ESPN is on at our house everyday of the week. We wake up to sports center and we usually go to bed to sports center. My boys love sports and it is an everyday resource for them watch ESPN. We also get the ESPN magazine. We have been recieving it for 2 years now. I have some editions that the boys wanted to save and some we have just thrown away because it was on soccer or hockey. But today, I walked to the mailbox and there was the ESPN magazine right on time but the horor that came across me as I pulled it out of the box still rages my heart. On the cover was Serenna Williams nude. She covered herself with her hands and crossing her legs but she was nude. The magazine was full of pictures like this. Why I do care so much about this to make my blood pressure rise? Well I am glad you asked.
First off, ESPN has been a trusted magazine and network in our home for years. As parents we have never had to worry about the content that was shown on the ESPN channels and never had to worry about the magazine content. We don’t get sports illistrated because of not being able to trust the content and now ESPN has been added to that category. We can no longer trust them to be family friendly. We have a teenage son and it is our responsibility to guard his eyes. I am not so much in the dark that I don’t think he has never seen something like this but we are parents and we need to guard him to where hopefully will not fall into the trap of addiction or scare his view of purity.
Second. We trusted this organization. We had stopped getting Sports Illistrated because the focus seemed to come off of sports and put a bend of sexuality to magazine. Sports is about team, competition, the love of the game, not the more skin you show the better, not a barely dress girl laying on a sandy beach. Espn was able to provide a magazine that understood concept of a sports magazine.
Thirdly, ESPN just had one of their own to have their privacy invaded by someone posting nude pictures of them. Why are they doing the same thing? I know the people in the magazine are willing subjects but ESPN is the avenue. And speaking of invading privacy, my famiy’s privacy was invaded when that was placed in my mailbox without my consent. I didn’t agree to have porn sent to my home. I didn’ consent to have this placed in my mailbox. I actually pulled the last issue of ESPN magazine to see if they had a preview of the next issue. Iwanted to see if they warned families that this would be in the next issue. It was not. It was not visible to me that this was going to be the next issue. If this is the content that ESPN is going to produce from this point forward they need to warn people. Up to this point they were a family friendly organization. They just removed themselves from that category.
Finally, ESPN is actually on my tv right now with the NEB & Mizzou game but my attitude toward watching it today verses yesterday has changed drastically. They have ruined my opinion of them I hate that my boys can’t read their magazine freely now, I hate that their name has been scared, I hate that ESPN feels like they need to go in this direction to gain more readers. They have a stong reader base already why try to water down their product?
I am sorry for this rant but I truly feel like our home was invaded by an organization that has been such a big part of our family entertainment for years. It is like a family member turning agaist what they know is true. ESPN, nude bodies in your magazine takes the purity out of competition and sports, do you really want that to happen?
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I am so glad that there are people like you that continue to uphold such high standards- and expect the same from their family and from organizations. Make sure and let ESPN know how you feel directly (as I’m sure you already have) and I will do the same. Thank-you.
-leisy