Not to sound overly biblical, but I think you've lost your first love, ESPN (assuming, of course, that your first love was ever sports to begin with). There's real beauty in one of Kobe Bryant's playoff performances, or Marc-Andre Fleury's game seven. It's the kind of beauty that, regardless of your rooting interests, makes you feel sort of proud to be a human being, and proud to be a sports fan. It transcends, for a moment, the overriding need to move product that is the backbone of our economy and has become the glaringly obvious point of all sports media.
So before you throw your hat into the nudity-saturated, lad-mag ring (or, ironically, remove your hat, as it were), consider the ramifications of your decision, particularly for the young male readers who idolize the Adrian Petersons and Lebrons on your pages. Ask yourself if what they need is more nudity and sexuality at increasingly younger ages, or perhaps more greatness—in the form of great performances and, more important to me, truly great writing.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
An Open Letter To ESPN The Magazine
Ted Kluck responds to the news that ESPN will run a "no-clothes" issue of the magazine. He writes in CT:
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I skimmed the article about this "nude issue" of ESPN at USA Today and noticed that there are over 200 comments, (following the article) from readers. Many of the ones that I read were very enthusiastic, calling this idea "a celebration of the human body" and a turning away from "Puritanical standards" of sexuality.
How sad... first of all, if more people actually studied the Puritans, they would know that these flawed but Godly men and women valued His gift of sexuality very highly *within its right context-- the covenantal commitment of marriage.* The human body is indeed wonderful, but it is not meant to be displayed naked in just any and every context.
Second, any culture that has celebrated nudity in many different contexts, outside of the marriage bed, has eventually crumbled, due to its rejection of God's commands for humanity. Call that truth "Puritanical" if you want, but history proves it.
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