The debut episodes of Fox Sports Live have drawn plenty of buzz and reaction from around the internet. With any new show, there were some aspects that shined and some that will need adjusting in the coming days, weeks, and months. However, the general consensus is that Fox Sports Live can evolve to be a legit alternative to SportsCenter. Over 450,000 watched the first episode on Saturday night, proving it and Fox Sports 1 are already a clear #2 in the industry behind ESPN at the outset.
For their part, ESPN wants to remind you they're still the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports. SportsCenter has been the only true highlights show for a generation, and they've been having fun since Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole were in diapers.
SC anchors have been poking fun at FS1's "fun" mantra and you can sense the offense being taken in Bristol that Fox has painted them as the stodgy, curmudgeonly incumbent your grandparents watch. While that's not necessarily truth in advertising, the marketing tactic has certainly left its mark on ESPN. Scott Van Pelt had this to say about the budding rivalry with FS1 in an interview in SBJ and the new network trying to have all the fun:
"The easiest thing in the world to do is to talk a bunch of junk on Twitter. They're really good at that – poking the bear with a stick. I would swing up, too, if I were them. That's what they're doing. The idea that they co-opted fun in sports and that ESPN and "SportsCenter" is some kind of a trip to the dentist is laughable. I have fun every single time I do "SportsCenter." If they want to be fun, great. Go have fun. I encourage you to do so because we do it every day. That's the one thing I found to be a head-scratcher, that they planted their flag on this fun hill, as if they discovered it. Like they're the Christopher Columbus of fun in sports and they're putting their flag down on that hill. Really? We've been living here since 1979. Welcome to the fun of sports."
Of course Van Pelt has a point that SportsCenter isn't quite as stuffy as FS1 suggests, at least for the 11 PM edition. Even SVP himself has called out the drudgery that is the live daytime editions of SportsCenter. But one has to wonder whether or not Fox Sports 1 is already winning this early battle if ESPN is paying so much attention to the silliness of fighting over who's truly having more fun. (The true answer is all of us who get to grab the popcorn with the two companies trading barbs back and forth.)
In all honesty, this is one round FS1 is likely to win. When was the last time you got tweeted a picture of a national sports anchor building his own cushion fort in studio?
We'll know the SportsCenter v Fox Sports Live battle for MOST FUNNEST SPORTZ N3TWURK IN 'MURICA is really heating up once an ESPN anchor tweets us a bigger and better pillow fort and this turns into one of the great Community episodes ever.
I'm looking at you Robert Flores, don't let me down.
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