the inside track to great journalism was the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal. ESPN was the first and only organization to get Rodriguez to go on camera and discuss these issues.

I enjoy E60 and like getting to know more about athletes off the field. I look forward to more E60 interviews and stories.