The SportsCenter set.

You’ve probably heard a lot of nasty things about the millennial generation.  They’re lazy.  They’re entitled.  They expect everything to be handed to them and can’t be bothered to finish the job that they sta… yada, yada, yada, I can’t be bothered to finish that thought.

Have no fear fellow millennials, because ESPN is here for you!  ESPN has hired three new reporters for SportsCenter that will all have a focus on reaching the unreachable and doing new stories focused on the younger generations.  Back in the day, we would have said SportsCenter is trying to be “hip” or increase their “cool factor.”

As first revealed by ESPN PR Hollywood The Wrap, SportsCenter’s new reporters will be filing stories that won’t just have a television presence, but are geared towards social media as well.  The trio includes ESPN Unite grad Reese Waters, Christopher Reeve’s son Will Reeve, and Sarina Morales.

Will Reeve, son of late “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, comedian Reese Waters and social media correspondent Sarina Morales are joining the network’s team in Bristol, Connecticut, and intend to tap into the digital landscape to reach the millennial generation.

The trio will be doing special reports for the franchise show — such as going on the road with a college football team or reporting from the 16th hole at this weekend’s Phoenix Open — and it will be easy to spot their segments amid the sea of veteran talent.

“I’ll be different from a traditional ‘SportsCenter’ reporter because I won’t be behind a desk in a suit,” Reeve, 22, who shares the square jaw and broad shoulders of his father, told TheWrap. “These stories are not going to appear on air and then fade off — they are going to get an extended life digitally and on social media.”

“We are looking for new voices who can tell stories through their eyes and not in the ways we typically do,” said Glenn Jacobs, Senior Coordinating Producer for SportsCenter Digital, Now and Next-Generation Content. “It is really about making ‘SportsCenter’ an active part of sports fans’ lives, not just a passive one.”

While one has to appreciate the effort SportsCenter is putting into reaching sports fans in new ways, I’m a bit skeptical about the whole “reaching out to young people” gimmick.  The next time that it actually works and adds something useful and entertaining to a television show will be one of the first.

On-site reports following a team or being at a sporting event doesn’t sound like anything too ground-breaking.  And if it’s the same old information with added buzzwords and hashtags and square jaws for window dressing, sports fans are smart enough to see right through it.  Like everything else, the work of these new reporters, and the direction SportsCenter wants to go here, will be about substance.  If they can find compelling ways to unearth interesting stories from around sports, that will be enough to make their roles a success, much more than anything trendy to target millennials, because we don’t care anyways.

[The Wrap]