I have a confession to make. I am cheap. I just really, really don't like to spend money. For example, I own three pairs of Starbury's instead of one pair of Nikes that would cost twice as much as all of my Starbury's combined. I have roughly 70 different t-shirts, and almost all of them were purchased for a dollar or less at a thrift store. If I want to watch a TV season on DVD, I check it out from the library instead of buying it at a store. I read the novels for my English classes in college online instead of buying them. The Crocs that I wear almost everyday were procured from a dumpster, not a Hallmark. I think you get the picture.
So I think you can understand why I have had a very annoying problem. You see, like most any other sports fan I go to ESPN.com all of the time. For the most part it is good for breaking news, fluff stories, some occasional analysis, and perhaps one out of ten Page 2 articles will be good. What I always wanted, and up until a few years ago, had, was in-depth analysis. Stats. Graphs. Charts. You know the drill. To my ever increasing annoyance however, ESPN had decided that any sort of interesting analysis or rumors they had access to were off limits to you and I, the cheap and independent sports fan. Something even as simple as a mock draft was held hostage by...ESPN INSIDER
Now, at first it never really bothered me. Then ESPN started making more and more of their content insider only. And then the national writers I was used to reading started having all of their interesting articles eaten by the insider monster. The easy solution of course would be to pony up the $30 or so a year and get the service. As already established however, I am a cheap, cheap man. So I resigned myself to silently protesting ESPN Insider, instead shifting more of my sports surfing time to SI.com or even CBSSportsline. And I was ok with this, although I would still get quite peeved whenver something interesting popped up on the ESPN front page, only to see that it was accompanied by that nefarious little orange "in" logo. It was like 3rd grade all over again, and I had to go sit in the corner at the uncool lunch table and read the paragraph and a half long preview before going back to SI.com and reading another chapter in "Peter King's Coffee Adventures" or another passage from "Why Dr. Z Hates Young People". Deep down though, I always wanted to be part of the in crowd.
The insider service however, just never seemed like something that I would be willing to spend money on. I mean, analysis is what blogs are for right? And internet sports news should be free right? Still, the little orange logo kept tempting me. I even went so far as to fill in the entire sign up form, only to chicken out right before hitting the final button. Then something funny happened. I looked around one day, and saw that my family had begun to recieve a subscription to ESPN the Magazine. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, whether it was a gift or whatnot, but there it was sitting in the living room. Now, this might not mean anything to you, but here is what that means: ESPN the Magazine = Insider. If you have one you get the other. So I took the magazine, walked over to my computer, and after putting in a little ten digit code and filling out a couple of address forms I was set. I was on the inside. (On a related note: I realize now that you could pretty much do this with any ESPN the Magazine you see that has the address label on it. I.E., the copy you see in the doctor's office or the dentist, or the one down at the barbershop. Now, I am not saying mooching someone's insider is an honest thing, or that you should do it; I'm just saying it seems like an option.)
So after all this time, I am on the inside and...well, I didn't really know what exactly I had access to now, to tell the truth. So after poking around a bit, here is a summary of what insider membership gets you:
- Rumors and Breaking News
- Analyst Articles
- Blogs
- Realtime Scoring
- Radio
- Fantasy Content
- ESPN the Magazine
- Recruiting
- ESPN Local
For me, I could really do without the majority of the blogs and analyst articles. Some of them are indeed truly unique and interesting, but for the most part I can find content of similar or greater quality across the blogosphere. To me the most interesting blogs offered on the site are the most specialized ones, such as the football and basketball recruiting blogs, Joe Lunardi's, the NFL Scout blogs, and Dan Rafael's boxing blog. The ease of use of the ESPN Local is also very appealing to me, since I can just drag a menu to whatever team I want to know about from any of the major sports. I also personally really like the radio stuff as well, since I have grown to enjoy a number of the ESPN radio guys during some long road trips. I also enjoy the recruiting stuff, so that now I can learn even more about the guys coming out of my old high school. (Fort Campbell Falcons baby!)
I suppose the end question is this: after getting my hands dirty with it, would I actually pay for this service. I must admit, I am now a bit torn, as I really do enjoy a number of the new toys I am getting to play with. I have to ask myself though, are these features that unique? I mean, SI.com's FanNation, although I find it quite stupid most of the time, is a good source for team news and rumors. And there are a number of places that have good fantasy sports content for free. The difference I suppose, is in the Radio and Recruiting sections. I would be really tempted to pony up just for those alone, which makes the wealth of other content that much more of a bonus. I'm not sure I ever will though. Lets just say, if you are a dentist that values your insider membership, you better take your address labels off.
