(Yet another) red card for ESPN

Last Saturday marked the first ever derby (intra-city match) in Major League Soccer history. The contest pitted Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA, which is also based in the southern California city. Los Angeles outclassed its rival in a match that was more one-sided than the 3-1 scoreline indicated. But the atmosphere in the Home Depot Center was electric.

So thunderous was the crowd's roar that it was impossible to talk to the person standing next to you on the sidelines without yelling, reported LA's DailyBreeze.com

An atmosphere common in other parts of the world and some US national team matches, but a welcome addition to the domestic American soccer scene.

A red card goes to the ESPN2 network which televised the game... sort of.

The game was preceded by the NFL (gridiron football) draft. This is where franchises select the rights to various amateur players. The draft went significantly longer than expected. Eventually, ESPN2 did broadcast the MLS game on a tape delay. But they made a cardinal error.

During the draft, the ticker at the bottom of the screen kept fans updated with the score of the LA-Chivas match. So by the time the game started, fans already knew that LA scored the first three goals, Chivas scored one in the second half and had a man sent off. So much for the drama and suspense.

But most astonishing was ESPN's explanation.

"That's definitely an honest mistake," said Mac Nwulu, the associate manager for communications at the network. "It seems to have happened several times, even during the [2002] World Cup."

So they keep making the same mistakes over and over and that's supposed to make fans feel better?! Talk about inspiring confidence.

The "all sports network," whose programming is increasingly dominated by non-sport programming (drafts, poker, cheerleading, 'reality shows'), has been contemptuous of soccer at every turn. This is hardly the first time they've messed around with the sport.

And the worst part is that MLS buys time on ESPN to air the game of the week. So MLS pays money to be treated like garbage.

Most soccer fans, and surely the league itself, would wish MLS (and the European Champions League) away from the ESPN in a heartbeat if there were another competing channel as widely accessible.

I'm waiting for the day an MLS game gets pre-empted by their pompous 'who wants to be a SportsCenter anchor' nonsense.

Much like MTV, ESPN used to be good. But it's become so self-important and self-referential, it's lost the very irreverence that once made it good.