Pandering - the New Hotness

So, for some reason, ESPN has this segment during Sportscenter called "ESPN Deportes". During this segment, some heavily-accented woman will talk about worthless sports like boxing, soccer, and baseball, mixing English words with Spanish names. That's fact one.

An episode of The Office last night (rerun of course) had Michael Scott suggesting that Oscar, a Hispanic employee, not join the basketball game because he'd call on his skills in the event of a boxing match or baseball game. That's fact two.

Put them together and what do you get? ESPN thinks that what Hispanic viewers really want to see is news about boxing and baseball, because, well, you know. That's what those people like. No word on whether cockfighting, day laboring, or rum mixology will be covered in the future.

Another thought - to whom does a heavily-accented Hispanic woman struggling to pronounce English words appeal? If I wanted to hear news in Spanish, I would. It's not like it's Ainu, right? I think I could manage to find some Spanish language sports news somewhere in this country. If I wanted to hear news in English (and I happen to prefer it, because my German has deteriorated so as to be worthless), I'd like to hear it from someone who can speak it. Now, if I were a Hispanic man and happened to prefer hearing my news in English from pretty Hispanic ladies, well, I'd expect someone to find a Hispanic woman who can enunciate in English. Even if she's gotta switch between languages for some reason, surely there are bilingual people out there who can read copy comprehensibly, right?

But no, what ESPN thinks Hispanic people want is broken English and boxing.