The Stanford Cardinal have enjoyed a grand resurgence in college football and they deserve many of their accolades.
But are they worthy of preferential coverage, like the way ESPN shills for Texas and the SEC? Apparently, yes. Introducing the Stanford Football Blog, the first of its type for ESPN!
Stanford might not carry any TV clout, and they certainly won't carry huge viewership compared to the rest of the Pac-12. Yet somehow they're getting their own site before USC, Oregon, Cal, Washington, ANYONE in the conference. What gives?
The answer is probably simple: The #1 draft pick in 2012.
This is another totally transparent grab at pageviews for the Worldwide Leader, and this site will probably be their Heat Index of college football. ESPN could care less about Stanford football, no matter how much they try to wrap themselves up in the naked torsos of the model Cardinal student.
The decision to start a Stanford football blog is entirely wrapped around the need to report everything Andrew Luck to the hundreds of thousands of NFL fans who couldn't give two craps about the sport. All they want is Luck to save their franchise, and they will gobble up everything Luck-related, and therefore the site will do well.
This would be ok if ESPN decided to do this with every team, for every school. But ONLY Stanford? It's another cynical move in a series of cynical moves, totally calculated for business purposes. The moment Luck graduates, you can start making bets this site gets shelved.