Chickens and ESPN

By Jay Lee

The Sports Journalism Institute’s breakfast of champions: Bagels, cereal, coffee… and cockfighting. As has been the case at every meal (at least two so far), we sat in front of a projector screen to enjoy our food with a healthy side of ESPN. But as we enjoyed our first breakfast together at the Poynter Institute on Saturday morning, I nearly spit out a mouthful of my Honey Bunches of Oats. ESPN’s E:60 chronicled the rampant cockfighting that still exists in the United States. The episode, which I had actually briefly watched when it debuted, was eye opening. Cockfighting, which is illegal in every state, still thrives in some areas. The graphic nature of the videos was only outdone by the coldness exhibited in interviews from those involved in the sport. Talk about losing your appetite. But I couldn’t help but develop two thoughts as I tried my best to swallow my bagel and cream cheese: SPORTS: The significance of sports does not reside solely in box numbers and win-loss columns. The culture we are surrounded with is often a product of the sports within it, and vice-versa as well. Studying the popularity of certain sports and the people who flock to them can give major insight to the different types of worlds we live in. In the same way, objectively studying and reporting on these sports and cultures is imperative to really being able to understand what is going on.
• ESPN: Sports fans are sports fans – any awkwardness between strangers who are fans can be quelled by bringing up a sports-related topic. Or, in our case, just by turning on ESPN.