Alright, yes, you are the ultimate sports network on television. I can get shows about anything and everything and I love ESPN (despite their occasional bowling or women’s golf broadcast). But your baseball coverage is starting to get ugly. You know what I mean too, and no, I’m not even talking about the 2 years of following EVERY BARRY BONDS AT BAT. That was painful, this is just as bad: Yankees. Red Sox.

Let me try and put this as plain as I can: we get it, it’s a rivalry. The Yankees don’t like the Red Sox, and in a shocking turn, the Red Sox don’t like the Yankees. Gasp. There are a number of better rivalries in sports, off the top of my head: Duke v UNC, Michigan v OSU, Red Wings v Avalanche, Eagles v Cowboys, and so on. There are literally dozens of immensely entertaining rivalries in sports. From college to the pros, from basketball to hockey, and football to baseball, the hatred has always been there. So why does ESPN insist on obsessing over this one? In the time I’ve written this part of the article, I literally heard 2 promotions for the upcoming weekend series on ESPN for Yanks versus the Sox. I think I might cry.

ESPN needs to realize 2 things. The first thing is that people don’t really care outside of New York and Boston, maybe the New England states. People have their own teams who are in their own playoff races. This matchup gets hyped up every time they play (19 times a year) and it’s never amazing. It’s two teams playing baseball, it’s the Pirates battling the Royals.

Secondly, and the more painful thing, are the games ESPN ignores to revel in the ‘heavenly magic’ of New York verse Boston.  The following games are taking place this Friday, the same Friday that ESPN airs the first game of the Yankees series:

Phillies @ Mets

Tigers @ Twins

Cubs @ Cardinals

D’Backs @ Dodgers

I would rather watch any of those 4 matchups than the amazing!, and yes it is amazing!, series ESPN has chosen. The playoff implications are unbelievable. The Phillies are 1.5 gb of the wild card, and are still chasing the Mets. The Tigers are just 5.5 gb in the central and 3.5 in the wild card race. The Cubbies are going back and forth with the Brewers to see who wants the central more, and the Cardinals, despite their current losing streak, are sitting in 3rd hoping to gain ground. The D’Backs are just 4 games up in the division, and the Dodgers, like the Phillies, are 1.5 gb of the wild card. Writing all that made me excited for these games. And oh yea, ALL THESE TEAMS ARE DIVISION RIVALS!

September is indeed the month when football kicks in. But almost as important is the magnification of every game in baseball. A 162 game season can literally come down to 1 or 2 games (just ask the Phillies the past few years). With teams having between 15 and 18 games left on their schedules, every game means that much more. There’s only so many playoff spots, and these few weeks will decide who plays in October. We’ve heard the New York verse Boston stuff over and over and over again, and then over again just to make sure we heard it. I don’t want to watch that. I want to watch the exciting and surprising D’Backs try and win the division. That’s an exciting team. I want to watch a bunch of other series this weekend.

The Yankees are getting the wild card. The Red Sox are getting the AL East. That’s final. It’s certain. Write it down. So, ESPN, please, put on something we can all enjoy, not just two big city markets. Now let me go watch a 30 second highlight of a really important game.