LeBron who?

I had the misfortune last night of eating supper at a restaurant with multiple television sets. Usually all of them are showing surfing videos so this isn't a problem. Yesterday, though, they were all tuned to ESPN, which was not only showing the one-hour LeBron-James-announces-his-new-team circus, but was filling up the airtime before the special speculating on what the announcement would be, what each outcome would mean, and the effect of Mr. James' decision on global climate change and the geopolitical situation in central Asia.

I have to admire the National Basketball Association for managing to package and sell shows like this. The games themselves are less interesting than a good college or even high school hoops match, but the NBA still manages to get them on the air and I guess that people even watch them. The NBA also pioneered the "draft" show, an exciting television production where David Stern slowly reads the names of 60 college roundball players, some of whom we may even hear of again in the future.

The people promoting track and field just don't have the same chutzpah as the NBA's marketers. After all, there are many running-related announcements that would be at least as exciting as Lebron James telling us whose fans he will be disappointing next season. Perhaps some of these announcements could be developed as a one- or two-hour special on ESPN. Here are a few:

• Walter Dix announces whether he will attempt to qualify for the 2012 United States Olympic team in the 100, the 200, or both.
  
  
• Meb Keflezighi announces which spring marathon he will be entering in 2011, Boston or London.
  
  
• The IAAF announces the location of the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.
  
  
• Usain Bolt announces whether he will remain with Puma or sign a contract with a different shoe company.
  
  
• The Millrose Games announces the field for the Wanamaker Mile.
  
  
• The Marine Corps Marathon announces whether they will be using Gatorade or Exceed at the 2010 race.
  

ESPN could also try showing a race every now and then. However, with their programming leaning away from actual sporting events and more toward sports-related events and people in suits talking about sports, I don't expect to see that soon.

Links:

• A promotional device that athletics could take from NCAA basketball
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/brackets.html